Episode 039 - Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes Concert Review

This week, I review the recent Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes show that I saw on Dec. 6, 2024 at The Warehouse at FTC in Fairfield, CT. It ended up being the band's third to last show ever, as Johnny Lyon retired from performing for health reasons just a week later after being forced to leave the stage just a few songs into his final performance. So this show takes on extra meaning, and I have a lot of thoughts. So please join me for my review of the Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes show, this week on the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast!

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Transcript

Alex Gadd: 0:00

Welcome to The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and this week I've got another concert review for you. I went to see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at The Warehouse at FTC in Fairfield, Connecticut on December 6th, which was a bucket list band for me to see, and we saw a ramshackle performance that I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I wasn't sure I was even going to review the show until this past Saturday when I heard that Southside had announced that he's retiring from performing. And that was the push I needed. We need to recognize his contribution to rock-n-roll and celebrate his career. I can't wait to talk it through with you. So please join me for my Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes concert review coming up right now! Southside Johnny is a very meaningful artist for me, particularly because he's the only other national act that really broke out of Asbury Park, New Jersey, following Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. And as you already know, if you've been here for a while now, Springsteen has been my absolute favorite musician since I was about 11. So once I started absorbing Bruce's music as a pre teenager and all of his varied influences, I wanted more. And in 1981 or 82, the closest thing to the Springsteen sound. was the Asbury Jukes. Together, these two acts defined what came to be known as the Jersey Shore rock and roll sound. That was rock and roll dripping in R& B and solo influences, including a horn section, organ, harmonica, along with a standard bar band backline. And while Springsteen was the undisputed boss of the scene, and Little Steven, then going by the stage name Miami Steve was his consigliere, Southside Johnny Lyon was a key part of the scene and had the goods to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bruce and Steve, which makes sense because he grew up in the same circle as they did, playing the same stages, often on the same nights, and it resonated with me as a young, hungry Springsteen fan. I started with the radio songs. I Don't Want to Go Home. The Fever, Talk to Me, and the Sam Cooke cover, Havin' a Party, which got plenty of airplay throughout the 1980s, but I didn't really dive into his catalog until a few years later when I found his original Greatest Hits album, which was 1979's Havin' a Party with Southside Johnny. Now, I found it odd that he had a Greatest Hits album that was released in 1979, given that at the time, he had only released three albums in total. By comparison, Bruce had already released four records by 1979, and he wouldn't release anything resembling a Greatest Hits album until 1986 after he had released seven studio albums. Regardless, Havin' a Party with Southside Johnny was a great CD, jam packed with hits, 9 of the 10 of which were written by other people, mostly by either Bruce or Little Steven, Miami Steve, or both of them. At that point, I understood that Johnny was more of a song interpreter than a songwriter, but it didn't matter to me. He sounded great, and I was in. I went to look for more of his music, and I found the 1984 album In The Heat, which was credited to Southside Johnny and the Jukes. Not the Asbury Jukes, which had the song New Romeo on it that I had heard and liked when it came out on the radio. At the time, I didn't understand why they had changed their name, but it still sounded like the same band to me, just a slicked up mid eighties version of them. After that, Southside only released one more album in the 80s, 1986's At Least We Got Shoes, which I didn't think was all that good, quite honestly. And then he didn't release any more new music for another five years. 1991 was his next album, and I had already graduated from college by then. That album, Better Days, came out in October of 91, while I was a disc jockey at WIZN, the rock station in Vermont, where I worked after college. And it filled two voids in my musical life at once. It was New Southside music, and the first single was"It's Been a Long Time," which was a song on which Johnny shared the vocals with both Bruce and Miami Steve.

4:16

Livin the time of our booze as we went along Just one coat between us and we never felt cold We were never gonna get old Now it's cold, got lonely now it is We'd never be that free again We've lived together, it's been a long time Friends are glad, it's been a long, long time

