BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN : COLISEUM NIGHT

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN : COLISEUM NIGHT

Disc One (76:49)

Night
Out In The Street
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Who'll Stop The Rain
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Factory
"Intro"
Independence Day
Two Hearts
Prove It All Night
The Promised Land
This Land Is Your Land
The River
Badlands
Thunder Road

Disc Two (59:28)

Cadillac Ranch
Sherry Darling
Hungry Heart
Merry Christmas Baby
Fire
Candy's Room
Because The Night
4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
For You
Stolen Car
Wreck On The Highway

Disc Three (73:36)

Point Blank
The Ties That Bind
Ramrod
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Incident On 57th Street
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Jungleland
Born To Run
Devil With A Blue Dress
Good Golly Miss Molly
C.C. Rider
Jenny Take A Ride
I Hear A Train / Devil With A Blue Dress (Reprise)

Label : Crystal Cat Records

Date : December 29, 1980

Venue : Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, USA

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A-)

Review (TheBoots.Net) : Definitely a companion piece to the New Year's Eve 1980 show, this show is also sourced from an outstanding soundboard recording. Features the powerful trio of "Stolen Car," "Wreck on the Highway," and "Point Blank," and the last ever segue of "Incident on 57th Street" into "Rosalita."

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : If there was ever a way to get every Springsteen fan to stop playing Western Stars and start playing something else, this month’s Archive Series releases might have done the trick. If you’re a bit out of the loop, I say “releases” because we haven’t just been blessed with the second show of the Nassau Coliseum stand this time around, we’ve also gotten a remixed re-release of the even more famed New Years Eve show from December 31st – which I’ll go into more detail over in a blog post coming later in the week – making this month a dream one for a multitude of Springsteen fans. December 29th sees thirty-five songs played over the course of three and a half hours, with a wide variety of River album material, back-catalogue classics featuring tour staples and songs dusted off for performance on this special night, as well as a bunch of covers both familiar and ones soon to be given the ultimate E Street makeover. An energetic trio to start, “Night”, “Out in the Street” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, give an immediate indication of what to expect from this show in every regard: instrumentals, vocals, band and audience performance, and the overall quality of the show’s audio. For the last four years a lot of fans have been devastated with the mixing and mastering of the December 31st show, and these first fifteen minutes greatly suggest that there won’t be fan grievances for this second night. Opening with “Night”, this one is a showcase of thundery drumming and sax playing from Max and Clarence and searing guitar playing by Bruce and Miami Steve – as Garry, Danny and Roy steer the ship in the background. It’s an excellent way to begin the show that sets everything in motion for a high octane night, and “Out in the Street” is more of the same, though Clarence takes something of a backseat to The Professor, who brings a spaghetti western style to Uniondale with his Saloon piano. “Street” also has the contributing vocals of Miami Steve featured a lot, and while I’ve heard better from him singing in other shows released from across the years, he brings his own flavour to this and other songs over the course of the night and his wails at the ending stretch of the song nicely complement Bruce’s consistently inconsistent blend of gritty and smooth vocals. “Tenth” is the first of several songs to build tension prior to the full band kicking in – or even just the song starting – and once again Bruce’s singing has moments of grit, but mostly it’s as clear as day in this one. Similarly to the great Tempe show that took place just over a month earlier, this “Tenth” has a superb added sax solo from Clarence, putting the spotlight on him before “the important part”. I think it’s most notable here of the opening three how great the mixing of the crowd’s participation is on this release, as you can clearly hear them sing – as is the case when they shout “and I can’t go home” – which isn’t always a certainty on these archive releases. It’s a minor detail, but what I like most about this version is Bruce singing “well I made the change uptown“, instead of “they”. Whether he simply got mixed up or was intentionally stroking his ego for such a masterstroke of a decision, it adds a nice new layer to the song. The lively mood is halted for the next twenty minutes, as Bruce implements into the show songs that reflect his changing worldview and songs that refer to his relationship with his dad. A cover of CCR’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” begins this sequence and while it isn’t as stunning a performance as the one from Wembley six months later, it’s still very good, especially when you take into account it’s only the third outing of the song by Bruce and The E Street Band. Starting slow and kicking into fifth gear, you can hear pain and fury in Springsteen’s singing, which is very likely