The third year of the private Rumson Country Day School benefits with Bruce, Patti Scialfa, Southside Johnny and Bobby Bandiera. Bobby Bandiera and his band provided backing throughout the night, along with Jukes horns Ed Manion, Joey Stann, and Chris Anderson. Admission was once again, as previous years restricted to RCDS parents.
Springsteen attends the fourth Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremonies. The night's inductees are Dion, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and Phil Spector, plus The Ink Spots, Bessie Smith, and The Soul Stirrers in the Early Influences category. As had been the case in January 1987 (when
Bruce inducted Roy Orbison and performed) and January 1988 (when
Bruce inducted Bob Dylan and performed) Springsteen took the stage, joining in the all-star jam on most of the songs and sings lead on "
Crying", dedicated to Roy Orbison, who had passed away only a few weeks earlier. Bruce plays guitar on all songs, plus tambourine on "
Uptight (Everything's Alright)". The all-star band includes, along with Bruce, most of The Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Mick Taylor), most of The Temptations (Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, and Otis Williams), Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Little Richard, Pete Townshend, Dion, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Anita Baker, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Ben E. King, Bobby McFerrin, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Foreigner's Mick Jones, and more. Bruce attended with Patti Scialfa and, according to some reports, former Castiles member George Theiss attended. Former E Streeter Band member Vini Lopez was definitely there and took part in the show. He later recalled "They had the whole induction ceremony and four hours later, Bill Graham is on stage and he's pulling people out of the audience. Bruce comes up to me and says, "You see that other drum set up there? " Next thing you know, I was up there. I played for an hour and a half with those guys. Paul Simon, Steve Wonder. It was cool. Mick Jagger was leaning on my shoulder, singing 'Honky Tonk Woman' with Tina Turner."