BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : TORONTO, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : BRENDAN BYRNE ARENA 1981

Disc One (76:08)

Thunder Road
Prove It All Night
The Ties That Bind
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Follow That Dream
Independence Day
Who'll Stop The Rain?
Two Hearts
The Promised Land
This Land is Your Land
The River
Trapped
Out In The Street
Badlands

Disc Two (60:36)

You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Cadillac Ranch
Sherry Darling
Jole Blon
This Little Girl
Johnny Bye-Bye
Racing in the Street
Ramrod
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Disc Three (37:26)

Jersey Girl
Jungleland
Born to Run
Detroit Medley

Label : Nugs.net

Venue : Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA

Recording Date : July 9, 1981

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Nugs.net) : Following a monumental European Tour, The Magnificent Seven returned home for a six show stand in the newly opened Brendan Byrne Arena, which had been christened on July 2nd – By who? You guessed it. The Summer ’81 leg featured special performances in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Los Angeles amongst others, and due to both the lack of official recordings from The River Tour and the inclusion of six unique tracks from this Brendan Byrne stand on Live 1975-85, this homecoming leg has always been looked back on as a pivotal and much desired era in E Street lore. This last show of the six in New Jersey has always stood out as one of the best of the entire River Tour, courtesy of the vibrant work from Springsteen and The E Street Band, the striking setlist and also because of Bruce Springsteen’s changing worldview. 1981 would see him emphasise the need to support communities, to look out for each other as the government of the time most likely wouldn’t be, and to reflect and reconsider the idealistic notions of youth in a world that was taking dreams and stamping on them. I don’t think there are many better ways to open up a last show of a run than with the invitation that brought most of the thousands in attendance aboard the train. “Thunder Road” kicks off a four song run of tracks that could all be stated as being definitive versions. The Born to Run opener followed by “Prove It All Night”, “The Ties That Bind” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” are a stunning combination of passion, guitar driven rock n’ roll and E Streeter showcases. Whether it’s Miami Steve’s harmonies throughout “Thunder Road” (3:25 – 3:30), that intro riff to “Ties” that defines the album, the tour and the era, or Roy’s magical piano playing from 2:50 – 3:05 of “Darkness” – listen to Bruce tweak the lyric from “lost my wife” to the much sadder “lost my little girl“. There’s enough magic in the opening twenty minutes alone to satisfy us in May. Like I said, definitive. Bringing the mood down for the next ten or so minutes are “Follow That Dream” and “Independence Day”. “Dream” is the same brooding version as played in Wembley Arena a month earlier, but while that version is as solemn as they come, here Bruce sings just the hint of hope – he’s helped on by the audience’s applause – and his emphasis on specific lyrics, “I need someONE“, makes for a more powerful and enjoyable version. This is the first of two songs on the night where he seeks to accept and move on the tragedy of his hero, Elvis Presley and that theme is further explored in “Independence Day”, which is of course the song about his greatest hero and his greatest foe. His father. On this night the song isn’t about growing up, moving on and getting out of town, but instead Bruce advises us to not hang about in reconnecting with loved ones and in mending potentially damaged relationships. During this intro he tells his audience that if they get the chance they should really visit Europe, because it’s not what the U.S. media tells them. As mentioned earlier, Bruce Springsteen went to Europe in April 1981 and returned home three months later not as the same man who left. Fortunately this track has Danny somewhat prominent in mix, but sadly the release’s biggest downside as a whole is the way in which The Phantom is distant during certain songs. “Who’ll Stop the Rain” afterwards suffers for it a bit, which is a shame as it definitely had the potential of overtaking Wembley ’81 as the Series’ best version of the song. Bruce takes a lot of vocal risks throughout this one and it’s a joy to listen to. Due to Danny essentially being shut out, Miami Steve is arguably the star of this show – Roy’s efforts are what makes this arguable – having already shown his worth with his harmonies on “Thunder Road” and “Prove It All Night”, he provides a searing guitar solo during “Two Hearts”. It’s during ‘The Promised Land” though where he sounds his best. His Men Without Women album was well over a year away from release, but just listening to this tells us he was ready to get stuck into it. Then we get one of the more interesting moments of the night, a reminder for those of us who’ll be attending the next E Street Band tour: Don’t. Bring. Firecrackers! If you want an example of Bruce Springsteen getting disrupted and getting annoyed on one