Alex Gadd: 5:10

And that was one of the very few new songs that Bruce had been featured singing on since he had broken up the E Street Band in 1989. So I was hungry for anything that he was putting out. The Better Days album also included a great song with Jon Bon Jovi, which was called I've Been Working Too Hard. It was a really good record from top to bottom, but that was the last really good record he ever released, at least in my opinion. Which brings me to 2019. In late 2019, I was living down the Jersey Shore, waiting for my new house to be ready to move into. And right before Christmas, I went to see Richie LaBamba Rosenberg's Christmas benefit concert at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Sure enough, about halfway through the night, Southside walked in, jumped up on stage, and he became the bandleader for the rest of the night. And that was the first time I had ever seen him perform. But it wasn't a Jukes show so much. And I made a promise to myself that night that I would catch a whole show of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes before Johnny wasn't around anymore, performing. And December 6th of 2024 was my chance. The fact that he made it through only two more shows and then started a third show in Alexandria, Virginia, just last week before leaving the stage after only a few songs and then immediately announcing his retirement made seeing him when I did both good timing and bittersweet to say the least. I was hoping to catch him again, which you'll figure out when you hear my review and that now won't happen, but let's get into the show itself and I'll give you more thoughts on how it went. Now The Warehouse at Fairfield Theatre Company is a really nice venue with a square shaped floor, a shallow balcony up top. The seating capacity is somewhere around 600 people, so a nice cozy venue with good sight lines from everywhere. I've seen a few good shows there this year and I hope to see a lot more in 2025. It's a great local venue for me. The band came on right after 8:15 and started off with You Can't Bury Me, a song from their 2010 album Pills and Ammo, which was a little rough around the edges, but it's a good opener because it moves along, has good energy. And besides, the Jukes shouldn't be too polished. They're a bar band at their core, and they should sound a little loose. The second song was Coming Back from the Better Days album, that album from 1991. That song encapsulates the Jersey Shore sound just as much as any Jukes song does. You should check it out. Next up was This Time Baby's Gone For Good, at which point I realized that a Southside Johnny show has got to be a candidate for the most times using the word"baby" in a single concert. John seems to slip it into almost all of his songs, whether or not the word is an actual lyric in that song. So when a song has the word baby in the title, watch out. That was followed by his cover of Tom Waits' Gin Soaked Boy, a great song. It took me a minute to recognize it, but really well done. Right around the end of this song, Johnny pointed out that the band was a little rough having not played together in more than a month, and that was evident. They sounded like the Jukes, but almost too rough around the edges. And Johnny's voice was strained. He was struggling to hit those high notes, yet he kept going for them. I guess credit where credit's due there, but, you know, I know he's 76. His birthday was just two days before the show, and we even sang happy birthday to him with the help of the band. But other 76 year olds can still hit all those high notes. Or they've rearranged their songs to allow them to sing those songs cleanly, or they've retired. S outhside didn't seem bothered by not hitting some of the notes. He was in good spirits throughout the night, normal, charming self, and his interplay with the audience was excellent. Really fun. After Gin Soaked Boy, they went right into Passion Street, which was a really good song that I wasn't really familiar with. I really enjoyed it. Then a cover of the mid tempo Without Love, which was the first single from Aretha Franklin's 1974 album With Everything I Feel in Me. He had done that song a number of times before it was on one of his records. Good song there. Then came another slower song, a cover of the Slickers reggae standard Johnny Too Bad. And I found that was an odd choice. I think it started to slow the overall momentum of the show down a little bit. Because the next song was also a mid tempo number, but it was Love on the Wrong Side of Town, which was a Jukes song written by Springsteen and Little Steven for the Jukes' second record, This Time It's for Real. And that song has the necessary buildup and the necessary arrangement to make it a great mid set show piece. Take a listen.

9:38

You won't know today, you won't cry Someday, when I can't be a hero When there won't be no starry sky

Alex Gadd: 10:33

After that, they went into Broke Down Piece of Man. Now this is one of my favorite Jukes' songs. It was originally done by Sam and Dave, and this one was just outstanding. Little rough around the edges again, but that was pretty much the whole show. You're going to hear me say it. And this one sounded good at being a little rough. Then came the last hit song the band ever released, a cover of The Left Banke's Walk Away Renée from The Juke's 1986 album At Least We Got Shoes. It didn't do much on the charts, but it did get some radio airplay and it brought the song back to the airwaves on anything other than an oldies station for the first time since The Four Tops had covered the song in 1967. So that's almost 20 years. And the original had only come out a year earlier in 1966. And that one charted for 13 weeks. So that was the big hit. The original one done by The Left Banke. For this show, Walk Away Renee segued into a Christmas medley with keyboardist. Jeff Kazee playing Christmas Time is Here by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, which then went into Johnny crooning a bit of White Christmas, and then a verse or two of I'll Be Home for Christmas before wrapping up Walk Away, Renee. That was appropriate for the time of year, but was a kind of dull 10 minute lull in the set and Johnny's singing here kind of took a stumble, sounding either just flat or more ragged than normal. The band picked it up from here though, jumping into a cover of the Little Steven song, Forever, which was done well despite Johnny's vocal challenges, which you can hear throughout this clip.

12:33

With you, my heart, will you love me forever? Pick up the pieces of what's stumbling and fall. My world falls apart, will you keep it together? I can't have you, I want no one at all.

Alex Gadd: 12:53

You can see that Johnny still has energy and is still a good band leader. The top end of his range is just gone. It's unfortunate to hear But it didn't stop the crowd from loving the performance or me. They followed up that with a swingin version of the Kevin Gordon song Cadillac Jack's#1 Son and then an obscure cover of the song You're My Girl(I Don't Wanna Discuss It), which was originally recorded by Little Richard and released as I Don't Wanna Discuss It, before getting covered by Delaney and Bonnie with Eric Clapton, The Faces, and Rod Stewart, before the Jukes started performing it live. It slowed things down again, but it had good energy, played with feeling, which helped it go over well. The main set really ended strong with three Jukes hits, Springsteen's Talk to Me, and then his song The Fever, and then Trapped Again, which was written by Southside, Miami Steve, and Bruce together. Of those three, The Fever is the most popular, and played on the radio the most, and sounds the most like Springsteen. Here's how it sounded that night.

