Something magical happened after he stepped off the stage at the Garden in September 1979. He took back that record he delivered to Columbia. He decided to let it all in, the good, bad, goofy, sullen, and thought-provoking. The River was born and remains to this day the most expansive vision he ever produced. A record that I will never get tired of. How is it possible to have "Crush on you" and "Point Blank" exist in the world? It's the same world of isolation and hometown gun violence and a world of blue dresses and first dates. A world of harrowing joy and suffering. We walk amidst our wreckage. This music gave birth to my fandom on an autumn night in Los Angeles thanks to my crazy Mom, how I held her hand so hard. This world is my world, I am not me without it....
Uniondale in 1980, what can be said, the band is strong like a coiled snake with a bite so pungent. So many songs and moments to mention. The goofy singing of Merry Christmas giving way to the band exploding to Badlands, Darkness with all those mournful and defiant inflections. The birth of his social commentary with This Land. The River my god....Prove it may be the greatest version ever.
Then the goofy party time of the second set...then the triple header of Stolen Car, that singing as he hit the chords. Driving all night fleeing a sad house. Point blank and Wreck. There is a price to pay...nowhere in his career has he made a setlist with so many pitfalls and false endings. Then more party time. Ramrod, a song about death, and 40 years before it is true wrote You can Look, a song that makes more sense now than it did in 1980. The fear, the sadness, the explosion of violence we see every day..."nobody's gonna stop me!!!" (maybe just a song about frustration and a need to be connected and free.)
Then Backstreets performed as a maturing man, so well done. Then of course the rest...it goes on and on and on and we hope it will never end...now I look back at that younger version of me, before any of this made sense. I stood on my chair as the Medley faded. So much life to live...now years later we have the archive series to remind ourselves and rejoice in the magic that was, and now is again through the magic of bootlegging.
Great post Buddha .....an incredible menagerie of Love,Death,Joy, Heartbreak, Relationships, struggle, growing up of course rock and roll and everything in between ..... at a time in my life where that meant everything.
I have one analogy, a weird one probably... I have three sons. And as every mother would say, and it is the truth, you love all your children equally. The love is the same, but children are like planets, one day one is closer to you, the next day the other. You don't compare them, because it's pointless. You take them as a gift, admiring all for the variety, wondering where that came from.
You can't deny the passion Bruce brings to the stage when you hear the guy Christmas shopping down at the mall in You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) sounding more desperate than the guys in Backstreets and Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
Ok, this may be the greatest non-intro Prove It All Night I've ever heard. Hell, it's probably got some of the intro ones beat. See my comment above about set list mixing... the fact this is in the usual 'Badlands' slot in a River tour set, it sounds like Bruce went extra hard to give it a similar anthemic sound and feel. Brilliant.
That opening four pack was amazing. Bruce returning to 'his people', clearly proteined up on Christmas turkey and ready to just blow people back in their seats.
These three shows may have a lot of set list cross over, but so far this feels different to the other two. Amazing how just tweaking running orders slightly and shifting nuances in performance of songs can generate a different feel.
I'm fairly over Erik Flanagan writing the essays that accompany each release. I'd like to see them rotate different writers into the series, but he is spot on about this statement.
The River show captures Bruce and the E Street Band in widescreen, cinematic mode, in both scope and substance.
I made the same comment a few weeks back comparing Darkness to The River, using the term widescreen for lack of a better description. The music on the River tour sounds bigger, more open, while on Darkness it sounds somewhat condensed, even though the exact same players are onstage. The records are mixed that way, too, with The River completely opening up the sound that was condensed on the previous two records.
I've listen to most of this show today while in the car as ESR played it. But is this the best "For You" ever or what. It's not one of my favorite tunes by far, but this was very powerful.
So I've finally guessed one right also, although counting against me is the fact I've been throwing out 28/12/1980 as a guess randomly for about a year and a half LOL.
More interestingly, though, even before the clue the other day I threw out this show as my first Friday in December guess and 12/12/1975 (the source show for the official release Santa) as my Xmas bonus guess. Let's see if the double plays out.
As for the show itself, it's just before 7 am Saturday morning here so no chance to even download it yet, much less listen to it. I have some instant turf / lawn being delivered this morning which I need to roll out and lay. I hope to be sitting back this afternoon admiring my handiwork (or lack thereof), with a frothy in hand, listening to the power, the glory, the ministry of 1980 E Street rock 'n' roll.
EDIT: Nope, I'm still a prediction numptie. I just went back and checked, and I had 12/12/75 as first Friday and 28/12/80 as Xmas bonus. So, until it was spelt out in a clue the day before, my predictions are still poor.
Yeah we've always gotten something late December. Although I'm open to another year of us all 'worrying' today is our lot.
Sorry that it's a messy copy and paste job and there are links to Greasy Lake threads - and the blog too - but I'm jumping back and forth between here and making notes about "Out in the Street" hahahaha.
Oh my, there's more!
I saw this for the first time today over on BTX and it needs to be posted here. Recorded on December 31st, 1980 - and January 1st, 1981 😉 - Wow!
And this one as well, because why not!
The Archive Series has been on a damned good run this past year or so.
What a joy it is to have gotten this show's "Who'll Stop The Rain?", and Fenway 2012's, in the same year. And all of the history that comes with them.
