Southside Johnny Comes to Connecticut Ahead of European Dates

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes are headed for the Nutmeg State. Johnny and the crew are coming to the Ridgefield Playhouse on April 27th. 2024. Southside & the Jukes are the most-presented artist at the Ridgefield Playhouse, this will be their 18th live performance at RPH.

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Johnny called the I-95 Morning Show on Wednesday (4/24/24) and we covered a lot of ground.

Lou: You had a health scare at the Stone Pony show, the 50th anniversary show but it turns out you were dehydrated. Is everything OK? 

SJ: "Well dehydrated? I think I wasn't eating enough. I don't really know, I don't know what happened, I had a lot of checks, they couldn't find anything wrong with me other than my mental state. But, I'm in terrific health certainly I've not taken care of myself for the last fifty years. It's just genetic I guess, I don't know what happened, it's just one of those out-of-body experiences. Of the thousands and thousands and thousands of shows I've played, I've missed very few of them. So, it happens, what are you gonna do?"

Ethan: Do you have any plans for retirement or are you just going to rock until you drop? 

SJ: "I'm going to retire and still rock until I drop but it will just be a rocking chair. I found a retirement home in New Jersey that has a bar so you've seen the last of me haha!"

Dave: Is there any area of the country where you prefer performing? 

SJ: "Well, the East Coast is our real stomping grounds but I love playing out in California because I love playing out in California because of the weather but if I had my druthers, where would I play? Probably around here in this area because the fans are so, they know me, they know us. We can do what we want and they'll just look at us and go, there they go again."

Lou: You're going to be in Italy in July and then off to the Netherlands, those European shows, that has got to be a blast right? 

SJ: "I love it, I love going to Europe. I always wanted to travel when I was young and being from a small town I never really thought it would happen and now I get to go all over the place, Cleveland, you know? What could be better?"

Lou: Well, the Netherlands borders Belgium and you should know that we happen to be pretty big in Brussels. We had 76 downloads last month on the podcast in Brussels so feel free to throw our names around while you're there. 

SJ: "Good God almighty! Well, I have friends in Belgium, we're looking forward to it. We played a couple of years ago, it's called Boz Pop and it's a big festival, they have a lot of people, we played with Jeff Beck, we stood and watched him and it was amazing how he was just attached to the guitar. I've seen a lot of great guitar players, I've never seen anybody who was so fluid and it just seems like part of his body, it was a great experience." 

Get your tickets now to see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at the Ridgefield Playhouse 

You can listen to our complete interview with Southside Johnny below. We learned about the current New Jersey music scene and a band Johnny is keeping an eye on. Ethan asked Johnny what three artists he has to have in his personal playlist. We also were schooled on what it was like growing up in Johnny's childhood home.

Check out the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave Podcast on Apple and Spotify

Back in 2016 we had Johnny on the show and I revealed to him that I was the one who ate his shrimp backstage at the Milford Oyster Fest.

In 2019, Southside Johnny gave me the business for my stance on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Fun Fact: I call Johnny the Larry David of Rock music because he always brings a hilarious point-of-contention to the I-95 Morning Show.