caused by the song’s contextual relevance to the Vietnam War and Springsteen having learnt more in the last few years about the government’s lack of publicity and funding to the Vietnam Veteran’s of America. If it came down to a damn good performance to get fans at this time to understand the song’s meaning and take note of the struggles of those who thought, this performance would’ve immediately done just that. This cover is the supported by “Darkness on the Edge of Town” – it’s given a rapturous ovation by the audience – and Bruce continues to sound despondent with moments of anger – check out how he sings the “Tonight I’ll be on that hill” lyric. What stands out most during this is the singing of Steve during the chorus, and at times his vocals raise higher than Bruce’s, making for the song to be heard in a completely contrasting tone and consequently it allows the listener to hear the song in a different light. “Factory” and “Independence Day” follow, and the former is performed almost identically to its outing in Tempe. Danny opens with that almost-funeral like organ playing and Max once again hits that singular, unnerving, beat to represent the ongoing industrial wheel that this song is about. As I said when talking about how “Factory” from Tempe is the best live release of the song, Bruce despondently sings about men being broken, but that wheel keeps on spinning. The only change from Tempe I caught listening to this are those haunting backing vocals of Steve and Garry during the song. “Factory” doesn’t come up usually when there’s a discussion of Springsteen’s most haunting song, but when you hear this you realise, it really should. The monologue for “Independence Day” where Bruce talks in depth about his dad, his methods of parenting and how he never wanted to end up the same way as his dad did. Bruce tells us how he told himself that he’d never miss out on getting out when he could and pleas with the audience to do the same. The song itself doesn’t have many real distinguishable features from others – though the spoken “why won’t you look at me” outro says a lot – but with that monologue preceding it, this is arguably the most important version of the song released as none have as good a contextual intro as this. “Two Hearts”, with the amount of releases it’s featured on, can usually be looked at as a “skip”-worthy song, however on this show, it’s one of the standout performances courtesy of Bruce’s vocals. There are several moments during this where his singing takes the song to a level above, such as when he sings “said she’d never love again” at 0:21, and it’s another song on the night where his chemistry with Steve is highlighted, although that is unsurprising when considering that this would turn into their song years later. Bruce saying “it takes two!” arguably foreshadows that and is a nice way of leading into “Prove It All Night”, where likewise to the previous song, Bruce’s singing (both solo and with Miami Steve) is very good. Of course, it’s the instrumentals that shine on this with Roy’s piano playing and Clarence’s sax solo being upstaged by Bruce’s guitar solo at 1:51. Alongside this, “Because the Night” and “Incident on 57th Street” later in the show are the prime examples of this night being a masterclass by Bruce on guitar. Speaking of guitar solos, I was surprised at how unique the one two and half minutes into “The Promised Land” actually is. It’s a lot tamer, but at the same time it’s still quite fiery and it leads to an excellent duelling instrumental with Clarence’s sax. As it does on the Wembley ’81 release, “The Promised Land” leads into a version of “This Land is Your Land”, the second performance of the song by Springsteen and The E Street Band following its debut the night before. In contrast the Wembley performance, this one doesn’t have Bruce pausing to catch his breath regularly. What is noticeable about this one instead, is Bruce’s monologue prior to the song beginning, where he talks about the song being originally written as an angry song in response, and as an answer, to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”. It’s another example of Springsteen’s changing worldview and his frustrations towards his country and another instance on the show of him signing superbly. I wouldn’t say this is better than the night before, as can be heard on Live 75-85, but it’s definitely a version I’ll be going back to listen to in the future. The first set is concluded by the quintessential trifecta of “The River”, “Badlands” and “Thunder Road”, with the first two both opening with The Professor playing his take on Ennio Morricone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” theme. It’s the same intro for “The River” as in Tempe, which makes this fairly similar. However the key difference is in how Bruce evokes the same amount of despondence in his singing as in Tempe, but it sounds completely different. While in Arizona he was a man possessed, singing this song on this night he sounds like a man broken and without hope, and when his voice fills with rage, “those memories come back to haunt me“, it’s quickly replaced with a solemn tone. Similarly to “Darkness”, these aspects allow a song you and I have heard hundreds (and thousands) of times to sound fresh courtesy of these different layers that this show has brought upon them. What I love about the intro to “Badlands” is that Roy’s