Nils Lofgren, a man as sweet as life itself (to quote Mr. Springsteen)--Part One 1990

In my life up to 1990, there was a favorite artist that I longed to see--Nils Lofgren.  He wasn't popular--ever.  I had never known of him until he joined Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band in 1984.  But he was a "Musician's Musician."  He was a good songwriter, singer and excellent guitarist.  Bruce had known about him since the days of Nils' DC-based band, Grin, and Neil Young brought Nils out to California (in 1969) to have him provide vocals, guitar and piano on After the Goldrush (you know that cool piano bit before and during the guitar solo in "Southern Man"?  that was Nils!).

So I became a member of the Nils Lofgren Fan Club based out of what was, in 1986, West Germany.  So a girl who contributed photos to the fanzine, Suzanne Hill, wrote me a letter and wondered if we could be penpals?  Sue lived in southern New Jersey near Philadelphia.  She was just a little older than me and had seen Nils a lot since he tended to play around the East Coast since he had a fan-base there.  I even visited Sue in 1987/1988 to see the sights including Asbury Park, Atlantic City, New York City and a teensy bit of Philadelphia (just the airport).  And of course, when we saw Ringo in 1989...

By 1990, my brother was teaching at Rutgers University and in May Nils was going to be doing shows.  Yeah!  I could combine a visit to my brother with going with Sue to all of these Nils shows!  I would be able to see one down in Baltimore, another in New York City, a third in a tiny town called Pipersville, Pennsylvania and finally Old Bridge Township, New Jersey (nearest to New Brunswick where my brother was living).  This was going to be so awesome!  Small clubs and my favorite artist.  What could be better?

May 12, 1990--Sue and I drove down to Baltimore, Maryland to meet up with her friend Pilar so we could go see Nils at Max's on Broadway in the Fell's Point area of Baltimore.  Sue wasn't sure if I would be visiting in time to see this particular concert so they took me to buy my ticket at the club.  It was such a thrill to say, "One for Nils Lofgren tonight" while Nils and the band were doing their soundcheck in the next room.  I heard "Empty Heart" and then "New Holes in Old Shoes."  After I got my ticket, I peeked through the French doors to see Nils and the New Keys (brother Tom Lofgren's band and Nils' backing band) rehearsing.  Oh, by the way, note the ticket price of $14.50.

I was too anxious to eat any dinner but managed one slice of cheese pizza and a caffeinated beverage.  Around 7:30 PM, we headed back to the venue.  We watched some of the New Keys (who were the opening act too) set out guitars and such.  We stood right in front of the stage near where bassist Ronnie Newmyer and guitarist Paul Bell would be.  Sue introduced me to Ronnie.  "Nice to meet you," Ronnie said.  I think I said something like, "Yeah, I came 2,500 miles to see you guys."  Ronnie said, "Is this for real?"  I told him that I have a Arizona driver's license to prove it.

The New Keys show was great.  I was familiar with most of their songs, they had pressed an album locally in Maryland and I had a copy.  Tom Lofgren, Nils' brother, was lead singer in the group.  I grabbed the set list at the end.  Note: if you were close enough to the stage at a bar gig, the band just tapes the set list by each microphone stand.  Still have the list!  Let's see if I can add a few pictures here. (Sue Hill took these photos)

Nils (right) and brother Tom (left)

 So Nils came out and played two songs at the electric piano, "The Sun Hasn't Set (on This Boy Yet)" and Carole King's "Goin' Back".  Nils then did an acoustic version of "Keith Don't Go." He played the song directly in front of me!  We'd all seen the set list before the concert started so we knew what to expect.  Since this was a "hometown" crowd a lot of Grin songs were performed.

 "White Lies" from Grin 1+1 and "See What a Love Can Do" from Grin's first album were great to hear.  Paul Bell and Nils did a great harmonics duet in the middle of that song!  The concert was divided into 2 sets so "New Holes in Old Shoes" ended the first set.  Wow!  Nils then said they were gonna take a short half hour break and he said, "Go do whatever you've got to do, and we'll be back."

Nils Lofgren set list 5/12/90

The second set kicked off with a blistering version of the Grin song, "Beggar's Day" which was also featured on the only Crazy Horse album.  It was so incredible to be front and center for this concert and my first chance to see Nils without Bruce so it was so cool.  "Cry Tough," "Delivery Night" and Grin's "Moon Tears" were showstoppers.  Nils and Tom did the 'circus act' in "Moon Tears" where they play each other's guitars!  An amazing chestnut from Grin "18-Faced Lover" with brother Tom singing was a treat for this Maryland crowd and yours truly!

Nils ended with "I Came to Dance" and then came back out for 3 songs for an encore: "Lean on Me," "Back It Up" and for all the mothers out there (this was the day before Mother's Day), "Shine Silently."  Very fittingly, the lines from "Shine":  "Don't let nothing stop you from dreaming, Don't let nothing keep you from your dreams now" really spoke to me.

After all of this excitement, and since Sue and Pilar are known to the band and even Nils after attending so many shows over the years, I said that if we could, I would really like to meet Nils that night.  Sue first talked with Nils' manager, who was not helpful at all.  Nothing was happening on that front.  Sue then approached Tom Lofgren and asked if it was okay if I got to meet Nils.  So when you approach the brother, things happen.  I recorded every detail when we came back to Sue's house in New Jersey at 4 something in the morning. In order not to bore the casual reader, Nils shook my hand, signed my ticket stub (see image further up in this blog) and took time to talk with me (at least 20 minutes).  We covered subjects like Arizona, school, birthdays (told him that he and the Kinks Ray Davies share the same one), the seasons, Jeff Beck (we both agreed he is our favorite guitarist--he shared he saw him on the last tour 1989 with Stevie Ray Vaughn), and while we talked he dug out a notebook and wrote a bigger autograph (To Sara: Health and happiness, Nils Lofgren 1990).  He noticed I was with Sue and Pilar and he told us to drive carefully (especially since we were driving back to New Jersey from Baltimore that late night!).  He shook my hand again and said he was looking forward to seeing me at the next couple of shows.  So wild and such a nice guy!

What an amazing night and an amazing opportunity!  Many people say don't meet your heroes as you will be disappointed.  This was not the case with Mr. Nils Lofgren and he really was, as Bruce Springsteen said in a E Street Band introduction, "A man as sweet as life itself."