Stevie Van Zandt performs with The Disciples of Soul at ParkStage in Freehold, July 17.
July 17, at as show titled “250//The Concert” — originally scheduled for July 3, but postponed because of extreme heat on that day — Stevie Van Zandt opened his set with an urgent call to action that echoed the political theme of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s most recent tour: The title track of the 1984 Little Steven album Voice of America.
You can watch the performance, below.
“Can you hear me, wake up/Where’s the voice of America?” Van Zandt sings in this song. “Somebody help me, we gotta stop a crime/I been betrayed by my own kind/I been quiet, too quiet/While across the borderline, we die.”
According to setlist.fm, this was the first time Van Zandt has performed this song in concert since 1987.
The show, which took place at ParkStage in Freehold, also featured songs such as “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” “I Am a Patriot,” “Forever” and “Love on the Wrong Side of Town,” and had spotlight moments for Disciples of Soul members Marc Ribler, Jessie Wagner, Anthony Almonte and Lowell Levinger, all of whom have released albums on Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records, or plan to.
“This is the only band I know of with five solo acts in it,” Van Zandt said in a recent interview with NJArts.net. “(In Freehold) we’re gonna give a little taste of some of these things: showing off the variety of the band, rather than just exclusively my stuff.”
The concert also featured performances by The Jake Clemons Band, Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers (with special guest Gary U.S. Bonds) and The Weeklings. Low Cut Connie had been scheduled to perform at the July 3 show but had a scheduling conflict for July 17.
No more Disciples of Soul shows are currently planned. “This show could be the only Disciples gig, maybe, ever again,” Van Zandt said in the NJArts.net interview. “But certainly (it will be the only show) this year, unless we find a patron of the arts ready to shell out half a million dollars a week, which is not likely.”
Here is the Disciples of Soul setlist, according to setlist.fm:
“Voice of America”
“Lyin’ in a Bed of Fire”
“Inside of Me”
“Soulfire”
“Love on the Wrong Side of Town”
“Trapped Again”
“Party Mambo!”
“Can You Feel It”
“Armageddon” (featuring Marc Ribler)
“Wicked Cool (featuring Jessie Wagner)
“Caminando” (featuring Anthony Almonte)
“Hippie Song” (featuring Lowell Levinger)
“I Am a Patriot”
“Love Again”
“Bitter Fruit”
“Soul Power Twist”
“Forever”
Encore:
“I Don’t Want to Go Home”
“Out of the Darkness”
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