Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band rock The Spectrum! Thunder Road 8-19-1978

0:05 SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, welcome to the concert room inside the Philly Concert Experience. I'm your host, Bob Hill. Thanks for tuning in. The concert room is a podcast session dedicated to the performances, performers, bands, and artists who played on the stage at the legendary Philadelphia Spectrum Arena and the surrounding venues in the Philadelphia area. The Spectrum held numerous concerts over its 40 plus years of existence, earning the nicknames America's Show Place and The House That Rock built. And in today's session, we'll continue to feature a great performance and artist who played on the Spectrum stage.

0:45 SPEAKER_00: In season one, we featured legendary bands such as Yes, Genesis, The Stones, and of course The Grateful Dead. However, we cannot talk about the Spectrum concert history without featuring the one artist who is tied to his musical journey and the New Jersey Philadelphia area, and our venue the Spectrum, and that artist is Bruce Springsteen. Now, before he became known as the boss, Springsteen broke out of his cage off Highway 9 in Freehold, New Jersey. He started his musical journey in local bands, including a band called Steel Mill, which also uh had Danny Federici and later Stephen Van Zan as members.

1:30 SPEAKER_00: So Steel Mill uh toured around Jersey and also outside in states like Virginia and California, so they had a little bit of success. And this is where uh Bruce honed his songwriting ability. I bring this up as a starter because this all led to his signing a record contract. And in 1972 he formed a new band and recorded his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park. The band eventually became known as the E Street Band, and Bruce acquired the nickname The Boss around this time. And uh from what I understand, this nickname came about because Bruce was the leader of the band, of course.

2:15 SPEAKER_00: He collected all the performance fees at the end of the night, and he would uh pay the band, you know, as the leader. Um so they kind of nicknamed them the boss, which is pretty cool. So fast forward, and we're now in the mid-70s with albums like The Wild, the Innocent, and the East Street Shuffle, and of course the breakout album Born to Run, all taking off. And at this time we need to talk about uh this era and um Philadelphia. Because Bruce played the Spectrum for the very first time in 1973.

2:48 SPEAKER_00: He was opening for Chicago, but by all accounts that didn't go over very well. Um probably and from accounts that I've read and uh heard from speaking to people. This was probably due to various reasons, uh, most likely um unfamiliarity in both the artist and uh the songs. After all, uh 1973 only had his debut album. And uh also the second album was recently recorded while the innocent E Street Shuffle. Um so probably not real familiar with his uh this opening act, uh, although he's playing on the spectrum stage.

3:32 SPEAKER_00: Um this is 1973. Um so and its uh short set probably didn't go over very well just because of that. Um didn't have a lot of things behind him. Um people there to see Chicago, which is all fine, that's cool. Because in 74 he came back and he played the Tower Theater for two nights. And uh if you're familiar with my past podcast, I did touch on the importance of the tower theater in our area and the artists who played there. Very, very important. Uh so in 74 when he rolled back into Philadelphia, he played the tower for three for two nights.

4:11 SPEAKER_00: Uh so in 1975, with Born in the USA album and the tour taking off, and his live shows gaining a reputation of being, you know, the best in the business, uh, Bruce and the band played a local show uh here in the Philadelphia area out on the main line in a small place called the Main Point. And he also played the Tower for a Freed stand. So now you can see in 1975 things are starting to ramp up. He's he's getting some longer engagements, and um his shows are becoming uh longer, and he's really gaining a reputation for having a great, great live show.

4:52 SPEAKER_00: He's got uh a couple albums behind him and uh some hits to play. Um but it really wasn't until the next time that Bruce rolled into Philly which put him back on the spectrum stage and uh really in full boss mode. Okay, so let's jump up to 1978. Darkness on the edge of town is recorded, and the uh subsequent tour brings him home to Philly. And starting on May 26th, 1978, he rolls in for a three-night stay. Um, actually, it's kind of interesting because uh during that three-night stay, the album uh wasn't released actually for another week.

5:36 SPEAKER_00: So the audience was not really familiar with these uh now legendary songs. We're gonna fast forward a few months later, and here we are, our featured performance today on my podcast session. On August 18th and 19th, Bruce rolled back into the spectrum for a two-night stand. And by all accounts, they're already, you know, uh in big arena rock mode. So I am going to play Thunder Road. Uh it's Bruce on the Spectrum stage. It is August 19th, 1978. I think it's about ten songs into a set list. And again, here is the stellar Thunder Road.

7:05 SPEAKER_02: Don't turn me I just gotta face myself alone again Don't you run back inside You know just what I'm beautiful You say this magic in the day You can do it today What's the stuff we have to play We're save your eyes to be still there you go that sounded great.

12:24 SPEAKER_00: Bruce and the Street band with a killer rendition of Thunder Road, as I said, a fan favorite from the album, and uh you know, out of all those great songs, this one really stands out also as um as a highlight in uh his shows all those decades. So I hope you enjoyed this great performance, and uh, if you saw him back then, uh back in the day with his band uh in concert uh or even recently, I hope this brings back some wonderful memories uh and also the shows and uh you know the venues in your town or city wherever you saw Bruce and and his band or uh any concert.

13:05 SPEAKER_00: So uh again, thank you for tuning in. I appreciate it. We have a lot of great uh episodes coming up in season two. It's very exciting. Please subscribe, comment, and uh, I look forward to seeing you again in the concert room.