Something magical happened after he stepped off the stage at the Garden in September 1979. He took back that record he delivered to Columbia. He decided to let it all in, the good, bad, goofy, sullen, and thought-provoking. The River was born and remains to this day the most expansive vision he ever produced. A record that I will never get tired of. How is it possible to have "Crush on you" and "Point Blank" exist in the world? It's the same world of isolation and hometown gun violence and a world of blue dresses and first dates. A world of harrowing joy and suffering. We walk amidst our wreckage. This music gave birth to my fandom on an autumn night in Los Angeles thanks to my crazy Mom, how I held her hand so hard. This world is my world, I am not me without it....
Uniondale in 1980, what can be said, the band is strong like a coiled snake with a bite so pungent. So many songs and moments to mention. The goofy singing of Merry Christmas giving way to the band exploding to Badlands, Darkness with all those mournful and defiant inflections. The birth of his social commentary with This Land. The River my god....Prove it may be the greatest version ever.
Then the goofy party time of the second set...then the triple header of Stolen Car, that singing as he hit the chords. Driving all night fleeing a sad house. Point blank and Wreck. There is a price to pay...nowhere in his career has he made a setlist with so many pitfalls and false endings. Then more party time. Ramrod, a song about death, and 40 years before it is true wrote You can Look, a song that makes more sense now than it did in 1980. The fear, the sadness, the explosion of violence we see every day..."nobody's gonna stop me!!!" (maybe just a song about frustration and a need to be connected and free.)
Then Backstreets performed as a maturing man, so well done. Then of course the rest...it goes on and on and on and we hope it will never end...now I look back at that younger version of me, before any of this made sense. I stood on my chair as the Medley faded. So much life to live...now years later we have the archive series to remind ourselves and rejoice in the magic that was, and now is again through the magic of bootlegging.
Trying to be consistent, not comparing the three shows... 🙂
31.12. has inherited something beautiful from the Mother, namely my favorite The Price You Pay.
So on a day like today, December 31st is my beloved child.
I have one analogy, a weird one probably... I have three sons. And as every mother would say, and it is the truth, you love all your children equally. The love is the same, but children are like planets, one day one is closer to you, the next day the other. You don't compare them, because it's pointless. You take them as a gift, admiring all for the variety, wondering where that came from.
These three shows feel the same. Like siblings.
That was deep. I'm sorry. 😊
I was going to hold off until Monday, but here you go:
Dropping a bizarrely worded complaint in here for the Music Hall Of Hell
The Guy That shot John Lennon
The doctor that cut Julie Andrews vocal cords
The person that decided leaving the piano in the truck over night in the coliseum parking lot in December 1980 was a good idea.
You can't deny the passion Bruce brings to the stage when you hear the guy Christmas shopping down at the mall in You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) sounding more desperate than the guys in Backstreets and Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
Holy crap, this Because The Night solo is amazing. The dude really was going balls to the wall on this night.
Ok, this may be the greatest non-intro Prove It All Night I've ever heard. Hell, it's probably got some of the intro ones beat. See my comment above about set list mixing... the fact this is in the usual 'Badlands' slot in a River tour set, it sounds like Bruce went extra hard to give it a similar anthemic sound and feel. Brilliant.
Up to Promised Land and loving it so far.
That opening four pack was amazing. Bruce returning to 'his people', clearly proteined up on Christmas turkey and ready to just blow people back in their seats.
These three shows may have a lot of set list cross over, but so far this feels different to the other two. Amazing how just tweaking running orders slightly and shifting nuances in performance of songs can generate a different feel.
That's a great picture of Bruce in a classic pose on the cover and I have those same boots.
I'm fairly over Erik Flanagan writing the essays that accompany each release. I'd like to see them rotate different writers into the series, but he is spot on about this statement.
The River show captures Bruce and the E Street Band in widescreen, cinematic mode, in both scope and substance.
I made the same comment a few weeks back comparing Darkness to The River, using the term widescreen for lack of a better description. The music on the River tour sounds bigger, more open, while on Darkness it sounds somewhat condensed, even though the exact same players are onstage. The records are mixed that way, too, with The River completely opening up the sound that was condensed on the previous two records.
Darkness on the edge of town. Fucking unreal. Then you get to the rest.
The band at its peak, all you can say. I am smiling from ear to ear.
Bring me to the River again and again Mr.Bossman.
I've listen to most of this show today while in the car as ESR played it. But is this the best "For You" ever or what. It's not one of my favorite tunes by far, but this was very powerful.
So I've finally guessed one right also, although counting against me is the fact I've been throwing out 28/12/1980 as a guess randomly for about a year and a half LOL.
More interestingly, though, even before the clue the other day I threw out this show as my first Friday in December guess and 12/12/1975 (the source show for the official release Santa) as my Xmas bonus guess. Let's see if the double plays out.
As for the show itself, it's just before 7 am Saturday morning here so no chance to even download it yet, much less listen to it. I have some instant turf / lawn being delivered this morning which I need to roll out and lay. I hope to be sitting back this afternoon admiring my handiwork (or lack thereof), with a frothy in hand, listening to the power, the glory, the ministry of 1980 E Street rock 'n' roll.
EDIT: Nope, I'm still a prediction numptie. I just went back and checked, and I had 12/12/75 as first Friday and 28/12/80 as Xmas bonus. So, until it was spelt out in a clue the day before, my predictions are still poor.
@Mario Brega, has there been a bonus Christmas release every year of the series?
*when I have general Bruce research to do I go to Brucebase, but for Archive Series questions I call on Mario.
I love the idea of completion.