13:53

Dinner ready to go. Baby, I'm all right. You won't be here for sure. So I'm taking you out to sea. Baby, I'm sunning and warming you my morning and night. I think about you sometimes. Makes me feel all right. Days grow longer, love grows stronger. Hey, hey, hey, hey. People get so mad at me, I got the fever, oh, I got the fever, oh, I got the fever. Oh, baby, there ain't nothing I can do. I got the fever, oh, I got the fever. You left this little boy, you left this little boy so blue. Oh, baby, there ain't nothing I can do.

Alex Gadd: 14:52

The encore had the band's two signature songs starting with I Don't Want to Go Home, written by Miami Steve, and then The Juke's most popular song, their cover of Sam Cooke's Having a Party, which was great. Here's a listen to that.

15:04

So let's play. I'm Mr. DJ. You can keep the whole jam playing. Cause I'm having such a good time. Hey, let's sing. We're having fun. We'll dance to the end of the day.

Alex Gadd: 16:04

And with that, the band was gone, and we were on our way home with another act on my bucket list checked off. So here are my takeaways. Number one, I love seeing Johnny and the Jukes, even if there wasn't a single original member in the band except Johnny. They played well, the songs were really good ones, they sounded great. Great band. Jeff Kazee on keyboards did a lot of background singing, was really good complimentary singer to Johnny. It was a good show. Number two, I've mentioned it already a couple of times, but it just felt like Southside's time has come. His energy was still up and he seemed to be enjoying the interplay with the audience, but his voice was spent. And remember this was his first show in more than a month. I left the show thinking, I want to go see him again in a larger venue where maybe he'll be more focused or prepared. Because what I saw wasn't good enough for how good I know he can and has been. Now I'll never get that chance, so now I'm just wishing him well and hoping he's healthy.. Number three, I was easily in the younger half of the audience and I'm not young. We need to get more young people out to see these influential acts before they disappear. And if you don't think that Southside Johnny's influential, listen to Jon Bon Jovi talking about him and the original Jukes in the same breath as he talked about Springsteen and the E Street Band.

17:24

As I have said many, many times before, without Southside Johnny, there would not have been a Jon Bon Jovi. I grew up on the sounds of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, but I always wanted to be an Asbury Juke. When I started out in the late 70s, Bruce had already released four albums, the Jukes had released three, and there was something in those songs that connected with me. Those guys made Asbury Park, New Jersey a place where the impossible seems possible. We didn't have to go to Los Angeles or to London. In fact, we didn't even have to go to New York City to play our own songs. Back then, coming to Asbury Park was like going to church. And seeing the South Side Johnny Show was like witnessing a tsunami of sound. Led by a singer who delivered every song like it would be the last one he'd ever sing.

Alex Gadd: 18:20

Fourth takeaway, I've been saying this since I started this podcast, but the important thing to me at this point in popular music is that I get to see as many of the acts that put out music that I loved as a kid or as an adult while they're still performing. For all the great acts I did see as a kid closer to, or in their prime. And that's a lot of acts. I saw many bands. I was a very fortunate young guy. I missed a ton more and I want to correct that whenever possible. And I think you should too. Rock-n-roll doesn't die if we keep supporting it and I don't want it to die. So that means old acts and new get out there and see live music. Number five, the show had seats on the floor instead of being standing room only, as it was when I saw Deer Tick at The Warehouse earlier this year. And that made sense given the average age of the crowd, but it also meant that the entire crowd stayed seated until the encore. Which I feel may have thrown off the vibe for the band a bit. Maybe I'm reading into it. Maybe it's not true. That was how I looked at it as I thought about it on my way home. Finally, number six, while you won't be able to see this band again, I encourage you to go download some of their songs, the ones that I've mentioned here today, or just check out the playlist I've posted on Spotify. It's titled Episode 39 Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast Playlist, and you can get a feel for how great this band is. Assuming that is that you like bar band rock-n-roll. Well, that's it for this week's episode. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back next Tuesday with our year end New Year's Eve top 10 party songs episode. And if you like what you heard today, we'd appreciate it if you would like this episode and then subscribe or follow our channel to make sure you get notified about every new episode. And please tell your friends. Also, as I just mentioned, we release a playlist for every episode. So look for The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast Playlist on Spotify every week. This week, featuring the 18 songs from the set list of the show in Fairfield, plus a few of my other favorite Jukes songs. So check that out. Additionally, we want to know what you think. So please leave us a comment. That would really be helpful. We'll try to respond to every one of them. And we do love hearing from you. The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your host, Alex Gadd. And until next time, remember that life is short, so get those concert tickets.