Jay Weinberg recently spoke with DannyWimmerPresents about his experiences with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. When asked which was more ‘terrifying’ for him, joining Slipknot or playing with Bruce Springsteen, the drummer recalled his early performances with the singer. He stated: “Oh, boy! Both were definitely remarkable occurrences in my life. I mean, I credit Bruce and my father for coming up with the idea to having me cover for him in that. They took a shot in complete darkness.” Weinberg, who shared Springsteen’s reservations about him, recalled: “Like, I had played my biggest show at the time, maybe in front of fifty people at most.” So they actually took a chance because I walked up on stage to perform one song, and that was the litmus test, and then when the scheduling conflict with my father arose, Bruce was like, ‘Do you think Jay would be able to learn 400 other songs and do this on a longer-term basis?'” He also stated: “So they gave me that opportunity, and there was literally my blood family as well as people I’d known since before I could remember.” I’ve known these people all my life.” Going back to his first concert with Bruce Springsteen, the Slipknot drummer replaced his father in the E Street Band for a show at Giants Stadium in 2008.
In a 2021 discussion with Sweetwater, he remembered the moment in front of an audience of 80 000 people and characterized it as: “Totally bizarre. Yes, I was 17, around three years after I started playing drums. But those three years felt like self-imposed boot camp to me; that was all I did.” The drummer went on to say about the song he performed on stage with the band: “I was fortunate enough to be on tour with them a lot of the time, so I’ve seen all of this growing up, and I knew a song like ‘Born To Run’ like the back of my hand.” The videos below feature Jay Weinberg’s 2008 concert with Bruce Springsteen as well as his recent interview.
