So it's official:
In response to the many questions concerning the upcoming tour, the drummer on the small number of shows that Max Weinberg won't be able to appear at will be a brilliant young drummer from New Jersey named Jay Weinberg. Commenting on the situation, Bruce said: "Once again, I want to express my appreciation to Conan O'Brien, and everyone on his team, for making it possible for Max to continue to do double duty for both us and for him. We promise to return him in one piece." (Courtesy of Shore Fire Media, March 20, 2009)
Since the new Tonight Show starts on Jun 2nd, Jay Weinberg (who's Max's son) will be playing on most of the European shows. I just hope that Max will be present for the festivals, especially Glastonbury and Hard Rock Calling (which I'm attending!!). Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic to have a great drummer, especially if he's an E Streeter's son. But as Little Steven said, Max will be able to do a better job in 'reading' Bruce. So does that mean Jay Weinberg = No audibles/ boring setlists?
The E Street Band is also continuing the tradition of playing rehearsal shows at Asbury Park Convention Hall (Mar 23 & 24) one week before the first show of the tour. This'll probably be a great opportunity for Jay to show off this skills. From now on, I'll be posting the setlist after every show on the tour.
On a side note, Bruce Springsteen finally appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Thursday night. So-so interview, but I liked what Jon said to Bruce at the last part, something about his music being a big part of Jon's life. And Bruce ended with a great solo acoustic performance of Working On A Dream, better than when he played for Obama last November. This time, no cheesy, cringe-worthy whistling, but a good ol' harmonica.
