March 27, 2025
Well, despite the old joke, he didn't "practice, practice, practice" to get to Carnegie Hall last night, since he wasn't part of the public-rehearsal event held the night before at City Winery NYC. But then again, Bruce Springsteen IS already rather familiar with how to play the Patti Smith song that he performed and sang lead on at yesterday's People Have The Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith tribute event, benefiting "music programs for kids" as per the show's poster (see below,) since he famously shares a co-writing credit for it with Smith and has been performing his own version of it since 1978.
Springsteen wasn't even officially announced as part of the bill until earlier this week. Nevertheless, he came prepared to take the stage for the evening's penultimate slot before Patti Smith herself appeared to bring it all back home. Backed by the event's house band - The Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea; the most recent Rolling Stones touring drummer (as well as longtime friend/musical collaborator of Patti Scialfa,) Steve Jordan; Bob Dylan's former guitarist Charlie Sexton; Patti Smith Band guitarist Tony Shanahan; and legendary Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench - Springsteen introduced his performance of "Because The Night" (of course) as follows: “We love ya, Patti. Patti gave me this big hit, right here, I’m about to sing... If I had sung this song, it would not have been a hit. It needed her voice, and her incredible lyrics, so Patti, I have to thank you, so dearly, for our one big hit together. Thank you, darlin'. Play it, Benmont...” Tench then played the beautiful piano intro to the song, before Bruce and the entire band dove into its searing rock arrangement.
Fittingly, Springsteen performed Smith's version of the song, featuring the lyrics she wrote for it. Although Bruce has performed the song live with the E Street Band many times over the years since 1978, he rarely performs this version of the song. Instead, he usually performs "Because The Night" using an alternate set of lyrics that he wrote for his own live performances of the song. (For his 2010 release The Promise, Springsteen also recorded with the E Street Band an in-studio version of "Because The Night" using Smith's lyrics.)
At last night's event, Springsteen also joined all of the evening's other performers - including Julia Banks, Paul Banks, Courtney Barnett, Matt Berninger, Body/Head (Kim Gordon and Bill Nace,) Johnny Depp, Glen Hansard, Ben Harper, Susanna Hoffs, Jim Jarmusch, Scarlett Johansson, Lenny Kaye, Kronos Quartet, Andy LeMaster, Jesse Malin, Alison Mosshart, the Music Will Academy of Lower Manhattan Public Middle School, Karen O., Angel Olsen, Sean Penn, Maggie Rogers, Michael Shannon, Jesse Paris Smith, Michael Stipe, and Sharon Van Etten - in backing Patti Smith and the house band for a show-closing version of "People Have The Power," the inspiring anthem that Smith wrote with her late husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5. Click here to read more about "People Have The Power" and other Smith/MC5/E Street intersections over the years.