Gaslight Anthem Rock With Bruce Springsteen in Asbury Park, N.J.

The "Bruuuce" birds flocked to the boardwalk in Asbury Park, N.J., on Friday night (Dec. 9), calling for the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, to rear his head after each of the first 18 songs the Gaslight Anthem played at Convention Hall in support of the Wounded Warrior Project.

And as the roadie appeared from the shadowy wings of the stage, microphone stand in hand, a sudden hush fell over the sold-out congregation. The moment they'd been calling for since the punk collective opened with 'Great Expectations' more than 60-minutes prior was unfolding before them -- the silence before the storm.

"We didn't forget where we came from," said Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon, addressing the assemblage in a fashion reminiscent of Springsteen's holiday-themed playfulness in the E Street Band's famed live rendition of 'Santa Clause Is Coming Town.' "Want me to me see if he's back there? Alright, I'll check it out."

Clad in brown leather bomber jacket, Springsteen emerged from the backstage area and, like a rock 'n' roll Saint Nicholas with a six-string strapped to his back in place of a toy sack, he shouted two words: "Merry Christmas!"

And with that, the accomplices stroked the opening chords to Gaslight's 'American Slang,' from the group's 2010 full-length release of the same name.

But the look on Fallon's face throughout the collaborative effort said this was more than merely a pair of the Garden State's finest songwriters sharing a stage. This was a burgeoning rock star singing with his hero and confessing as much with the first chorus.

"I got your name tattooed inside of my arm," crooned Fallon, as he and Springsteen locked eyes on one another. "I called for my father but my father had died/ While you told me fortunes in American slang."

Although the obvious highlight of the evening for a majority of the assemblage, the Boss cameo was by no means the only thrill. Gaslight also weaved its rendition of the Pearl Jam classic 'State of Love and Trust' into a set riddled with the deepest of cuts from the group's catalog, including such fist-tossing ragers as 'We Came to Dance,' 'Boomboxes and Dictionaries' and '1930,' which seemed to transform the music hall into the kind of raucous basement the band used to play in New Brunswick.

And to pay homage their time as basement dwellers, Gaslight performed the first song the band ever wrote, 'Our Fathers Sons,' for the first time live, much to the delight of the music enthusiasts on hand.

The band opened its five-song encore with the 'Sink Or Swim' gem 'The Navesink Banks' and closed with its rendering of the Who's 'Baba O'Reilly' before leaving the audience with a final sentiment.

"Thank you for supporting us all these years," said Fallon. "We've always wanted to play the Convention Hall since we were kids, and now we have, and it's because of all of you."