BY Annie May
Staff Reporter
Sacred Heart University’s “Family Weekend,” was filled with many activities for both students and parents. From a football game to a Bruce Springsteen tribute show, there was a lot happening on campus.
On Saturday Oct 27, the Bruce Springsteen tribute group “Tramps Like Us” visited Sacred Heart for “Family Weekend,” performing two different shows for students and their families.
The tribute band played many of Springsteen’s hits, including “Glory Days”, “Thunder Road” & “Dancing in the Dark” as well as concluding with the famous Springsteen cover of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”.
Both parents and students got up and danced in front of the stage throughout the performance and gave a standing ovation at the conclusion of the show.
“It was incredible, I loved it. If you closed your eyes, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this lead singer and Springsteen. My parents have loved Springsteen their whole lives, so hearing this was great for them,” said senior Connor Sivacek
“Tramps Like Us” has been touring for over 25 years and has performed over 2000 concerts, recreating Springsteen’s iconic music.
“I’m really enjoying the “Family Weekend,” experience, especially after this concert. The band was outstanding. I definitely didn’t expect to like the show as much as I did,” said freshman Matt Ferri.
Featuring saxophone, keys, vocals, drums & bass, “Tramps like Us” is a full band. The musicians in the group come from different musical backgrounds and training, but they all share a passion for Springsteen’s music.
“The thing I notice most from playing University shows like this, is that the students know a lot more Springsteen then I expect,” said founder and front-man of “Tramps Like Us” Mark Salore.
Although the band has gained popularity over the years, they admit that in the beginning, they did not predict the success they would have.
“We were playing Greenwich village in the 80s, just a basic rock cover band. We played Springsteen, Beatles, Petty, all the standard stuff. At the time there were a lot of tribute bands, but there wasn’t a Bruce band,” said Salore.
“The owner of where we were playing kept trying to convince me to start a Springsteen tribute because we played so many of his songs. At the time, I wanted no part of it, I thought it would be too much work. But one night we decided we’d give it a go and we sold the place out. The Bruce thing just took off and it was marketable, and we haven’t stopped since,” said Salore.
Although there are other Springsteen tribute groups, “Tramps like Us” prides themselves on being the only tribute band to be endorsed by “The Springsteen camp” such as former producer and manager Mike Appel and the official Springsteen Radio Station: E Street Radio/Sirius XM.
“I thought the show was great, it was interactive I enjoyed it,” said junior Erica Cardinuto.
According to the band’s website, they have a repertoire of over 140 Springsteen songs.
“This show was short for us, but it was a great show. We usually play three to four hours,” said saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist of “Tramps like Us” John Winton.
Springsteen himself was known for performing for up to four hours at a time without any breaks, and that seems to be one of the traditions that “Tramps Like Us” likes to keep in their typical gigs.
With the 2017 “Family Weekend,” tribute of Billy Joel, and the Jersey Boys tribute that visited campus for “Family Weekend,” in 2016, it leaves students with the question, what tribute group will perform next at the “Family Weekend?”
