Kingdom of Days: February 7

New for 2024: Audio for 1977; review for 1981; new entry for 2023

1974: Bruce and the band open for NRBQ at Richards in Atlanta. The club accidentally promotes him as “Bruce Silversteen.”

1975: Bruce and the E Street Band play their second of two nights at Widener College.

1977: At the Palace Theater in Albany, it’s opening night of the 1977 “Lawsuit” Tour that will keep the band busy on the road while they are legally prevented from recording. This show is available for purchase as part of Bruce’s official archive series–get it here. Opening with a work-in-progress “Something in the Night” and featuring the live debut of “Action in the Streets” in the encores, this is a show worth having.

1981: The River Tour (original version) stops at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

1996: Bruce’s expired American Express card is sold for $4,500 in New York City. Bruce had gifted it to a restaurant waiter in Los Angeles.

1997: Bruce’s solo acoustic tour moves on to Sydney for the first of five nights at the Capitol Theater.

1998:  During a reading event  for Black History Month, Bruce recites “We Wear the Mask,” a poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar at the Count Basie Learning Center in Red Bank, New Jersey.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

       We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

       We wear the mask!

2014: Night Two in Perth features a great summer setlist, including the tour premieres of “Sherry Darling” “Light of Day,” “Save My Love,” “Youngstown,” “Girls in their Summer Clothes,” and “I’ll Work For Your Love” (the last two performed acoustically).

2017:  Night One in Sydney on the Summer 2017 Tour, with the Australian Urban Orchestra joining for the opening “New York City Serenade.” By request, Bruce plays a one-off cover of “Long Tall Sally.”

2023: Shortly before taking the stage in Hollywood, Florida, Soozie Tyrell tests positive for COVID-19, scuttling a setlisted “Thunder Road” duet with Jon Bon Jovi (who wisely chooses to watch the show from a safe distance in his suite rather than share the stage with a COVID-exposed E Street Band) and setting off a chain reaction that will wreak havoc on the tour for weeks to come. This is also Patti Scialfa’s last show of the tour (other than a cameo in Barcelona), and Bruce tour premieres “Mansion on the Hill” to showcase her vocal talents. Also tour premiering tonight: “Ramrod.”

During “Out in the Street” Bruce is thrown off his game when he passes by hometown pretty girl Robyn Sherer in the pit, recognizes her, and completely loses his place in the song. Fortunately, the band has his back (or as Bruce puts it, they “cover their boss’s ass!”) while he recovers. Watch the moment starting at 2:10 below.