Bruce Springsteen was originally tagged as the new Bob Dylan because of his love of words and his way with language but he quickly stepped out of the shadow of the great man and forged his own identity.
I’ve read that this is “heartland rock” as it focuses on blue collar issues, girls and cars.
His marathon concerts built up a strong and loyal following with both fans and critics.
1973 – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
1973 – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
1975 – Born to Run
1978 – Darkness on the Edge of Town
1980 – The River
1982 – Nebraska
1984 – Born in the U.S.A.
1987 – Tunnel of Love
1992 – Human Touch
1992 – Lucky Town
1995 – The Ghost of Tom Joad
2002 – The Rising
2005 – Devils & Dust
2006 – We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
2007 – Magic
2009 – Working on a Dream
2010 – The Promise
2012 – Wrecking Ball
2014 – High Hopes
Bruce Springsteen is a magnificent live performer and he’s at his best when he’s backed by the E Street Band.
Springsteen has released great studio albums including Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River and Born In The USA but has he produced a really great live album to stand alongside the studio albums?
I believe he has… and that there are many more in the vault that could challenge for the greatest live album ever.
I understand that radio broadcasts or concert recordings older than 25 years are out of copyright in the European Union and that means that we are seeing some legendary albums appear as “legal” releases but not officially authorised by Springsteen.
In response, it has been announced in late 2014 that Bruce Springsteen is opening up his archives of concert recordings but he’s started with 2012 and 2014 concerts before going back in time.
If you’ve looked at my favourite live albums, you’ll know that Springsteen has three albums registering 29 out of 30, the highest rating I’ve given to any album – 1975 Hammersmith Odeon, 1978 Cleveland, Ohio and 1980 Nassau Coliseum – with another getting 28 out of 30 despite it being very un-Springsteen-like and that’s Live In Dublin from 2006. I believe that if any of the 1975 to 1980 albums had been issued at the time, they would be generally regarded as well as the Allman Brothers At Fillmore East, The Who Live At Leeds or Made In Japan by Deep Purple.
Here are the albums I’ve featured so far:
1973 – Bound For Glory
1975 – Live At The Main Point
1975 – Hammersmith Odeon 75 review rating 29/30
1975 – Tower Theater Pennsylvania
1978 – Live At The Capitol Theater, Passiac NJ
1978 – Winterland Night
1978 – Agora Ballroom (Cleveland, Ohio)
1978 – 1978/08/09 Cleveland Ohio (official recording) review rating 29/30
1978 – The Fox Theatre Atlanta
1978 – Live At The Roxy
1980 – Nassau Coliseum Uniondale New York review rating 29/30
1980 – Arizona State University Tempe
1984 – Brendan Byrne Arena New Jersey
1988 – Los Angeles April 23 1988
1988 – The Human Rights Broadcast Buenos Aires October 1988
1992 – In Concert / MTV Plugged
2000 – Live In New York City – review rating 25/30
2006 – Live In Dublin review rating 29/30
2012 – Apollo Theater New York, NY
2014 – AAMI Park Melbourne 2014 (Born In The USA Special)
2014 – High Hopes Tour
and not forgetting the live compilation
Live 1975-85 – review rating 26/30
Bruce Springsteen has also issued a number of live concerts as DVDs.
2002 – Live In Barcelona
Please vote in my poll to find out the best Bruce Springsteen live album.
Loading ...Buying Albums By Bruce Springsteen
These are available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
The Best Live Albums Of All Time
His live albums are included in the polls to find the best live albums by singer songwriters and the best classic rock live albums.
Loading ...Because there are so many excellent classic rock live albums I have split the poll into two and you may find some of your favourites in the second division. Albums will be promoted when they get enough votes.
Loading ...You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk.
High Hopes Tour 2014 is a 90 CD package covering 30 shows from the 2014 tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
If that’s too much for you, the concerts recordings are also available to be be separately.
These are only available from http://live.brucespringsteen.net/
AAMI Park Melbourne 2014 is a live recording by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
It was recorded in Australia on February 15, 2014 and it’s a special concert because the classic album Born In The USA was played in its entirety.
It also has a guest appearance from Eddie Velder on Highway To Hell.
