Born to Run

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• History
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  • Phish
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History

Bruce Springsteen made history in the summer of 1999 with the reunion of his famed E Street Band and subsequent 15-night run of sold-out performances at New Jersey’s Continental Airlines Arena. Phish played down the road in Holmdel, NJ on 7/15/99 and 7/16/99 while Springsteen was in the middle of that infamous 15-show run. Before Phish’s encore on the second night, Trey spoke openly to the crowd: 

“Thank you... I just need to say, before we go on with the rest of the show here... of course, I did grow up in New Jersey, as did Page, and all kidding aside, it truly is an honor for me to play here... I saw all my first concerts here; I saw concerts at this venue, and I saw concerts at Brendan Byrne and lots of other places around the state... so it’s very, very special for me to come play here tonight. And we are going to bring a special guest up here. He’s somebody that I love very much, and that I consider to be one of the great songwriters of our time. Someone that I can honestly say when I was in high school, I grew up listening to his music, and it really meant a lot to me. He’s been with me through my whole life, and he also, of course, is a New Jersey native [loud cheering]... That’s right, one of the great songwriters of our time. So would you please give a warm welcome, the great songwriter, New Jersey’s favorite son, ladies and gentlemen…” And Fishman hit the opening drum roll, and Trey rang out that signature-opening riff, and the crowd went wild… “Tom Marshall, ladies and gentlemen!”

Typical Phish tease! Indeed, we were treated to Tom Marshall, decked out in his best early-80’s Springsteen attire, singing The Boss’s most popular song.  Of course, nearly ten years later at Bonnaroo, Trey told a very similar story, only with a very different outcome.

Bruce Springsteen, “Born to Run”

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