Earle & Springsteen

1st encore - Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (Carl Perkins) / Sweet Virginia (Jagger/Richards) / Guitar Town (Earle) /
I Ain't Ever Satisfied (Earle) - 2nd encore - Dead Flowers (Jagger/Richards) / Johnny Come Lately (Earle)

Bruce played rhythm guitar (Steve's Epiphone) and sang backup vocals, only singing one verse by himself
(on Everybody's....) He took only one solo or two on the guitar. He looked great, really happy."

From: "Lockard, Dennis"
Subject: Brush with Greatness
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 13:14:47 -0500

I went to see Steve Earle last night (Feb. 6th) at Tradewinds. I knew that Steve was a big Springsteen fan, and I thought, "well maybe." But I've been disappointed so many times before, so I really didn't have much hope. Excellent show, opened by Buddy and Julie Miller, who are absolutely great. Steve's regular set ended at about 12:25 AM, and we were just deciding whether we should head out since we had a two-hour drive ahead of us. We figured that we should wait and see what the first encore would be.

Photo courtesy of Cheryl Wilson

After about a five-minute wait, the band came out again, and yes, Bruce Springsteen was on the stage!! Steve joked, "they'll let anybody in here." Finally, I was about to see Springsteen in a club! He looked fit and very happy. Bruce strapped on Steve's Epiphone as Steve announced, "this is for Carl Perkins," and they launched into "Everybody's Trying to be My Baby." Bruce sang back-up and played rhythm (as he did on every song), but part-way through the song, Bruce sang a verse alone, and the crowd, already in near-hysterics, went completely nuts. Bruce also played a fairly passionate solo (one of few during his appearance).

Steve then said that they had a thing for British hillbilly songs and they did the Stones "Sweet Virginia," and it was pretty astonishing to see Bruce and Steve share a mic and sing "got to scrape the shit right off your shoes." "Guitar Town" was next followed by an intense "I Ain't Ever Satisfied," which ended the first encore.

The band then came back on and did the Stones' "Dead Flowers," and Bruce sang backup. I'm pretty sure he really didn't know all the words, but he still gave it hell nonetheless. The night ended with "Johnny Come Lately," and again, I don't think Bruce knew the song too well. He watched the other musicians intently in an attempt to follow along. It seemed that he was just happy to be out and playing a little rock and roll again. So, in total it was six songs, and it ended around 1 A.M.