It is only available from http://live.brucespringsteen.net
Continue reading Bruce Springsteen AAMI Park Melbourne 2014 (Born In The USA Special)
Apollo Theater New York, NY 2012 is a live recording of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
It was recorded on March 09, 2012.
This is the first official release from the Bruce Springsteen archives and it’s available from http://live.brucespringsteen.net as a digital download or CD.
Continue reading Bruce Springsteen Apollo Theater New York, NY 2012
Agora Ballroom 1978: The Classic Cleveland Broadcast is a live recording by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
It is released on the Left Field Media label in November 2014 and takes advantage of the lower copyright protection in the European Union for live recordings that were broadcast on the radio.
If Passaic 1978 was disappoint in terms of sound quality, this is better. I should warn you that these are addictive because Springsteen varied the setlist over the tour so it’s not a case of just getting on great 1978 live recording.
These 1978 Darkness tour recordings are the holy grail as far as many Springsteen fans are concerned.
Just before Christmas 2014, Bruce Springsteen released an authorised version of the Cleeveland 1978 concert – for details see 1978/08/09 Cleveland Ohio – that is the one that you should really buy and it’s reported that it has superior sound quality.
Winterland Night 1978: The Classic San Francisco Broadcast is a live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
It was recorded in San Francisco on 15th December 1978.
This is another radio broadcast that creeps through the European copyright laws. There are several different versions of this concert but this one is on the Left Field Media label.
This is not an official Springsteen approved release… we are still waiting for those.
I’ve watched Bob Dylan and Neil Young get to grips with the classic live recordings from their glorious early years. Even the Rolling Stones have done it a bit with the excellent Brussels Affair receiving an official release through their website.
I’d almost given upon Bruce Springsteen doing the same but it looks as if there is hope for some of those vintage concerts from the 1970s to appear.
Starting off with the 2014 shows and one from 2012 (you need to go back much further), we have action at live.brucespringsteen.net
I think its concerts from the 1978 Darkness tour that I want most of all like the heavily bootlegged concert at Passaic, NJ but with a great sound quality. Things sounded good on the official release 1975 – 85 so I’m very hopeful..
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band Live in Dublin is a two CD (and optionally a DVD) of concert performances recorded over three nights in Dublin in November 2006. Previously the band had been billed as the Seeger Sessions Band but that had caused early parts of the tour to be poorly attended.
That’s a great shame because anyone who comes to this album with an open mind will want to have had the chance to join in the fun personally. That’s my warning that in no way is this a traditional Springsteen album.
In fact, it’s almost as if this album has been beamed in from a parallel universe where Springsteen didn’t record Born To Run, Darkness, The River and Born In The USA but continued the inspiration of his first two albums with a deep interest in folk and jazz influenced music.
This has opened my eyes. It seems that I was very blinkered about Springsteen. Anything between 1974 and 1978 is fantastic and essential. The rest ranges from very good to OK. Bruce with the E Street Band is better than without.
Listening to this album time and time tells me that I was wrong and I should pay more attention.
Live At The Capitol Theater, Passiac NJ, September 19th 1978 is a live recording of a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band.
It’s not an official live album approved by Springsteen but I understand that it’s issued legally from a loophole in the copyright laws that lets live recordings appear after 25 years.
In many way, a live concert from the 1978 Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour is the Holy Grail for Springsteen fans. And where better to record Bruce than New Jersey.
This is a radio broadcast that became one of Springsteen’s most famous bootlegs sold under names like Passiac Nights and Piece De Resistance.
Bruce Springsteen has started to release his archive live recordings including the Agora, Cleveland concert from 1978. These are available on his own website.
Continue reading Bruce Springsteen Live At The Capitol Theater, Passiac NJ 1978
Strictly speaking Live In Barcelona is a recording of a Bruce Springsteen concert from Barcelona in October 2002 that is captured on DVD rather than CD and doesn’t count as a live album.
But the world doesn’t have enough official Bruce Springsteen live albums and I don’t want you to miss out.
Bruce Springsteen Live In Barcelona
I think most fans would agree that Bruce Springsteen hasn’t released enough official live albums and I’d love him to follow the example of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Both have raised the archives made officially released live recordings that have been bootlegs in the past.
I have written reviews for the following
There are a few other albums I need to cover. At the moment I don’t intend to write full pages for these, either because they are not good enough or too specialised.
These may become full reviews at a future time.
