New for 2024: Review for 1988
1969: Child plays their fifth of six consecutive nights at the Pandemonium in Wanamassa, New Jersey.
1973: Bruce and the as-yet-unnamed E Street band play their second of six consecutive two-shows-nightly gigs at Max’s Kansas City in New York, with The Wailers as the opening act.
1974: Bruce’s gig on the lineup of the Ozark Music Festival in Sedalia, Missouri is cancelled. Instead, he plays a gig at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
1975: With the opening show of the Born to Run Tour only a day away, and final production tinkering running almost to the last minute, Bruce and the E Street Band rehearse the show for the first and only time at the Record Plant in New York City. The rehearsal runs a staggering nineteen hours, which probably explains their subdued appearance in the sunrise photo below. (Photo credit: Barbara Pyle)
1978: Bruce and the band bring the Darkness Tour to Ellis Auditorium in Memphis.
1981: Bruce and the E Street Band wrap up a five-night stand at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on the original River Tour.
1988: Bruce and the band play a historic show in East Berlin, their first in East Germany. The show is broadcast across East Germany, but as many as 300,000 fans still flocked to the concert grounds for the show, where Bruce greets them in German, “It’s nice to be in East Berlin. I want to tell you that I’m not here for or against any government. I have come to play rock and roll for the East Berliners in the hope that one day all barriers will be torn down.” It’s believed that this show galvanized East Germany’s youth and contributed to the accelerated reunification of the country. The show also featured the tour premieres of “Out in the Street” and “The Promised Land.” Read more here and watch below.
2002: At his home in Colts Neck, Bruce performs and records “Empty Sky.” The edited footage will eventually air on ABC-TV’s Nightline after the album is released; the unedited reel below has not circulated widely until recently.
2008: The final European stand of the Magic Tour begins at Camp Nou in Barcelona.
2009: “My City of Ruins” comes out for the first and only time on the Working on a Dream Tour when Bruce and the band play a show at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, a dedication to the town of L’Aquila that was devastated by an earthquake that spring.
The thought of The Wailers opening for Bruce, in the early stages of both of their careers… wow! There are shows you wish you could have been at, and then there are shows you would break the rules of time travel and risk a butterfly effect disaster to be able to go back and experience.