He strikes the first chords on his guitar, and the air becomes electric. A capacity crowd of 800 reacts with a roar and cries out for more from this scraggy Jersey rocker who has just hit the auditorium stage.
The scene is a dimly lit venue at Salem State College in 1974. The performer is little-known Bruce Springsteen.
A 25-year-old singer-songwriter, Springsteen and the E Street Band are just beginning to make their mark. The sound is new and edgy, yet recalls the roots of rock 'n' roll with rhythms of folk and words that portray an Everyman's tale. Springsteen's prowess on stage is undeniable, and the college's student newspaper, The Salem State Log, announces "800 screaming Salem State fans can't be wrong."
Ten years earlier, in October 1964, folk singers Carl Watabane, Johnny Talbot and Isabelle Gardner found the campus less welcoming when, according to the Log, they were "shooed off stage" by administrators for remarks regarded as "distasteful and improper."
But Springsteen's performance came in the middle of a golden era in which 10 performers and bands since inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — Aerosmith, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, the Byrds, Chuck Berry, James Brown, The Lovin' Spoonful, Sam and Dave, Springsteen, and The Talking Heads — performed at Salem State.
Others who have graced the stage at Salem State, weaving their own legacies into the fabric of the college's musical past and present, include Duke Ellington, Patty Labelle, the Steve Miller Band, Jesse Colin Young, the Clancy Brothers, Judy Collins, the J. Geils Band, Grand Funk Railroad, Robin Lane, Jonathan Edwards, Robert Palmer and Livingston Taylor.
From Springsteen in 1974 to the Dropkick Murphys in 2006, Salem State's reputation for hosting some of history's most talented musicians is largely passed along as urban legend through the stories of those who were there.
After visiting Salem, Springsteen became the man who revitalized the rock genre, wearing the revered mantle once worn by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
Although Dylan never visited the school, Salem State alumnus Douglas Gilbert is the college's bridge to the legend. Acting as Dylan's personal shadow and photographer for more than a week in the mid-1960s, Gilbert captured images of the then relatively unknown musician before he catapulted to fame.
An Andover native who received his master's degree in social work from Salem State in 1993, Gilbert was just 21 years old when he followed the upstart Dylan with his camera. Together with Dave Marsh, he published those early photos in his 2005 book, "Forever Young."
The acts that played at the college reflected the music of the time, from folk, blues and soul in the 1960s to rock, disco and punk in later years. Bands had been playing at school dances, but the first real concerts started in the 1960s.
The shows were sponsored by the various classes, Beta Chi, the social committee, the concert committee and the Class of 1972, which was particularly active, sponsoring Grand Funk Railroad, the MC5, the Guess Who and Poco. More performances took place in Scarborough Fair, a coffeehouse in the basement of the Student Union (now the Ellison Campus Center), and there were frequent outdoor concerts in the 1970s, until noise complaints led to performances being held in the O'Keefe Sports Center.
Just this past year, Salem State hosted performances by Kalyanpur and jazz icon John Scofield in its recital hall, adding two more marquee names to an already impressive list.
Despite the inauspicious start, Salem State's rock roots run deep. As the music program attracts more students and hosts more big names each year, one last ceiling remains to be shattered; that will happen when one of the college's own returns to headline a stage at Salem State.
• • •
April Halloran has completed her requirements for an undergraduate degree in English from Salem State in 2010. Salem State archivist Susan Edwards contributed to this story, which was first published in this spring's edition of the school's alumni magazine, Salem Statement.
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