BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : PASSAIC

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : PASSAIC - SEPTEMBER 19, 1978

Disc One (56:58)

Badlands
Streets Of fire
Spirit in the night
Darkness on the edge of town
independence Day
the promised land
prove it all night
racing in the street

Disc Two (57:01)

thunder road
meeting across the river
jungleland
kitty's back
fire
candy's room
because the night
point blank

Disc Three (70:43)

not fade away / she's the one
backstreets
rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
4th of July, asbury park (Sandy)
born to run
10th avenue freeze-Out
Detroit medley
raise your hand

Label : Live.BruceSpringsteen.net

Venue : Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, USA

Recording Date : September 19, 1978

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review : The most famous Springsteen bootleg of all time, Pièce De Résistance, comes to the live archive series as Passaic 9/19/78, newly mixed from Plangent Processed multi-track master tapes. As originally broadcast up and down the Eastern seaboard, the first night of three at the Capitol Theatre may be the definitive Darkness tour document and features “Streets Of Fire,” “Independence Day,” “Prove It All Night,” “Meeting Across The River,” “Kitty’s Back,” “Fire,” “Because The Night” “Point Blank” and “Raise Your Hand.” This beloved live performance has never sounded better.

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : It’s known by diehards as Springsteen’s Pièce De Résistance. It’s his most renowned bootleg, the show that immediately came to people’s minds when the Archive Series was announced. If you wanted to understand why fans talk wistfully of ’78 and the Darkness Tour, this is why. Broadcast on ten radio stations across the United States, such as WNEW-FM in New York and WIOQ-FM in Philadelphia, the first of three shows in the Capitol Theatre has always circulated in remarkable audio quality. So remarkable, that I wouldn’t be surprised if some fans were contemplating passing this one over in favour of replaying the copies they’ve had for years, but never mind the bootlegs. Unlike all other shows that may be only a minor upgrade to what fans have been listening to for years, this is the quintessential release from Springsteen’s vault, even more so than the previous Passaic release mixed by Bob Clearmountain for Christmas 2017. Jon Altschiller does an amazing job of bringing the lightning out of the bottle and into our homes and headphones to ensure that for three hours and four minutes, we’re listening to nothing but the very very best of live E Street. That bottle explodes almost immediately as, after “The Boss comes home!“, a spectacular version of “Badlands” (one of the very best I’ve heard) gets us going with tremendous work from Springsteen – who is in fine, albeit gravelly, voice and sounds very motivated – and Van Zandt on guitar, Federici on organ and Bittan on piano. It’s the first of seven stunning Darkness album performances, with a second immediately following it. For my money, the intro to “Streets of Fire” is one of the greatest in Springsteen’s catalogue and that’s more than apparent here thanks to Danny once again with his almost ecclesiastical organ playing. Bruce’s lyrics are vitriolic, complementing the fire in the streets. I’m delighted to have this released as I rarely play the other live releases this song’s featured on, but now I can see myself listening to this version – with better audio quality than the rest – regularly. While “Streets” is malicious and “Badlands” is explosive, “Spirit in the Night” is intoxicating, with the usual powerful sax playing from Clarence and a boisterous Springsteen to match the rest of the instrumentals. While Garry and Miami Steve don’t exactly provide spectacular sounding backing vocals, they contribute just enough to get the few members of the audience unsure of what to sing to play their part. “Sooner or later, everybody’s gotta drive through the darkness on the edge of town.” Dedicated to Dominic, the tour’s titular track brings out the catharsis of the show representative of forty-one years of built up emotion from fans who’ve been waiting for an official release of this show. The quality of the mix is evident in how we’re able to hear Miami Steve’s guitar licks clearly over the course of the song and while the ’78 extended slower intro still prevents the song from reaching its full potential, this version does have one of those minuscule moments of magic in the way Bruce sings, “they’re still racing out at the trestles“, with his emphasis on the last word being so much more forceful than how he usually sings it. It’s a minor difference to the version from the next night, but I really like it. As is the case on the 20/9/78 release, “Darkness” is followed by the then-yet to be officially released “Independence Day”, which is still met with a massive reaction from one girl in the audience who screams very loudly and triumphantly at the start – mind, it’s not as funny as the fan the next night going wild at his request for “It’s My Life” being met. This is a tender performance of the future River track and Bruce sings in a beautifully calming manner to contrast the four previous songs and is accompanied by Danny, Roy and Clarence doing the same on their respective instruments. The two-pack of “Darkness” into “Independence Day” doesn’t strike me in the same way as it does on the next night’s show, but they’re fantastic listens nonetheless. Much like “Independence Day”, “The Promised Land” starts in a tranquil manner, before kicking into fifth gear for the chorus and remaining there for the rest of the show. Steve and Clarence provide excellent harmonies and solos, and Bruce does the same with his harmonica playing both in the intro and at the halfway point. Though it may be Bruce, Roy, Max and Danny who are spotlighted in that stupendous extended intro of “Prove It All Night”, all seven men are fundamental in making this the best release of the song from ’78 and, dare I say, the best officially released live version in general. It’s one of the show’s finest examples of The E Street Band as a collective and outright as musicians. “You gotta prove it all night! Every night” is what Springsteen shouts at the song’s conclusion, and if this song is just one example (thankfully we’ve got twenty-four in this show) of how he and The E Street Band would prove their worth night after night on the Darkness Tour, then you best believe everything was better in 1978. I was originally planning on writing how “Prove It” is the finest example of The E Street Band as musicians in this show, but of course the next two songs would then play. This “Racing in the Street” has often