second interpolation of “Once Upon a Time in the West” seems to intertwine these two songs and connect them with a western theme. I also really like the brief moment before Bruce counts the song in, where the build to the music bubbles and then explodes into a wall of sound. It’s immediately noticeable that when he’s covering Morricone, Roy’s thudding down hard on the piano, but when “Badlands” isn’t even thirty seconds in, he’s playing so delicately. Hearing Bruce and The E Street Band’s playing in this and “Thunder Road”, it’s immense to hear how they culminates everything that has just came before in regards to a pure rock ‘n’ roll performance. “Thunder Road” again highlights the quality of Jon Altschiller’s mix and how he’s factored in the participation of the audience, who are tremendous during this. Bruce’s vocals continue to go from perfect to sublimely raspy and they’re backed up brilliantly by Garry and, in particular, Miami Steve, who can be heard very well in the chorus with his loudly sung contributions. It’s The Professor, however, who offers my favourite aspect of this. Usually after Bruce sings “Mary climb in” you’ll hear the finest piece of guitar, but on this occasion it’s his Saloon piano that builds for Bruce’s gritty final high note and Clarence’s quintessential outro solo. The second set kicks off with a River album trio of absolute crowd-pleasers and lets us ponder whether “Cadillac Ranch”, “Sherry Darling” and “Hungry Heart” ever sounded better than they did on this tour. Even without “No Money Down” preceding it, this “Caddy” based on the audio alone could be imperative in defining The E Street Band’s legacy as a live act. It’s a fantastic effort spurred on by Bruce and Steve’s duelling guitars, Garry’s bass and Roy’s piano. This and “Sherry”, much like they do in the Wembley ’81 release, also make for a good argument that Clarence Clemons is the greatest sax player of all time, as once again he steals the show in these two performances – despite the tough competition of Bruce and Steve’s back and forth during “Sherry”, “It ain’t big enough for her momma, and the old Boss!“. “Hungry Heart” once more showcases how much of a blinder Altschiller has played on this one with how clear the audience are when they sing the intro, and it also gives us one of the best moments of Bruce’s vocal performance on the night. It’s another performance where you can’t help but ask why he’s never been touted on lists of best vocalists, as his best should be heard by everyone. As this show took place four days after Christmas, it means Bruce still had good reason to play Christmas songs, which means an outing for “Merry Christmas, Baby” here and later a performance of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. Both are fun, played well and sung well, but if you’re like me, you’re probably not going to be playing these much outside of the Festive season. While it’s not as good as “Hungry Heart”, “Fire” is another on this show that sees Bruce singing terrifically, spurred on by a very loud audience. It’s also an example of his and Clarence’s chemistry, though you’d be better off watching the Tempe DVD to see this in full effect, given both performances are quite similar. The conclusion of this Darkness outtake begins a four-song sequence of seventies tracks starting with “Candy’s Room”, which is highlighted by Max’s cymbals playing in the opening minute, and “Because the Night” follows, where that aforementioned guitar solo from Bruce gives Nils Lofgren’s solos from recent years genuine competition. There’s a nice moment where Bruce is taken aback hearing the audience cheer his hometown of Freehold, and his adopted hometown of Asbury Park, and dedicates “Sandy” to anyone who “hiked all the way from the shore”. The performance is beautifully sung and played and is an incredible addition to accompany the versions we’ve already got of this one. A splendid version of “For You” ends this run and it features a plethora of magnificently sung lyrics from Bruce and excessively long ongoing sax playing from The Big Man. I listened to the version of “For You” from The Roxy ’78 just yesterday and there’s a distinct contrast in the playing style and outright confidence of Springsteen and The E Street Band here, which says a lot given how notable a show The Roxy was in regards to them oozing charisma onstage. The six-pack sequence for The River album begins with a heart-wrenching version of “Stolen Car”, preceded by a monologue attached to the end of “For You”, where Bruce talks about how we need to make connections with other people, because if we don’t we end up as ghosts. My issue with this version and “Wreck on the Highway” next is the same issue I talked about in the second post of my best version of every live Springsteen song series, and that’s how Bruce’s vocals make two songs like these sound beautiful when they shouldn’t. “Stolen Car” and “Wreck” are haunting pieces of music that shouldn’t be overshadowed by Bruce being at his vocal peak of the night. That being said, the playing of The Professor and Danny Federici on these two songs can’t go not talked about, as they do indeed add to the haunting themes that Bruce makes prominent in his monologue to this sequence. With the exception of the “Point Blank” I heard played live, this might be my favourite version that I’ve ever heard. While it suffers from the same dilemma as