Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform 'Badlands' during their first night performance at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
(Photo: Summit Speech School)
You can never tell what’s going to happen at Max Weinberg’s Jukebox.
Video screens on stage have a list of songs Weinberg and his band will play as audience members shout out requests. Some songs are getting picked more than others.
It’s not like any old concert.
“One of my favorites that’s emerged, and I never played this before, is ‘I Can See for Miles’ by The Who,” said Weinberg, who brings his Jukebox to the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Wednesday, Aug. 30. “It’s on the list and it gets picked every night because nobody’s played it — even The Who, who very rarely played that song. I kind of do my impression of Keith Moon.”
MORE: Max and Jay Weinberg hold drum clinic at the Lakehouse in Asbury Park
Forgive the drumming legend, a long-time member of the E Street Band, if he pretends he’s another drumming legend.
“There’s a song we recorded back in the ’80s, it was called ‘Mary Lou,’ and ‘Where the Bands Are,’ where I was channeling, at least in my heart, Keith Moon (the drummer for the Who),” Weinberg said.
The Jukebox format allows a little rock ’n’ roll fantasy to take place each night.
“Every song that we play, it could be Bobby Elliott of the Hollies, we do a bunch of Hollies material,” said Weinberg, a former Jersey Shore resident who now lives in Florida. “Levon Helm, if we play ‘The Weight.’ ‘The Weight’ gets called out a lot – people like that song.”
Glen Burtnik, Bob Burger and John Merjave, three-fourths of the Weeklings, will play with Weinberg at the Pony. Dave “Squiggy” Biglin is jumping in on the keyboards for the show. Weinberg’s manager came up with the idea and the Jukebox shows started after the E Street Band’s tour of Australia and New Zealand in the beginning of the year.
The Jukebox is a variation of the sign request portion of the Springsteen and the E Street Band shows.
“This show helps me utilize some of the chops I developed on TV, where I stepped out from behind the drum set,” said Weinberg, who indeed did became a TV star on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.” “I did that for 17 years and you develop certain extra-musical abilities. I always wondered when I stopped doing that, would there ever be an opportunity to be able to use some of that knowledge and abilities of being on TV all those years in some sort of setting. This does contain both.”
Broadway and a certain E Street Band member have been in the news as of late.
“It’s a fantastic idea,” said Weinberg of “Springsteen on Broadway,” which premieres in October. “I was delighted to wake up one morning and read the newspaper and there was the announcement. Bruce on his own, playing piano or whatever he does, is unbelievably compelling. Very often, when we’re in Europe playing these big stadiums, 50, 60, 100,000 people, invariably, Bruce will show and he’ll go out and do a five- or six- song set for the people who were there at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. He doesn’t have to do that, that’s a very admirable thing, I believe, and it’s always a surprise -- it’s never planned. He just goes out there. He ‘s our fearless leader who is always pushing the envelope and thank God for that.”
Wednesday at the Stone Pony, Weinberg is the fearless leader — but you get to call the shots.
“It’s basically what the audience wants to hear for 90 minutes,” Weinberg said. “It’s fun.”
Chris Jordan: cjordan@app.com