New for 2024: Article for 1978; new entry for 2010
1969: Child headlines at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond–the last show they will ever play under that name. After returning home to New Jersey, the band discovers that another area band has released an album using the same band name, so our heroes change their name to Steel Mill.
1974: Bruce and the E Street Band play their first of two nights at Philadelphia’s Tower Theater in Upper Darby. Bruce opens with a beautiful “Incident on 57th Street” played with only Roy and Suki accompanying. Other highlights include an early “Born to Run,” the gorgeous “Spanish Harlem” and electric “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City,” the latter of which features the first appearance of the police siren sound effect the band will use for the next few months (most notably during “Incident on 57th Street” at the famous 1975 Main Point show).
1975: Bruce and the boys bring the Born to Run Tour to the University of California at Santa Barbara.
1978: The final leg of the Darkness Tour kicks off at Princeton University, where rambunctious fans cause damage to the host gymnasium and an early version of “The Ties That Bind” receives its world premiere. Check out that first performance, plus the show’s soundcheck below.
1980: Bruce officially lands his first Number One album when The River reaches the top of the album charts in the U.S. “Hungry Heart,” the album’s first single, is #5 on the pop chart. That evening, Bruce and the band play their third of four shows at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where they play “Fade Away” for the very first time. “Candy’s Room” is tour premiered, as is an encore of “Sweet Little Sixteen,” which the band plays with Jackson Browne. “The Price You Pay” gets a new third verse as well.
1985: Born in the U.S.A. is certified 10x multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
2003: Bruce makes his fourth straight annual appearance at Light of Day IV at The Stone Pony, joining Garland Jeffreys for two songs and Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers for most of their set. Michael J. Fox joins in the fun on “Light of Day.”
2004: Bruce performs three songs at a political rally for U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry in Cleveland. Senator John Glenn introduces Bruce, who proceeds to sing “The Promised Land,” “Thunder Road,” and “No Surrender.”
2005: Sirius Satellite Radio debuts an all-Bruce, all-the-time radio station called E Street Radio. The station will only last three months, but it will return for a longer engagement in late 2007.
2007: Bruce lands the cover (and feature interview) in Rolling Stone.
2010: Bruce appears at the Rome Film Festival to promote his new film, The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.
2012: An amazing Wrecking Ball show at Penn State University–Bruce opens with only the fifth-ever performance of “Lion’s Den,” plays a rare “Seaside Bar Song,” and closes the show with his very first “regular” concert performance of “Shout.”
2016: Bruce makes another appearance at Stand Up for Heroes, this time joining Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, and Louis C.K. at Madison Square Garden in New York City, performing a four-song acoustic set. Bruce auctions off a guitar again, this time one he’s been playing for 25 years, along with a personally escorted trip in his Cadillac to the Jersey Freeze and his mom’s lasagna. As a result, he raises $280,000.
2017: Springsteen on Broadway continues its run at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York City. In attendance tonight: Clive Davis.
2018: Springsteen on Broadway continues its run at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York City.
