CAPITOL THEATRE, PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY, 21 SEPTIEMBRE 1978.
La tercera noche de la legendaria trología de Passaic 1978.
Editado de los archivos de Bruce Springsteen.
Gira Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
El sonido definitivo. 3CD oficiales.
¡Atención: Se edita en CD a mediados de marzo 2024. A partir de ahí el plazo de entrega es de 3-4 semanas!
TRES NOCHES EN CASA
Profundizando en el baúl, para el lanzamiento de la serie Live Archive de este mes, les presentamos el concierto del 21/09/78 desde el Capitol Theatre en Passaic, Nueva Jersey. Del archivo de Bruce, Erik Flannigan comenta:
La tercera noche de un stand especial de bienvenida a Nueva Jersey completa la trilogía del Capitol Theatre '78 en la serie Live Archive. El público y el equipo aprovechan la ocasión para celebrar el 29 cumpleaños de Bruce en dos días, lo que da lugar a uno de los espectáculos más interactivos de la gira Darkness y uno de los mejores setlists, con los debuts en Archive Series de "High School Confidential" y "Sweet Little Sixteen", además de cortes profundos de "Meeting Across The River", "Kitty's Back", "The Fever" e "Incident on 57th Street" y "Rosalita" como la naturaleza lo pretendía. "Quarter to Three" concluye este conjunto épico de 24 canciones.
THREE NIGHTS AT HOME
Delving deep into the vault, for this month's Live Archive Series release we present to you 9/21/78 from the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ! From Springsteen archivist Erik Flannigan:
The third night of a special New Jersey homecoming stand completes the Capitol Theatre '78 trifecta in the Live Archive Series. The audience and crew seize the occasion to celebrate Springsteen's 29th birthday two days hence, which leads to one of the most interactive shows on the Darkness tour and one of the best setlists, with Archive Series debuts for "High School Confidential" and "Sweet Little Sixteen," plus deep cuts "Meeting Across The River," "Kitty's Back," "The Fever" and "Incident on 57th Street" into "Rosalita" as nature intended. "Quarter to Three" wraps this epic, 24-song set.
Set-list:
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL / BADLANDS / SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT / DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN / SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN / INDEPENDENCE DAY / THE PROMISED LAND / PROVE IT ALL NIGHT / RACING IN THE STREET / THUNDER ROAD / MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER / JUNGLELAND / SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN / FIRE / CANDY'S ROOM / BECAUSE THE NIGHT / POINT BLANK / KITTY'S BACK / THE FEVER / INCIDENT ON 57TH STREET / ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) / BORN TO RUN / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT / QUARTER TO THREE
Final night of three at the Capitol Theatre opens with "High School Confidential". Springsteen introduces "Sweet Little Sixteen" (played for the seventh and last time this tour) as "a birthday song to myself". Bruce messes up "Racing In The Street", forgetting the lyrics. He later asks the crowd to choose between "The Fever" and "Incident On 57th Street", and the resulting cheers are so close he plays both. Particular highlight is the seven-song stretch beginning with "Candy's Room" that includes a rare transition from "Incident On 57th Street" into "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)". The latter features an instrumental snippet of "Macho Man" after Clarence's introduction. There was no scheduled show for Springsteen’s birthday on September 23, so they celebrated it at this gig – and, to his amazement, Bruce receives a very unique birthday cake onstage, courtesy of the band and crew. See it for yourself on our Gallery tab.
Show Notes
Bruce Springsteen - Lead vocals, electric guitar, harmonica; Roy Bittan - Piano, backing vocal; Clarence Clemons - Tenor and baritone saxophones, percussion, backing vocal; Danny Federici - Organ, glockenspiel; Garry Tallent - Bass, backing vocal; Stevie Van Zandt - Electric guitar, backing vocal; Max Weinberg - Drums
Recorded live with the Record Plant Remote Truck by David Hewitt, DB Brown and Phil Gitomer
Mixed by Jon Altschiller; additional engineering by Danielle Warman
Mix Advisor: Rob Lebret
Mastered by Jon Altschiller
Post Production by Brad Serling and Arya Jha
Art Design by Michelle Holme
Cover Photo by Michael Putland
Tour Director: George Travis
Management: Jon Landau
HD files are 24bit 48 kHz
Nights 1 & 2 from this 3-night run were previously released: 9/19/1978 and 9/20/1978
Bruce Springsteen, Passaic, NJ, September 21, 1978
Before The Jukebox Blow The Fuse
By Erik Flannigan
Imagine that years after your favorite television series had ended (be it Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Stath Lets Flats, Twin Peaks or any other), you learned that additional episodes had been shot during the show’s best years and were about to be released in pristine quality. Would it matter that you had already watched dozens of episodes from the same season?
No, you would be thrilled that more of the show you love–a sublime artistic creation for which your fandom had become part of your self identity–was newly available. Let’s say you even had a lower-quality video tape or a pirated download of one of those lost episodes. Would it diminish your interest in an HD version of the lost show, looking even better than the original series ever did?
It’s with that framing we welcome another Darkness tour show to the Live Archive series and complete the Capitol Theatre trifecta with the release of Passaic 9/21/78. It’s the final show of a three-night stand that would be the last small-theatre residency Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would ever play in the Northeast. Let’s not forget these shows were something of an anomaly at the time, coming after a trio of gigs at the Palladium and the statement-making, three-night stand at iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City, both just a New Jersey Transit ride away.
