1974-08-03 Wollman Skating Rink Theater (The), Central Park, New York City, NY

Scheduled: 19:00 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

One show, triple bill, with Springsteen & The E Street Band occupying the middle slot in a show headlined by Anne Murray, with Brewer & Shipley as the opening act. The Schaefer Music Festival is an evening show held outdoors in the Wollman Ice Rink Theatre within Central Park, taking place while Springsteen is in town recording at 914 Studios in Blauvelt. This concert had originally been booked with Boz Scaggs headlining, Anne Murray billed second and Brewer & Shipley opening. When headliner Scaggs pulled out of the gig in June promoter Ron Delsener replaced him with Springsteen in the headlining slot. However Shep Gordon and Johnny Podell (managers of Murray) objected to Springsteen receiving headlining status, citing Murray's superior commercial success. As a consequence the schedule was changed the week before the show, with Murray receiving the top billing. Advertisements exist from both before and after the change of headlining status (see our News tab). Mike Appel reluctantly agreed with the change on the condition that Springsteen would be allowed to perform for at least 80 minutes. As it turned out approximately 80% of the 5,000-strong crowd came specifically to see Springsteen, and half way through Bruce's performance Murray's managers realized they'd made a serious mistake, even trying in vain to get Mike Appel to yank Bruce offstage prematurely. Needless to say Bruce played his full show and Anne Murray was placed in the nightmarish position of having to follow him! A review in Village Voice states that a quarter of the crowd left after Springsteen's set, and only a quarter of those remaining were left by the time Murray had finished hers. This would turn out to be the last time (except for charity benefits) that Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band opened for another artist. The partial setlist listed is derived from attendees' recollections, where one attendee also recalls "Thundercrack" being played, though this has not been confirmed.

Stuart Churchill

The subject of Bruce in Central Park came up and I thought I would share my memories of the night. Please bear in mind that all I had to go on was the Cover of Wild & Innocent. So I was unsure of who was in the band until others confirmed the dates of the band change. Also, as background, I was in NYC for my father's second wedding, so you might imagine there was a fair amount of confusion and emotional storms going on. Leaving that aside, I arrived a couple of days before the show (Rehearsal dinner, etc.). I saw in the paper that Bruce was playing Central Park. My younger sister Catherine who was also attending also wanted to go. This is the main reason I hadn't brought a tape recorder. As it was I remember a fair amount of security so it wouldn't have worked anyway. So after putting in an appearance at the wedding reception, My sister and I made our inconspicuous exit. I think we walked to the park, where there was a long line to get in. I barely remember Brewer & Shipley, but I was riveted once Bruce came on. I didn't keep a setlist during the show, but did write one down from memory when I got back to Michigan. I can't promise it's completely accurate, but there's more than is currently in BruceBase.

INCIDENT ON 52nd STREET / SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT /DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82nd / IT'S HARD TO BE A SAINT IN THE CITY / JUNGLELAND / KITTY'S BACK / ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT).

Performance notes: Incident started very softly with David Sancious playing the intro. Bruce came on and did what I can only call an interpretive dance acting out the various parts and actions in the song. The other band members came in one-by-one (including Suki Lahav, I think) until it ended at full volume. Jungleland was of course a new song, and the version he did had the "Hungry and Hunted" portion of the song as a repeated chorus, which I noted in my setlist. I think a version from the Bottom Line also had this version. He dedicated "Kitty's Back" to a topless dancer and the Sportsmans Club in NJ (Bruce does love his topless dancers). One of the things that divided my attention was watching my younger sister. So when he started "Rosalita" everyone stood and rushed the stage. I wanted to but didn't want to lose track of my sister. When I looked for her she was way ahead of me crowding the stage. I was worried about staying out too late and possibly missing connections with my father, So I decided to leave after Springsteen's set with the slight worry about walking through Central Park after dark. However it soon became clear that nearly everyone was leaving so there was safety in the crowd from my NYC paranoia. Anyway when I got back home I wrote down a list of the songs I remembered him doing. So I may have missed a song or two or gotten one wrong.

Brucebace Reader

It is absolutely true that most of the crowd booed when the announcer informed us that Anne Murray would be out in fifteen minutes, while we were still screaming for another encore. Most of us left. In Los Angeles, Marc Brickman (Bruce's lighting director) was talking to my wife and said that Anne Murray was hysterical backstage, really pissed off that her manager had forced Bruce to play second. The story made it to John Sebastian, who voluntarily took second spot (in a triple-billing) on October 18 in Passaic.

Brucebace Reader

I remembers that the vast majority left after Springsteen, leaving only around a quarter of the original audience for Murray.