Kingdom of Days: August 6

New for 2023: No updates

1966: The Castiles play a teen dance at the Harris Gardens Firehouse in Union Beach, New Jersey.

1974: Bruce records the final take of his signature song, “Born to Run.”

1976: Bruce and the E Street Band play their fifth of a six-night stand at the Monmouth Arts Center in Red Bank.

1981: On their day off during their three-night stand in Washington, DC, Bruce, Garry, and Clarence join former Steel Mill bandmate Robbin Thompson’s band on stage at the Bayou Club, where they play “Carol.”

1982: Bruce joins Beaver Brown on stage at Big Man’s West in Red Bank for four songs, including “Jersey Girl.”

1984: At Night Two of ten at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, “Spirit in the Night” makes its tour debut, and “No Surrender” is played in its third arrangement of the tour. This one will stick, and this specific performance (along with “Nebraska” from this show) will appear on the Live 1975-85 box set. Additionally Bruce’s performance of “Trapped” from this show will be released the following year on the We Are the World album, as well as on The Essential Bruce Springsteen in 2003. The entire show is available as part of Bruce’s official archive series–get it here.

1992: It’s Night Nine of eleven at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford on World Tour 1992. Bruce dedicates “Human Touch” to Jeff Porcaro of Toto, who played drums on most of the Human Touch album and who passed away the previous day. The official video for “Leap of Faith” is filmed at this show, and the audio is released on the CD single.

Also on this day, Entertainment Tonight airs a segment on Bruce’s new Rolling Stone cover story, on sale today. (If you have the Album Collection Volume 2, you have that cover story in your bonus book.) Watch the newly uploaded segment here:

1995: Bruce guest stars with Bobby Bandiera at Cheers in Long Branch, New Jersey.

1999: Bruce opens Night Eleven of the fifteen-night opening stand of the U.S. Reunion Tour with the first full-band “Adam Raised a Cain” in eleven years. Bruce also tour premieres “Be True” and ends the show with “Thunder Road” — the first time Bruce has played an additional song after “Land of Hope and Dreams” on this tour.

2003: The Rising Stadium Tour heads to Pennsylvania for four shows, starting with a single night at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, where Joe and Johnny Grushecky make their (by now) customary appearance.

2005: At his solo acoustic show at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Bruce plays “County Fair” for only the second (and final) time to date. Another surprise: the very first solo piano version of “Backstreets.”

2015: Bruce and the E Street Band make a special appearance on The Daily Show to give departing host Jon Stewart his final Moment of Zen.