Bruce was already many times bigger than the Capitol Theatre capacity, but his home state of New Jersey lacked an arena-sized venue until Brendan Byrne opened in 1981. The Passaic shows were a gift to those who lived across the Hudson River and especially fans on the Shore. When Bruce asks during the 9/21 show how many folks in the house are from Asbury Park, the roar is considerable.
The first night of the Passaic run was the legendary September 19 radio broadcast which spiked sales of blank tape in the tri-state area (presumably). That show and the more relaxed second night on September 20, are both essential titles in the Live Archive series. Now, the equally enthralling final concert joins them.
Comparing or ranking masterpieces is a pointless exercise; instead we should be grateful that we can now hear all three Capitol Theatre performances in outstanding, multi-track mix quality. That being said, the three Passaic shows are distinct.
Night three strikes an appealing balance of intensity and looseness, some of which can be attributed to its proximity to Springsteen’s 29th birthday, which would take place in two days’ time. The fans want to celebrate it and Springsteen lets them: he plays to the crowd and the crowd gives it right back in what might be the most interactive Darkness tour performance to be professionally recorded.
Amidst all the hand-wringing about setlist variations in recent times, some trainspotters have pointed out that for all the adoration showered upon it, the Darkness tour largely stuck to its core set and didn’t offer a great number of changes from show to show. That ignores the fact that when there were multi-night stands like Passaic, Bruce not only made surprise additions (usually covers, see below), but in the days leading up he prepped special material for the run. At the Capitol Theatre this included the return of deep cuts like “Meeting Across The River,” “Incident on 57th Street,” “Kitty’s Back,” and even “The Fever.”
Those older songs were clearly a nod to longtime fans from the area, but the key setlist-change feature of the Darkness tour was its rock ‘n’ roll jukebox covers: the exceptionally capable E Street Band regularly performed foundational rock songs like “Rave On,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “Summertime Blues.” With rollicking reverence, it’s obvious how much pleasure Springsteen got from taking each golden nugget for a ride.
September 21, 1978 was a hot day in New Jersey and the Capitol Theatre was surely warm and sticky when Springsteen kicked off the evening with Jerry Lee Lewis’ “High School Confidential.” This is one of nine performances of the song that year, and marks its first appearance in the Live Archive series.
Later in the first set, we get another Archive series debut cover, Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen,” featuring great baritone saxophone from Clarence Clemons and a spirited vocal from Springsteen that includes the fitting lyrical rewrite, “deep in the heart of Passaic.”
Those are but two highlights in a sterling opening set that also includes the work-in-progress “Independence Day” and an interesting “Prove It All Night.” Max Weinberg drops the beat at the 1:07 mark, and in Jon Altschiller’s detailed mix we hear just how important Clemons’ triangle playing is to the rhythm and tone of the song’s enchanting prelude. Mix inspectors will also likely be pleased with the placement of Danny Federici’s fader throughout the show compared to other ’78 releases.
Set one ends with the perfect pairing of “Meeting Across the River” into “Jungleland.” If we needed further confirmation of Springsteen’s commitment to his performance, we get it in two signature, heightened “Jungleland” vocal lines, as he reaches to his upper range to punctuate “dress in the latest rage” and “desperate as the night moves on.”
Given how well it worked the night before, the second set opens with a very early “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” again complete with fake snowfall and Springsteen doing his best Darlene Love imitation at the end. Clemons’ fine percussion playing and some impressive flying cymbal work from Weinberg mark an excellent “Because the Night,” one of five unreleased original songs featured in the 9/21/78 set along with the aforementioned “Independence Day,” “Fire,” “Point Blank” (in a version with great glockenspiel from Federici and piano from Roy Bittan) and “The Fever.” While our familiarity with those songs means we take their inclusion for granted in a 1978 show, if five unreleased originals were to appear in 2024 sets, we’d be soiling ourselves with glee.
The second set features epics, too, including a long “Kitty’s Back,” in which Bittan turns in a solo that’s among his modern-jazziest ever, accented by more cymbal shimmering from Weinberg. Bruce eventually presents the audience with a choice between “The Fever” and “Incident on 57th Street,” but lucky them, he plays both.
“The Fever” brings another memorable vocal moment, when Springsteen goes on an epic, Van Morrisonesque run through “But I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I — I’M GONNA BE ALRIGHT” at 6:15. Brilliant. As nature intended, “Incident” flows directly into “Rosalita,” and after vamping on the Village People’s “Macho Man” following the introduction of The Big Man, this deeply satisfying second set comes to a close.
The encore is a victory lap and maintains the energy of the main set with more vocal gems like Springsteen putting an exclamation point on his first utterance of “Baby we were BORN TO RUH-UH-UH-UN.” He elects to close the three-show homecoming with the night’s fourth cover, perhaps the most beloved encore song yet to be played in Passaic, Gary U.S. Bonds’ “Quarter To Three.” Led by Clemons’ wailing saxophone, the version runs some ten minutes before Springsteen and the band finally wave goodbye.
After they leave the stage, someone (promoter John Scher perhaps?) takes to the microphone to say, “It’s been a wonderful three nights. A great way to help Bruce celebrate his birthday.” True, but the real gift of Passaic is the recordings the Record Plant Mobile Truck made of all three nights.
