Kingdom of Days: September 21

New for 2024: Audio for 1978 and 1979; video for 2013; new entry for 2023

1974: Bruce and the E Street Band play a gig at the State University of New York in Oneonta. Even the school’s yearbook can’t spell his name correctly.

1975: Bruce plays his first-ever show in Minnesota at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater.

1978: Bruce and the E Street Band wrap up their spectacular three-night Darkness Tour homecoming stand at Passaic’s Capitol Theater.  There won’t be a birthday show this year, so the band and crew take the opportunity to present Bruce with an early on-stage “birthday cake.”

1979: Bruce headlines the first of two famous “No Nukes” concerts at Madison Square Garden under the aegis of Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE), performing an abbreviated but well-documented set that features the very first performance of “The River.” That debut performance will become the song’s official video, and audio recordings of “Detroit Medley” and “Stay” (with Jackson Browne and Rosemary Butler) will be released on the official companion album released toward the end of the year. This show is available as part of Bruce’s official archive series (get it here), and selections are available on video in the concert film, The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts.

1982: Bruce makes a guest appearance with Dave Edmunds at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City.

1984: Bruce and the band play their first of two Born in the U.S.A. shows at Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena, where Bruce throws a little shade on  President Reagan’s endorsement of his music from a few days prior. Earlier in the day, Born in the U.S.A. becomes the first-ever compact disc to be pressed in the United States.

1988: The Human Rights Now! Tour hits the American west coast with a show at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Joan Baez makes a guest appearance, Bruce plays “Jungleland” for the last time until the Reunion Tour, and Bono joins the company for an encore of “Chimes of Freedom.”

1999: Night Four (of six) in Philadelphia on the Reunion Tour starts with a surprise: the tour premiere and one-off performance of “Little Queenie” not seen at a proper concert since 1975. Rocketing from there into “Take ’em as They Come,” the show is off to a searing start.

2001: The world is still reeling from the effects of the 9/11 terror attacks on the U.S., nowhere more so than in the New York/New Jersey area. A national telethon is held to raise money for the victims and their families, and the show is broadcast live by every major American network. Bruce opens the event with a new song, “My City of Ruins,” unplayed and unheard outside of its Asbury Park premiere the previous December. Bruce plays the song solo on acoustic guitar and harmonica, but he is surrounded by a choir of backing vocalists that include Patti, Steve, Clarence, Soozie, Lisa Lowell, Layonne Holmes, and Dee Holmes (backing vocalist for The Bruce Springsteen Band in Bruce’s pre-E Street days).

2003: Two more “missing years” songs makes their tour (and E Street Band) debuts in the home stretch of the Rising Tour, when “Local Hero” and “My Beautiful Reward” come out to play at Comerica Park in Detroit–but the best highlight is saved for the encores, when Martha Reeves joins Bruce and the band to play her 1963 hit “Heat Wave.”

Also today, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band is nominated for Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special category and in the Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program category (for director Chris Hilson). Both prizes go to other nominees, the former to Cher: The Farewell Tour, and the latter for the 56th Annual Tony Awards.

2004: Patti’s solo mini-tour continues at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, where Bruce joins her on guitar and backing vocals for “As Long As I (Can Be With You)” and “Love (Stand Up).”

2007: Bruce and the E Street Band rehearse for their upcoming Magic Tour at Convention Hall in Asbury Park.

2009: The Working on a Dream Tour stops at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, where Bruce tour premieres “The Wanderer” followed immediately by a rare “Incident on 57th Street” segueing into “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” — the first time the two songs have been played back-to-back like that in 29 years.

2012: Bruce and the E Street Band play their second of three Wrecking Ball shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, and what a show: Bruce stuns the crowd by opening with the live debut of “Living on the Edge of the World,” tour premiering “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)” and “Mary’s Place,” rare outings for “Talk to Me” and “This Depression,” and inviting Gary U.S. Bonds to join the band for four songs, including the tour premieres of “Jole Blon” and “This Little Girl.”

 

2013: The Wrecking Ball Tour finally comes to a close at Rock in Rio, Bruce’s first appearance in Brazil in 25 years. Bruce opens the show with the second and last performance (to date) of “Sociedade Alternativa” and plays Born in the U.S.A. from start to finish. The last song of the Wrecking Ball Tour: an acoustic “This Hard Land.”

2017: Bruce makes a surprise guest appearance at the Laid Back Festival in Holmdel, New Jersey, joining both Little Steven and Jackson Browne in their respective sets. For more highlights from this show, see my Where the Band Was report.

2023: Already postponed once six months prior, Bruce pushes his show in Columbus another seven months into the future due to his peptic ulcer disease.