So...I'm almost done with this show. As in, I've now heard almost the entire thing. For logistical reasons, I don't listen to Bruce shows except under certain circumstances, and those haven't really been in play for a while. (Whatever, yadda, cool story, bro.)
I will say that for a long time I felt like I was one of the few hardcore fans to really love this tour. (I wasn't one of the few, I just felt like I was.) This release, like the others in the series, makes me feel more than vindicated in thinking this tour was really something special. (Like pretty much all his tours, really.) Great setlists, great performances.
That album and tour came right in the middle of my hobo years. The album carried me down so many roads and my fondest tour memory of all the Bruce tours I've seen is hitching to Ames, Iowa to see Bruce, without a ticket in hand. I still love the album and I still think the tour was tremendous. I'm always thrilled when we get an 84 or 85 show in the series.
I'll double down on your 'one of the few hardcore fans to really love this tour' by going completely nuts and saying that on the basis of the Nugs releases, so far I prefer 1985 to 1984. The 1984 shows released so far structurally setlist wise are not that distinct from The River tour for me... big anthem to open / two rockers / Atlantic City instead of Darkness as the slower transition rock song / Nebraska songs in place of Indy Day, Factory etc / group of up-tempo songs with a darker edge sequenced around Promised Land / one or two slower songs / Badlands into TR. Second set again like The River... group of rockers to open, a slower song segment, building up through more up tempo stuff to the Backstreets / Rosie closing sequence. Encores starting with Jungleland like 80/81.
But by 1985, the show was it's own distinct animal with a flow and narrative unlike previous tours.
I guess some late 1984 shows would show the evolution and give me cause to rethink all this, but sadly it looks like there is a solid chance nothing was multi tracked from those parts of the tour.
@Bosstralian That's really interesting, I never thought about the setlist structure similarities between the River Tour and 84 BITUSA but that does make a lot of sense!
I too am late... But I will buy this show tomorrow now that I'm back online. I'm so excited to listen to this one. This leg of the BITUSA tour is nothing short of amazing!
If we get a River tour show next month, either July 6 or June 4, it will be the "best summer in the history of the archive series". I'd even go so far and say if D&D is next then that title still applies. Maybe one of those Fall East coast shows would be lovely and understated for August.
This is the only forum I will be able to state this:
BiUSA/Badlands/Out in the Streets/Johnny 99/Seeds/Atlantic City/The River is possibly the most subversive setlist opening I have ever heard from our hero. in '85 he was bigger than anything at the time or since. He had a big audience and used it to great effect. I cannot stop listening to the 1st set as it checks ever box imaginable in a Springsteen show. Obviously, NJ 81 is similar, but this is just huge for me.
@Jerseyfornia It feels like that word is taking every reader by storm 😁 Not the first time I've used it in a review either, haha, ya gotta go back as far as... Boston '92! to find it 😉
@Jerseyfornia Hahaha, it should be a laugh if June 1st 1981 pops up in the next few months then!
Edit: I got myself mixed up here thinking August 22nd, 1985 was the preantepenultimate night of the Giants Stadium stand - similarly to June 1st, '81 in Wembley - but to my credit it only took me an hour to remember I actually used that word to refer to September 27th, '85. So, erm, scrap this post and carry on!
...
It would be nice if June 1st got released, though...
@Jerseyfornia Keep it to yourself, don’t tell anyone, but I don’t much care for BITUSA as a record. Scattered across a 3 hour plus set tho’, I’m fine with it. 🤫
So...I'm almost done with this show. As in, I've now heard almost the entire thing. For logistical reasons, I don't listen to Bruce shows except under certain circumstances, and those haven't really been in play for a while. (Whatever, yadda, cool story, bro.)
I will say that for a long time I felt like I was one of the few hardcore fans to really love this tour. (I wasn't one of the few, I just felt like I was.) This release, like the others in the series, makes me feel more than vindicated in thinking this tour was really something special. (Like pretty much all his tours, really.) Great setlists, great performances.
I too am late... But I will buy this show tomorrow now that I'm back online. I'm so excited to listen to this one. This leg of the BITUSA tour is nothing short of amazing!
I'm late.... I downloaded the show on Saturday, and then we flew on holiday.
I thought I'd find 3h12min of me-time easily on a holiday, but hey, I was wrong... 🙂
I succeeded today, and what an enjoyment this is on the first listen...
Can't say much more, other than I'm beaming... And I love having Bruce with me...
If we get a River tour show next month, either July 6 or June 4, it will be the "best summer in the history of the archive series". I'd even go so far and say if D&D is next then that title still applies. Maybe one of those Fall East coast shows would be lovely and understated for August.
This is the only forum I will be able to state this:
BiUSA/Badlands/Out in the Streets/Johnny 99/Seeds/Atlantic City/The River is possibly the most subversive setlist opening I have ever heard from our hero. in '85 he was bigger than anything at the time or since. He had a big audience and used it to great effect. I cannot stop listening to the 1st set as it checks ever box imaginable in a Springsteen show. Obviously, NJ 81 is similar, but this is just huge for me.
I think you made that edit just to use the word again.
Johnny 99, Seeds, Atlantic City, The River……COME ON!!!