the two before it in regards to Bruce’s vocals, it’s a beautiful dilemma to have and his singing is complemented greatly by his and Steve’s bleak guitar playing and Roy’s sombre piano – Steve also adds a balance to Bruce’s singing with his own crushed vocals and wails. I would have said this immense performance is my favourite of the sequence, but thankfully “The Ties That Bind” that follows is one so good that it has me re-thinking whether Tempe is the definitive officially released live version of the song. That intro is sheer bliss and for me, it defines the entire tour and era and the song itself might be representative of it too, with Bruce and Steve’s camaraderie, Clarence’s booming sax and the clash of guitars, drums and bass. Saying that, “Ramrod” does offer a good counter-argument to both of those claims, as it features the majority lot of those elements and in its defence, “The Ties That Bind” doesn’t have Bruce and Steve simultaneously shouting “Big Man!” to transition in his solo. “You Can Look” ends this sequence and while it doesn’t define a tour like the the previous two and isn’t a show stealer like “Point Blank”, it’s a solid performance that any fan of the song will thoroughly enjoy. It’s also different to Tempe in how Bruce removes the “gonna go down town, gonna buy a gun” added line for a few lyrics based around how he “went Christmas shopping, down to the mall“, which is a refreshing change that I like to experience listening to these archive releases. “This is a song we haven’t done in a real long time… no it ain’t “Kitty’s Back”.” The highlight of the show on paper and for just about every fan who’ll listen to it is the twenty-two minutes of nirvana caused by “Incident on 57th Street” into “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”. This version of “Incident” was featured on the Live Collection released in 1987 and is the one that features the greatest solo that Bruce Springsteen has ever played on his Fender Esquire. While I still think his vocals, as good as they are here, don’t fit the urban themes of the song, that minor criticism is ultimately void in the grand scheme of things with this performance. As it goes, everything from Danny’s organ playing to even Roy’s imperative piano riffs are secondary to that opening and that outro starting at 7:03 and ending at 9:18. It’s blissful to hear from the Live Collection, but with the song actual transitioning into “Rosie”, it’s pure essence. Even with that transition, 12:45 minutes for “Rosie” might look like a bit of a chore to get through, but truthfully this was an absolute breeze. I don’t think it’s more enjoyable than the performance from Wembley ’81 – even with “Incident” before it – but it’s truer to how the song is supposed to naturally sound and it features one of my new-favourite “Rosie” added lines from Bruce. “You can tell ’em that I ain’t no bum, ’cause my brand new record, Rosie, made it all the way to number… one, one, one, one!!!” After the encore begins with “Santa”, the show starts the home stretch with a thirty-minute trio of “Jungleland”, “Born to Run” and “Detroit Medley”, which are delightful, but nothing far superior to any version I’ve ever heard before. “Jungleland” has plenty of details that you can find in any other performance, but they continue to stand out because of how brilliant they are, from Danny’s brisk organ playing after the “from the churches to the jails” lyric, to Miami Steve’s greatest guitar solo, to the most famous saxophone solo in the Springsteen songbook. Of course, it’s not completely identical to every other version as it does have its distinct features, such as Bruce’s vocals being both smooth and hoarse, and the hoarse notes being the best for this song, and Roy’s Saloon piano following Clarence’s solo and creating an aura that makes you feel like you’re in the Old West more than in any other song on the night. “Born to Run” is just as consistent as it ever is. There aren’t any particular unique instrumental qualities from The E Street Band or vocals from Bruce that make this something truly special, it’s just “Born to Run”, and that’s more than alright with me. This “Detroit Medley” is worth a listen for Bruce saying “great God almighty” at 5:48 alone after being “attacked” – most likely by a female fan – however I couldn’t help thinking when listening to this one that it didn’t reach the “exhaustion” levels that “The Medley” usually does. It’s an enjoyable listen, but it feels like they’re playing at an easygoing pace – could you really blame them if they were though after three hours? Similarly to Wembley ’81, the end this “Medley” was missing from the multi-track, so the last ninety seconds you hear have been taken from a soundboard recording to complete the show. However, it’s a lot less noticeable than the Wembley transition and if you didn’t know about it beforehand, I doubt you’d have been able to tell the difference. If you felt the last two releases from the Archive Series were relatively standard, then this is the show you’ve been wanting for the last two months. On the other hand, if you were greatly satisfied by the May and June releases, I sense that you’re going to be even more thrilled by this absolute diamond of a show. Thirty-five songs at three and a half hours makes for either one really enjoyable marathon or at the very least a nice assortment of tracks to pick and choose from.