Bigtime Bruce fan Chris Christie finally got an acknowledgment from his Jersey idol. The rock star praised Christie’s efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy at a show in Rochester on Wednesday night.
Before starting “My City in Ruins,” reports the New York Times and Backstreets.com, Springsteen launched into a speech about his connection to the Jersey Shore:
“We wish you a happy Halloween, but we are a rock ‘n’ roll band from the Jersey Shore, and tonight we carry a lot of sadness in our hearts. This was originally a song about my adopted hometown struggling to get on its feet — it struggled for 25 years, a quarter-century, while we watched for Asbury come back. And we are very proud to say over the past decade, it has risen up and flourished in a way I wasn’t ever sure I’d see in my lifetime. And it will do so again!
We’re a band that you can’t separate from the Jersey Shore… still basically a glorified bar band — at your service! — so we’re gonna do this tonight from our hometown to your hometown. We’ll send this out to all the people working down there: the police officers, the firemen, and also to the governor, who has done such a hard job this past week.”
Christie, who’s never masked his love for The Boss, has not always received praise from the musician. Per Politico, Springsteen has campaigned for the re-election of President Obama, declined multiple concert requests from Christie, spoken on gay marriage laws that Christie opposed and even written into his hometown newspaper criticizing the governor’s budget cuts.
On Friday night, Springsteen will join Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel and other stars for a telethon airing on NBC that will raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