of these releases, I think this is the best one. Maybe the only one. “This Land is Your Land” is a song about respect and Bruce makes it very clear to the audience how to respect each other, before playing a heart-wrenching version of one of his most popular covers, capping it off with a great coda spurred on by himself and The Professor. This brings us to our next immense four pack of the night and one that we could all do with listening to in current times. “The River”, in contrast to the versions from Tempe, Uniondale and London surprisingly lacks aggression, and it’s intense in a different way that gives the impression of defeat. Instead of howling out certain lyrics such as during the “I remember us riding” verse, he sings with deflated sighs, making us question if it’s worth continuing fighting when everything seems hopeless. And that’s where the next song comes in. Sometime during the European Tour, Bruce Springsteen picked up a cassette tape with Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped” on it. Cliff’s “Trapped” is a lovely song, it’s a toe-tapper, a peaceful, tranquil listen. In summary, it’s different to Bruce Springsteen’s cover. With Danny making his presence known for the big moment, here’s that aggression, that hunger and desire that we all need right now. “Frankie” on last month’s Gothenburg release gently told us, “don’t worry, we’ll be alright” and “Trapped” this month puts one emphatic stamp on that. Every E Streeter is essential to this one’s magic. Bruce turns it up to eleven, Stevie and Garry guitar licks build tension and then keep the tempo high alongside Max’s thunderous beat, and Clarence’s solo is the icing on top of it all. I was tempted to write a sentence comparing this and the 1985 version from Los Angeles, but let’s be honest, they’re not even in the same damn book. “Trapped” appears to even give Bruce a kickstart with “Out in the Street”, a fitting song after the cover, and especially given our circumstances at present. It’s a delight too, with the way Bruce builds to and signs the chorus from 2:50 – 3:12 an instant example. And that “meet me out on the street tonight” from 3:30 to 3:35 has me thinking this might be better than that Wembley version, and to even come close to it was something I thought would be difficult. This four pack, and the first set, is brought to a close with “Badlands”, which unlike last year’s shows from Nassau isn’t opened with Roy playing Morricone’s main theme for Once Upon a Time in the West. Instead we just get a good old fashioned “One, two!” and it’s lift off. It’s funny how songs can hit you differently during certain times, because “Badlands” is a song we’ve all heard more times than we can remember or even want to admit, and for some of us it may even be a daily play, but what stood out most in this one – even above that staggeringly good guitar outro from Bruce – are those nine words, “it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive!“. The times aren’t great, but this is, so my best advice would be to shut out the world for six minutes (or two hours and fifty-three for the entire show) and enjoy this one of life’s little victories. Given how this leg of The River Tour‘s selling point was the homecoming of the prodigal sons, and seeing how the homecoming stand has since been highlighted by Springsteen’s changed worldview, every now and then it might need to mentioned that they still had an album to promote, and that’s what they do to kick off the second set. It’s a party atmosphere with the anthems of The River album getting the show back on a roll following the intermission. Similarly to “Badlands”, the standout line of “You Can Look” means a lot today, albeit “Same old thing, every day, always gonna be that way” is just a tad less motivating, so we best focus instead on “Sherry Darling”, coming after a solid “Cadillac Ranch”, and its much more positive, “let there be sunshine, let there be rain, let the brokenhearted love again“. “Sherry” is the first song of the night where there’s a soulful smoothness to Bruce’s vocals, although they’re soon replaced by that grittier sound – the best instance of this are those “La la la’s” while Clarence and Stevie share very different sounding harmonies. As is always the case these days the mixing to include the audience for their opening of “Hungry Heart” is excellent. It’s not the first great example of crowd noise on the show either, as we can hear them clearly singing “Thunder Road” and when Bruce is giving his firecracker tirade. Bruce once again sounds very good during this River track, and the only negative of the song is Clarence’s outro having a few dud notes, which is more than acceptable because of his “Trapped” solo. And there’s that “Jungleland” one too. It’s always nice with these releases listening to one or two song performances from an era and comparing or contrasting them with a version from another. I think it’s a great way to hear the evolution Springsteen and The E Street Band. So to now have “Jole Blon” and “This Little Girl” played with Gary US Bonds in New Jersey in 1981 and in 2012 is incredible. These two ’81 renditions are throughly enjoyable and Bonds sounds fantastic. His savage vocals perfectly complement Bruce’s