Revisiting: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ, 19-21st September 1978

 

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

19th September 1978

Setlist: 

1. Intro 

2. Badlands 

3. Streets Of Fire 

4. Spirit In The Night 

5. Darkness On The Edge Of Town 

6. Independence Day 

7. The Promised Land 

8. Prove It All Night 

9. Racing In The Street 

10. Thunder Road 

11. Meeting Across The River 

12. Jungleland 

13. Kitty's Back 

14. Fire 

15. Candy's Room 

16. Because The Night 

17. Point Blank 

18. Not Fade Away 

19. She's The One 

20. Backstreets 

21. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) 

22. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 

23. Born To Run 

24. 10th Avenue Freeze-Out 

25. Detroit Medley 

26. Raise Your Hand

******* 

27. Good Rockin' Tonight *

28. It's My Life*

29. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town*

30. High School Confidential**

31. Sweet Little Sixteen**

32. The Fever**

33. Incident On 57th Street**

34. For You***

35. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City***

All the tracks highlighted in Red are extra tracks recorded at other shows and and were not part of the original setlist on the 19th September 1978:

 * 20th September 1978 Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

** 21st September 1978 Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

*** 1st January 1979 Richfield Coliseum Cleveland, Ohio

They were included on Crystal Cat Records Bootleg Passaic Night which is the actual video/audio that I posted above.

Listen To The Show:

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

20th September 1978

 

 Listen To The Show - Click Here.

 

Setlist:

 GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT / BADLANDS / SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / INDEPENDENCE DAY / THE PROMISED LAND / PROVE IT ALL NIGHT / IT'S MY LIFE / THUNDER ROAD / JUNGLELAND / SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN* / FIRE / CANDY'S ROOM / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / POINT BLANK / KITTY'S BACK / INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET / ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) / BORN TO RUN / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / DETROIT MEDLEY / TWIST AND SHOUT

 

*Santa Claus Is Coming To Town was a Tour Debut

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ

21st September 1978

 

 Listen To The Show - Click Here.

 Setlist

 HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL / BADLANDS / SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN / INDEPENDENCE DAY / THE PROMISED LAND / PROVE IT ALL NIGHT / RACING IN THE STREET / THUNDER ROAD / MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER / JUNGLELAND / SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN / FIRE / CANDY'S ROOM / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / POINT BLANK / KITTY'S BACK / THE FEVER / INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET / ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) / BORN TO RUN / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / QUARTER TO THREE

 

*******************

 

Fans of Bruce Springsteen and The East Street Band would have to wait until 1986 for an Official Live Album to hit the shelves at their local Record Shops but for people who lived in the States there was always the promise of a full on Radio Broadcast. This was a channel that Springsteen had been using for many years and one of his finest Radio Broadcasts was the night of 19th September 1978 on the Darkness At The Edge of Town Tour when they pulled into the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey for a homecoming three night stand.

 

Now, I of course was not and have never lived in the States so this news of Radio Broadcasts etc was quite unknown to me until sometime in 1980 (I think!) that I stumbled on a Bootleg of the show called Piece de Resistance on a market stall that specialized in Bootlegs of all sorts of artists. This 3LP set did cost me a pretty penny or two but hey, a live show of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band! Who could resist that?

This was marvellous stuff back then. It might be a couple of weeks or so before we even got to read about these shows in the British Music Press (if at all!) These days of course it's far easier to follow artists you like as fan footage turns up hours after the gig has taken place or even as it's going on with tools like Periscope and even Facebook Live. Springsteen has himself overseen the release of his last couple of tours and recordings of every night are for sale on his own website along with Archive Concerts.

These three shows in New Jersey in 1978 were recorded and filmed by in-house cameras (the footage is in black and white and as it's been passed down through the years the quality is not so brilliant. Check out the film of the 20th September - click here which is actually better quality than some of the Bootleg DVD's that are floating around).

The band were four months into the Darkness Tour (111 dates between 23rd May 1978 - 1st January 1979). The line-up of the band was:

 

Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica)
Roy Bittan (piano, keyboards)
Clarence Clemons (tenor, baritone, and soprano saxophones, backing vocals, percussion)
Danny Federici (organ, accordion, glockenspiel, piano)
Garry Tallent (bass, percussion)
Steven Van Zandt (guitar, backing vocals)
Max Weinberg (drums)

Maybe one day Springsteen himself might release these three shows as part of his Archive Series. The only one from Darkness Tour that has appeared thus far is from the The Agora Ballroom, Cleveland on 9th August 1978 (See below for a link to the show). But then again maybe not as there an abundance of releases at least of the first night going around that are of pretty good quality.

Anyway, it's a joy to be able to post this today as some of us need no excuse to listen to a spot of Bruce, especially when he is at his best!

Listen To The Show - Click Here.