There was a surprise guest at a Monmouth U. symposium on Springsteen — the Boss himself

Things got “Wild” at the Jersey Shore Saturday.

A day long symposium marking the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s classic album “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle” at Monmouth University in West Long  Branch featured an unannounced appearance — by the Boss himself.

Springsteen was interviewed on stage at the university’s Pollak Theatre by Robert Santelli, executive director of the presenting Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music.

“The album is a lovely wild card — me finally getting a chance to express myself,” Springsteen said. “Everything I’ve basically done for the rest of my career started on “The Wild and the Innocent.’ It’s a lovely little record and I’m still very proud of it.”

Springsteen then participated on a panel that included original E Street Band members Vini Lopez, David Sancious and Garry Tallent, who is still an E Street Band member, moderated by Tom Cunningham, deejay at Long Branch's 107.1 The Boss.

“I felt safe in the E Street Band when I was unsure of so many things,” said Springsteen, holding Tallent’s arm. “There really weren’t any other musicians who could have captured that sound at that moment.”

The album followed the Springsteen's debut, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J," released earlier in '73

"The main thing for me on 'The Wild and the Innocent' was that I wanted to introduce myself as a rock 'n' roll performer," Springsteen said. "Because I was signed as a singer-songwriter. Early '70s was a big bloom for singer-songwriters, they were all in the Top 10 so they were signing everybody who could write a song, I guess. So my first record I wasn't allowed to put any electric guitar on it. John Hammond wanted it to be just an acoustic record with acoustic guitar, but we sort of worked getting the guys in a little bit. But the second record I knew I wanted to write basically a rock and soul music."

The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" was recorded at 914 Sound Recording Studios in Blauvelt, New York, over the course of three months in 1973 in between live shows. A tent was pitched by band members outside the studio to crash when not recording.

"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 Clemons."

Executives at Columbia Records were not thrilled with the final product. On an earlier panel, Steve Appel, brother of former Springsteen manager Mike Appel, said he brought a tape of the album's lead single, "The E Street Shuffle," to Columbia executive John Hammond, the man who signed Springsteen.

"The song starts and the stopwatch is going and I know that's not a good thing," Steve Appel said. "So it continues and continues and it gets to 2:30, 2:45 and then it's three minutes and he (says), ‘Jesus Christ! What are you guys doing? This is not a single! I'm calling Bruce — this is outrageous!’”

The executives at Columbia wanted Springsteen to ditch his band and re-record "The Wild and Innocent" with studio musicians.

"I said 'I can't do that," Springsteen said. "I stuck to my guns and said I'm not going with studio musicians."

The album is now considered a classic.

After the panels, Jersey Shore musicians and the E Street Band members performed songs from the album — except for Springsteen.

Williams Honor played “Sandy (4th of July, Asbury Park)”; Will Hercek and Mike Caruso played “Wild Billy’s Circus”; Pat Guadagno, Richard Blackwell, Lopez and Sancious performed “New York City Serenade,” which included a stirring piano intro by Sancious; Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie with Lopez played “Incident on  57th Street”; the Pat Roddy Band joined Lisa Lowell and Lopez for “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," which brought the crowd to its feet, and jammed with Lopez, Tallent, Sancious, Blackwell and Lowell for “Kitty’s Back.”

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All the musicians played “E Street Shuffle” with Roddy and Reagan Richards of Williams Honor on lead vocals.

“It’s called jamming with the E Street Band, and its the the pleasure of our lifetime,” Roddy said. “And that’s no joke.”

Symposium events began at 9 a.m. on an unusually warm late October sunny day. Springsteen said he was at the beach, located blocks away, before he joined in. Several groups of fans took their lunch break on the lawns surrounding the theater.

Attendee Frank Luna of Bradley Beach sunbathed during the break.

“As these guys start to get older, the fact that they're spending so much time in the place where they originated is a really cool way to just capitalize on everything they're doing and done, it's a story,” said Luna before Springsteen showed up. “If Springsteen shows up at Monmouth University on a day that he'd probably rather be at the beach, God bless him.”

Springsteen postponed E Street Band shows for the rest of the year in September due to a bout with peptic ulcer disease. Springsteen said he was recovering “steadily” on the Oct. 9 broadcast of his SiriusXM “From My Home to Yours” show.

“We will see you in the new year and we will bring it to you in your town at the top of our game — there's no other way,” Springsteen said.

New dates in 2024 have been announced for the postponed shows.

More: Released 50 years ago, Springsteen's 'The Wild, the Innocent' lives on as fan favorite

'The Wild' released in 1973

“The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle” was released on Nov. 5, 1973, by Columbia Records. The album was Springsteen's second, following “Greetings from Asbury Park N.J.”

Performing on the album, which was produced by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, were Springsteen, guitar and vocals; Sancious, keyboards; Danny Federici, keyboards; Tallent, bass; Lopez, drums; Clemons, saxophone; Albee Tellone, saxophone; Blackwell, percussion; and Suki Lahav, vocals.

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The Springsteen Archives, which recently announced plans for an expansion, held a similar “Greetings” symposium earlier this year, also in the Pollak Theatre.

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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: Springsteen: Celebrating 50 years of Wild Innocent E Street Shuffle