Bruce Springsteen Live! exhibit gets rave review from E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent

The Bruce Springsteen Live! exhibit, now on display at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a hit.

Just ask E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent.

“It's great,” said Tallent last month when the exhibit was at the Grammy Museum Experience at the Prudential Center in Newark. “I'm a fan of museums. I go to them all the time. I didn't necessarily like being a museum piece but you live long enough maybe you get lucky enough to be a museum piece.”

Tallent toured Bruce Springsteen Live! during a closing reception in Newark on March 16. He was stopped about every 15 feet or so by fans who wanted to take their picture with him.

“They are the real relics,” said Tallent about the exhibition items. “They're not just copies.”

The relics include Tallent's black Spector bass. He was especially impressed by the photos, which included a rare picture of the E Street Band with drummer Ernest “Boom” Carter in the band by Nicki Germaine, and a Lynn Goldsmith collage.

“I think a lot of people are going to be excited to see these images that they haven't seen before,” Tallent said.

More: Marion Vinyard, who opened her doors to Bruce Springsteen's first band, has died

Also: Bruce Springsteen performs remotely in quarantine after possible exposure to COVID

Reception attendees were a who's who of E Street, including vocalist Lisa Lowell; Springsteen managers Jon Landau and Barbara Carr; her husband, author and radio host Dave Marsh; Springsteen publicist Marilyn Laverty; George McMorrow, who filmed the Springsteen interviews in the exhibit; exhibit photographers Germaine, Jim Marchese, PJay Plutzer and Russ Ceccola, representing his brother Phil Ceccola; and Eileen Capman, director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University..

The exhibit is presented by the Grammy Museum Experience Prudential Center, the Grammy Museum, and the Springsteen Archives. It set an attendance record for the Grammy Museum Experience, Chapman said.

The record was especially impressive because hours were reduced due to COVID, she noted.

“This is only half of the exhibit, we have more stuff at the Archives,” Chapman said. “We're going to go to Tulsa with all the items that are going on to Los Angeles. We’re taking it all at this point because we've been bursting at the seams with guitar cases, accordion cases and boxes of stuff that’s not yet been used.”

The exhibit runs Saturday, April 16 through Sept. 25 at the Woody Guthrie Center. It then moves on to the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

The artifacts and exhibits of Bruce Springsteen Live! include:

• The “Tunnel of Love” ticket booth from the 1988 “Tunnel of Love” tour.

• Stage clothing, outfits and accessories from Springsteen and members of the E Street Band.

• A signed Human Rights Tour itinerary from the 1988 six-week benefit world tour, raising funds for Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 40th anniversary of its sponsor, Amnesty International. Signatures include Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N’ Dour and more.

• The “Born to Run” Esquire guitar. The iconic modified Fender guitar that was featured on the cover of “Born to Run” and other album covers.

• Clarence Clemons' saxophone, which is now used by Clemons' nephew, Jake Clemons, in concert.

• A Roy Bittan synthesizer with song chord cheat notes.

• An E Street Band concert guest list.

Tallent, a Neptune City native who lives in Nashville, is on hand in Tulsa for the opening there.

“I'm happy to be a museum relic,” Tallent quipped.

This story has been updated. Subscribe to app.com for the latest on Bruce Springsteen and the New Jersey music scene.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen Live! exhibit gets Garry Tallent rave review