New Jersey Stage Issue 71 | Page 37

years. Then last November I did a Light of Day show again in Dublin. Vini Lopez was on that show, so I got to meet Vini. He told a few stories about being on the road with Bruce. I actually got to play ‘Growin’ Up’ by Springsteen with Vini on drums. I couldn’t believe I was playing with the original drummer on that song.” While live performances with his band are on hold, Ben Reel has been putting digitally remastered recordings of live concerts from over the years for sale on his website. These “live bootlegs” are available for download per concert or by individual songs. “I’ve only put them up now because I had a lot of shows from the past which I didn’t have the chance to mix or have time to mix,” explained Reel. “So during this lockdown period, I went in and mixed a lot of the stuff - just to put up on the website for people to download.” As of this writing, Reel has a bootlegs available from a 2007 concert recorded for RTE Radio 1; a Watch a video for “Heart Just Won’t Heal” by Ben Reel NJ STAGE - ISSUE 71 INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 37