more tender voice on both tracks and they end the rocking portion of the second set excellently. And yes, I did pause for a second thinking I’d entered the Twilight Zone when Bruce played the intro riff of “This Little Girl” that sounds identical to “Atlantic City”. That riff lasts just a second, but it’s still one of my favourite things about listening to this release. “Bye Bye Johnny” sounds identical to its Wembley counterpart, however what this has that Wembley doesn’t is a monologue from Bruce prior talking about Elvis Presley and the sad final years of his life. As a result the two songs are quite different. In London the presence of The King hangs over the performance, whereas this one feels like a finale of Bruce trying to process how his hero could fade the way he did. With “Racing in the Street” being my favourite Springsteen song and the one I look forward to listening to the most on every release its featured on, it’s a shame that this version just sounds off. In contrast to usual, there’s a lot more thudding coming from the piano, contrasting Bruce’s soft vocals and unsettling the tone of the song completely. There’s also the issue of Bruce sounding like he’s a second or two ahead of The E Street Band where it concerns the flow and the pacing of the song. I’m hoping this is something I’ll get used to with a few more listens because Bruce’s vocals at 3:45 and 4:01 singing “did you make it alright” and “she just stares off alone into the night”, as well as the coda are too stunning to not come back to frequently. With just under an hour to go, we get six rousing tracks to send us all home on a high. “Ramrod” kicks that run off, played in the same alternate style as it was in Wembley Arena and played just as good. “Now I ain’t jokin’ folks… The Greatest!” *Clarence sax siren*. I understand why Bruce had to go back to playing the song as it was released on the album, but a part of me does wish they kept playing it this way. And on that note, if only that snippet of “Stagger Lee” could lead us into “Rosie” forevermore. This is the second (of hopefully many more) occasion this has popped up on an Archive release after the first night of No Nukes and Clarence’s booming voice definitely tops Bruce’s rendition. Just listen to the way that Man sings “Tumblinnnnggggg“! There’s a lot more good about “Rosie” too, just not as good as that. Roy’s piano build at 4:35 is stellar and Bruce makes it even better with his “That’s only the first guy!‘ line, Clarence gets his usual tremendous intro, topped off by an interpolation of “Sweet Soul Music” featuring more exquisite Miami Steve vocal and guitar contributions. Earlier on I mentioned how six unique tracks from this stand were included on the Live 1975-85 boxset, and it just so happens that this show features maybe the pick of that bunch. “Jersey Girl”, the quintessential Springsteen cover. Fortunately this sounds just as good as it does on the Live album, as there has been a few instances where previously officially released live tracks have sounded different when released as part of their full show. We all have our memories of listening to the Live box in the early days of our fandoms and hearing this one, and it’s guaranteed to remind us of better days. For me right now I can picture lying down in my back garden as the sun shone down, listening to this on my iPod, and it’s a nice memory. Noe that’s not exactly the type of feeling Bruce Springsteen wanted us to have listening to this one when he summed it up in the 1987 Glory Days documentary for the BBC, but it’s close enough: “And then “Jersey Girl”, I wanted that to feel like, like you’re in a convertible and it’s a summer night and you’re driving real slow, back in the town you grew up in. But you’re different, and you’ve changed, and the town has changed, but something that is forever, is with you.“ “Jungleland” is “Jungleland”, the old reliable, and it’s interesting listening to this after playing Jake’s first version from Gothenburg over the last month, especially with that quote above in mind. Listening to Clarence play his greatest solo again I keep thinking about that line, “something that is forever, is with you“, and how that perfectly defines Clarence Clemons. He’s no longer with us, playing these solos, but he is forever, immortalised by these Archive releases. A rapid “Born to Run” concludes the Jersey Trinity in typical fashion before “Detroit Medley” concludes the show completely – and unlike Wembley ’81 this doesn’t finish with a snippet from an audience recording. Complete with “I Hear a Train” (choo choo!), “Sock It To Me, Baby!”, a reprise of “Sweet Soul Music” and “Shake” this fourteen minute Medley is Springsteen and The E Street Band at their peak. Comprised of back catalogue tracks, covers and River album cuts galore, July 9th, 1981 is going to be an immediate favourite of every Springsteen fan – and rightfully so. It’s another great release in the Archive Series at a time when we need something to keep us entertained. And given these tough times, Springsteen and Nugs are making sure the net proceeds with every purchase from this show are going towards the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund. So it’s great gestures all around!