been referred to as the finest performance of the song, and though I’d say there are better sung versions (Nassau NYE ’80 and Tampa ’08) and ones with finer outro codas (Hyde Park ’09), I can’t help but agree that this is a perfect performance. Featuring a couple of changed lyrics and with the playing of The E Street Band sounding more polished than on any other song, you may as well forget about the versions from The Summit, The Agora and The Roxy, because this is the essential “Racing in the Street” of 1978. The song’s transition into “Thunder Road” is sublime and done by The Professor with ease to indicate how these two setlist regulars had been aced by The Band. I’ve written before about how finding the perfect “Thunder Road” is like finding a needle in a haystack, but in listening to this version I have no doubts in saying it’s the best, and what I love about it is that it’s nothing flash. No vocal nuances or particular guitar riffs, just a man and his band playing the most excellent and purely reliable version that you’re ever likely to hear of one of their greatest songs. It’s been a case of London buses with “Meeting Across The River”. You wait five years for one from the Archive Series and then two show up in three months – hopefully it’s a similar story for the elusive “Walk Like a Man” I’m waiting on being released from the series. It’s even more intimate than in the 2012 MetLife Stadium release from June, as without Curt Rahm’s trumpet playing it’s just Bruce and Roy – the 55,000 to 3,000 in attendance contrast is important as well – and even Bruce’s ‘poorer’ vocals are fine as they match the gritty noir ambiance of the song. As is the case on the MetLife show, “Meeting” leads into its album counterpart, “Jungleland”, which concludes the finest set Springsteen and The E Street Band have ever played in the most grand and cinematic of ways courtesy of the magnificent work of each member, particularly the usual suspects when it comes to this song: Springsteen, Clemons, Van Zandt and Bittan. When it comes to Springsteen shows, I can hardly recall being overwhelmed over the course of eighty minutes as much as I was listening to this set. What’s frightening is that the second set pales in comparison to the first, but this seventy minutes could still hold its own against any other and very likely come out on top. “Kitty’s Back” isn’t as great as “Prove It” on this night, but puts each member of the band in the spotlight in a way the Darkness track doesn’t. I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not a lover of “Kitty’s Back”, yet the longer this version went on, the more I found myself never wanting it to end. From that scorching intro to Clarence’s smooth “It’s alright!“, this is fourteen minutes of bliss. Following it we’re taken away from the epics (for the time-being) with a fine performance of “Fire” that allows us to clearly hear Garry’s bass playing as the primary instrument, rather than us having to listen intently to spot him pulling the strings in the background. Our seventh and final Darkness track of the show in “Candy’s Room” picks up the pace to continue a thematic pattern of songs focusing on lust and the ramifications of love gone wrong, before Darkness outtake “Because The Night” brings more of the guitar to rousingly add to the thoughts of the protagonist in the previous song. It’s juxtaposed by another future River track in “Point Blank”, which is similar to the next night’s version in how Danny Federici’s organ riffs pop in and out to add to the bleakness of the song, which is perhaps being sung too beautifully by Springsteen to properly convey this one’s hopeless themes. If not for the breathtaking “Backstreets” and its marvellous “Sad Eyes” interlude that precedes the set closer, I’d have no qualms in saying “Not Fade Away” – “She’s The One” is the highlight of the second portion of the show. Once again opening with the jungle-esque atmosphere for the class “Not Fade Away”, the liveliness to this Born to Run gem is infectious thanks to Springsteen’s amorous vocals, Clarence’s sax siren and Max’s crisp drumming. The second set finishes, of course, with a “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” that is similar to “Thunder Road” in how there’s nothing overly unique or noteworthy to it, it’s just consistent to how it should be performed live and it sounds damn good. With the Capitol Theatre an hour and forty five minutes away from it, the encore opens with a love letter to the Jersey Shore through “Sandy”. Once again the drumming of Max is worth mentioning as alongside this he may well be the star of the three previous songs – though Danny and Roy make their presences known in the seven minutes of this one. It’s the start of a special local trio, as “Born to Run” is for anyone on Kingsley and Ocean and it’s played at a pace that I can only compare to that of a “suicide machine”. Funnily enough, the pace of this one is quicker than “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, and don’t be fooled as this one’s played at a high enough tempo as well, spurred on by the guitar licks of Miami Steve that are also evident in “Detroit Medley”. This version of “The Medley” is a fine example of why I’m loving this cover more and more every time I hear it, as like on the next night, it has Springsteen and The E Street Band throwing everything they’ve got to the wall and playing with all of the remaining energy they seem to have left. It’s the perfect way to end the show, if that happened to be where they ended it, that is. As was the case in The Roxy and The Agora, Springsteen has something left to give those in attendance. “Raise Your Hand” takes us over the three hour mark with Bruce sounding as fresh as he did during “Badlands”, rapturously shouting out to all of those listening on the radio and quoting Taxi Driver with the “you talkin’ to me!?” line. If there was any doubt beforehand as to who was driving rock n roll into the future, this show confirmed it, and confirmed it big time. Frequent readers of my Springsteen reviews will know that I like to keep it simple when it comes to ratings. They may be updated from time to time due to further listening and stronger or weaker shows being released later on, but I’ve never wanted to ‘break the scale’ and go above 10/10, unless it’s justified. Taking into account the context of the show in its importance towards putting live E Street on such a high pedestal for fans both old and new, and more importantly, in considering the sheer quality of the performance and that first set in particular, there are no shows currently released that come close to this. September 19th, 1978 is the quintessential Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Listen to it immediately.