THE NIGHT BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ACCIDENTLY SPIT ON ME.
October 1973

Here's the story: I went to see John Sebastian at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band was the opening act. At the time I was a big John Sebastian fan. So I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. I knew it was going to be a good show. Bruce Springsteen had just come out with his second album "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle." I actually went out and bought the album after reading an article about Springsteen in the The Village Voice. I thought it was a fantastic album.
Springsteen was not well known yet. But, he was on his way. One of the New York papers even called him the new Dylan. So I figured the show gave me a chance to see Sebastian again and to check out this new guy Springsteen. I went to Tickettron the morning tickets went on sale. I actually got a ticket in the first row.
Springsteen is a real energy performer. I was just about 10' away from him when he was singing one of the songs from "The Wild and the Innocent.." Maybe it was "Incident on 57th Street" or "Spirits in the Night" from the first album, but I felt it. As he was singing his spit hit me right in the face. Anyway, it was a great show!

It's hard to believe that in 1973 Bruce Springsteen actually was the opening act for John Sebastian. There was actually a third act on the show that was added late and was not on the program. It was Dan Fogelberg with guest star Joe Walsh.

Here is a copy of the program for Bruce Springsteen. This reproduction you can actually read. Here is a copy of the program for John Sebastian. It did not reproduce very well.Sebastian was still very popular at the time. Having written and sung all the songs for the Lovin Spoonful and singing his solo hits at Woodstock he was at the height of his popularitity.