Bruce Springsteen(Steel Mill)1971-01-23 The Upstage Coffeehouse, Asbury Park, NJ

 

Steel Mill
January 23, 1971
The Upstage Coffeehouse, Asbury Park, NJ


01 Sweet Melinda
02 Oh Mama Why
03 He's Guilty

Brucebase 2019
1971-01-23 - THE UPSTAGE, ASBURY PARK, NJ
SWEET MELINDA / OH MAMA / HE'S GUILTY (THE JUDGE SONG)
One show, double bill, with Steel Mill headlining and National Debt opening. This was advertised as the final Steel Mill gig and current evidence supports this, including Springsteen noting this fact at D'Scene earlier in the week. The dissolution of Steel Mill was amicable. Apparently, Bruce had informed members in December, prior to a Christmas trip to California, of his desire to explore other musical directions. Speaking of his brief, five-month (September 1970 - January 1971) Steel Mill tenure, vocalist Robbin Thompson has commented: "it was a strange thing. No one really knew why I was in the band….but about half way through I knew the band, as it was, wasn't going to last, especially me."

Jeannie played The Upstage the night after the show listed above.
The Upstage Coffeehouse was a great place – small and intimate with a listening crowd. I remember climbing the stairway that led to the tiny backstage area. The stage itself was compact, but didn't discourage the musicians on hand to jam at times on my solo sets – Bruce, Garry Tallent, Vini Lopez, Steven Van Zandt, "Southside" Johnny Lyon, and my good friend, the late clarinet/sax player, Terry Loughran. I sang and banged on the old, out-of -tune upright piano or strummed my Martin guitar, while Tinker taped the music onto his reel-to-reel recorder. (I still have the original tape of the show on January 24th. The band, "Odin", with their lengthy, spacey, instrumental, acid-rock music, played that night, also.)
Songs: "Feel Like A Woman", "Back Here", "Livin' In The Country", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "The World's A Sad Place", "Black Skies", "No One's Lesson But Your Own".
-Jeannie Clark Fisher

The above-mentioned partial setlist is taken from a very good quality soundboard recording that is now in circulation. This material has yet to appear on any mainstream CD boot, but can be found on the CDR 'Legend Of Steel Mill' (Vintage Masters). The audio features continuity between songs and marks the first ever appearance of any Springsteen audio from The Upstage. These three songs are culled from early in the set and may possibly be the show's opening three numbers. This is also the first time a rendition of "Sweet Melinda" has surfaced in nice sound quality. The remainder of the show has not surfaced.

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