Glory days? No. Here's when the wheel literally fell off Springsteen, E Street Band

Chris Jordan, Asbury Park Press
Updated ·2 min read

The Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band touring team has a reputation as a first-rate operation.

Back in the early days, things were considerably rougher. Let's say band members are not good with flat tires.

Springsteen and members of the E Street Band spoke about how rough it was Oct. 28 at the day-long symposium for “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" 50th anniversary at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. Springsteen and band members trekked in a station wagon from the Jersey Shore to 914 Sound Recording Studios in Blauvelt, New York, where the album was being recorded in 1973.

A flat tired caused quite a predicament.

“I remember the wheel falling off one night,” Springsteen said. “We had taken off the lug nuts off because we had a flat. Well, when we got all the lug nuts off the tire still wouldn't come off. So we drove with the tire with no lug nuts and finally about a mile down the road the tire flew off with a rain of sparks. So that was kind of the level we were living at in those days.”

Thankfully no one was hurt.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, pictured by Danny Clinch in January of 2023 at the Vogel, part of the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, pictured by Danny Clinch in January of 2023 at the Vogel, part of the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank.

A hotel room was a luxury back then. The band pitched a tent outside the studio.

“It was me and C.C.,” said Vini Lopez, referring to the late Clarence Clemons. “It was the original Temple of Soul. Nobody wanted to go in there with me and Clarence.”

“The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle,” released on Nov. 5, 1973, is now considered a classic.

A publicity photo of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band around the time of "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." Left to right: Vini Lopez, Danny Federici, Springsteen, Gary Tallent and Clarence Clemons (whose name on the photo is misspelled).
A publicity photo of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band around the time of "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." Left to right: Vini Lopez, Danny Federici, Springsteen, Gary Tallent and Clarence Clemons (whose name on the photo is misspelled).

“We were recording around the clock, whenever we could, and I guess we couldn't afford hotel rooms at the time so somebody came up with the idea of let's pitch a tent in the yard,” Springsteen said. “So when people aren't playing they can go lay down because that's pretty much what we had to do.”

Springsteen and Lopez appeared with original E Street Band members David Sancious and Garry Tallent, who is still an E Street Band member, at the Oct. 28 symposium. The panel was moderated by Tom Cunningham, deejay at Long Branch's 107.1 The Boss.

The day, which included musical performances by the E Streeters except for Springsteen, was presented by the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music.

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen recalls wheel falling off station wagon in 1973