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The Boss gets woozy when Steven Van Zandt reveals his Boston roots at Gillette Springsteen show
“Steven Van Zandt is not from New Jersey ladies and gentlemen!”
An undisclosed illness may have sidelined Bruce Springsteen from his scheduled Philadelphia shows earlier this month, but it was a self-diagnosed panic attack that afflicted him during his Gillette Stadium concert on Saturday, after E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt revealed his Boston roots.
It was during the encore performance of “Glory Days” — during the pair’s regular shtick where they ask the crowd, “Do you want to go home?” — that Van Zandt ad-libbed, “You know, I was born here.”
“In Boston?” the Boss responded.
“Yeah, Watertown!” Van Zandt declared.
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“Watertown Boston?” was Springsteen’s not entirely geographically correct response. “Steven Van Zandt is not from New Jersey ladies and gentlemen!”
He then paused, put his hand to his forehead as if he’d come down with the vapors, and said, “I’m having a panic attack!,” before the two re-launched into the classic song from Springsteen’s best-selling 1984 album, “Born in the USA.”
Worcester journalist @CraigSemon posted the interchange on Twitter/X, prompting a one-word response from Van Zandt: “WATERTOWN!”
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It’s true that Van Zandt spent his early years in Watertown, although he told Boston.com in 2021 that he doesn’t remember much, having moved to New Jersey at age 7.
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“All I remember (is) just a couple things,” Van Zandt said. “I remember my grandfather bringing me to the Italian section of town. There were still pushcarts in the ’50s, like ‘The Godfather: Part II,’ you know? That kind of vibe.”
But he also said that Boston has been more than welcoming every time he’s returned. “It’s great. It’s one of the great towns,” he said. “I got some really important friends there, you know, [J. Geils Band frontman] Peter Wolf is one of my best friends and I know the Aerosmith guys … It’s just a great town. Always has been.”
Also in 2021, Van Zandt rolled out (so to speak) Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary pre-rolled joints as an exclusive at Massachusetts’s own Canna Provisions, which has locations in Lee and Holyoke.
Saturday’s show was the second of two performances by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Foxborough during the latest leg of their 2023 world tour.
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