1977-02-07 Palace Theatre, Albany, NY

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

The opening night of the very exciting but quite brief (only 33 shows), 1977 leg of the Lawsuit Tour. The fifteen-song set lasts around two hours and opens with a magnificent "Something In The Night", which has a new arrangement and different lyrics since it was last played on November 4, 1976 in New York City. "The Promise" is performed in its solo piano incarnation, and uniquely for the tour appears in a mid-set slot. This show includes the live debut of the Springsteen-composed "Action In The Streets", which although a newspaper implies actually began this show, actually kicked off the encore. The song is clearly still a work-in-progress at this point, with several bluffed lines and the lack of the phrase "Action In the Streets" in the lyrics. "Backstreets" includes a monologue-styled middle section that will evolve and expand for the remainder of the tour. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" includes a snippet of "Theme From Shaft" in the midsection. Bruce forgets the lyrics to "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)". A contributor to the Greasy Lake website recalls "Spirit In The Night": "What I remember most is Bruce appearing in the audience during "Spirit In the Night," jumping off the stage into the crowd, body surfing over the crowd decades before the mosh pits of the grunge era." First confirmed show on the Lawsuit Tour where "Night" is dropped from the set.

After "Rendezvous"
"Thank you, that's a new song…"

Intro to "It's My Life"
"I grew up in this small town, was about 10,000 people, it was about 20 miles, 20 miles in from the Shore…and I lived in this, lived in this two-family house on this main street in town…and, uh, my mom, she was a secretary, she worked downtown…was a lawyer's secretary in one of the office buildings…and my pop, he was a…he was a guard at the jail for a while and he worked in a plastics' factory for a while, sometimes he drove trucks…sometimes he'd do nothing, sometimes he was just home…and…I can remember in the summertime I had this, this room that had this little roof right off it, I used to drag my mattress and stuff through the window and sleep out on the roof…and we lived next door to this gas-station, it used to close up around one o'clock, I remember all night long these cats pulling in and meeting somebody, pulling out on this Highway 33… as soon as I hit sixteen, I started going to New York, I used to take Lincoln transit to Port Authority, used to…so I was up there for, for, for awhile but I, till I ran out of money or till the cops caught us just hanging around and sent us home…and my pop, he used to, as long as I remember, he used to sit in the kitchen with all the lights out, turn out all the lights in the house except the TV, my mother'd sit in the living room with the TV on and he'd sit in the kitchen, he'd drink a six pack of beer, smoke cigarettes in the dark, just sit there drinking all night…and he'd lock up the front door so that when me and my sister came in, we used to have to come in ‘round the back door…I remember I'd get off that bus, I'd walk through town…I'd walk through town again…I'd walk through town, I'd keep walking around till I found myself in my driveway, I'd stand there and he'd have the…he'd have the door open and through the screen I could see just, I could see just, in the darkness just the light of his cigarette and I'd stand there, I'd slick my hair back real tight so he wouldn't tell how long it was…I'd finally get, as I'd slip up on the porch and try to make it through the kitchen before, before he caught me…if you came home, if you came home early, it wasn't too bad, but if we stayed out, if we stayed out late and came in late in the morning, he'd still be sitting there waiting for us and he'd wait till I'd just about made it to the stairs, he'd call my name to come back and sit down with him at that table…I remember we'd sit there in the dark…sit there in the dark and…I could always hear his voice…but I could never see his face…we'd start off talking about nothing much, how I was doing, how things was going in school or something…then he'd start asking me where I was getting my money from…and just who I thought I was…staying out late… we'd always end up screaming at each other, my mother'd always end up running in from the front room, trying to keep us from fighting each other, pulling him off me, I'd always end up running out the back door…running out the back door, screaming, telling him, telling him, telling him, telling him…how it was my life and I was gonna do what I wanted to…"

After "Thunder Road"
"(Crowd cheers) Mighty Big Man, his majesty…king of the world (crowd cheers)…"

After "She's the One"
"The Mighty Big One (crowd cheers)…"

Intro to "The Promise"
"This is a song, uh, it's a new song, sort of new, it's not too new, I wrote it about a year ago, about a year after my last album (chuckles)…it's sort of, uh, this song is sort of a sequel to "Thunder Road" so "Thunder Road" (?) it's called, uh, "The Promise"…"

Middle of "Backstreets"
"Till the end…just me and you, baby…just me and you, baby…we could steal away…we could steal away…we said we could slip away …I remember you said…I remember you saying you're gonna quit your job and I was gonna take all my money out of the bank…I was gonna quit my job too…and we'd steal away…I was gonna meet you down at the…down at the (?) St. Matthew's Church where we were just waiting…we'd just wait to hear the bells…when the kids…when they went and they rang the bells…we would steal away…we would steal away…I remember you saying you would never, you was never gonna go, you was never gonna go no place…(?)…unless (?) you'd go with me…I remember you saying, I remember you saying we was gonna meet…Sunday morning…out at the Church and I had my money…and I had a car, I remember you saying you was never, I remember you saying you were never gonna go no place without me…I remember you promised, said you were never gonna go no place…I remember you promised…(?) the bells…I remember standing there waiting Sunday, I'd be hearing the bells…and I remember you said you were never gonna go no place, I remember you promised…I remember you promised…ooh, I remember you promised…aaah, I remember…you promised and YOU LIED!…YOU LIED!…AND YOU LIED!…YOU LIED!…YOU LIED!…"

Intro to "Growin' Up"
"Yeah, we're gonna get to that one…this is a song…I got to see my mother…she lives in California, right, I only go out there once in a while…and, uh…usually if we're like playing a gig out there right now…so she always wants me to stay at the house, you know, but it's like…it's not much fun staying with your mother and your sister and stuff, you know, so she goes out, she buys like, uh, buys like all the food that I like, you know, like peanut butter and jelly and sodas and, uh, you know, Pop-Tarts and stuff before I hit the sack, you know (chuckles) and like she buys, she calls me up on the phone, like I'm at the hotel, says "Come on over," I say "No, I don't wanna, I wanna stay here with the guys," you know, she goes "Come on, I got Pop-Tarts, I got soda over here" (laughs from the crowd) you know, it's like, I got, she like lures me over there, you know, it's like, so I go over there, you know, I sit there, like I sit in front of the TV, that's all I do, I sit in front of the TV and I stuff myself all day and night and, uh…it's like, this is a song, she wants me to do this song every time I go, she comes to San Francisco, sees me in places, "Do a song for your father, for your father"…so I'll do this for my father (chuckles)…"

Middle of "Growin' Up"
"There I was…it was me, it was Miami and Clarence and like we were in this '63 Impala that my father gave me after he cracked it up and we were with these three girls that like we tricked into going out with us, you know, and like we were like riding, we'd take ‘em out to dinner, you know, took them to the movies, you know, like, it was like, you know, getting all primed up, you know, it was like (chuckles) so we say "Okay, girls," took ‘em out to the club and said "Where youse wanna go next?"…they said "We wanna go home"…said "What? you're with Miami, myself and Clarence," "We don't care, we wanna go home"…okay, okay, so what we used to, I used to do in a case like that…I used to go home through this old back road and like we'd get down there, I would like shut off all the lights in the car and headlights and man, it is dark…you know them back roads on a night when there's no moon out, you shut off the headlights, you shut off the lights, and we used to like, you know, we used to try and scare ‘em, you know, so we'd get a little something out of the night, at least we'd know we'd scared the hell out of them so it was like this is the kind of guys we were, you know, it's like…so anyway, we were down, we were getting on a back road, you know, I was about to turn off the headlights, right, like we were like laughing and stuff, you know (chuckles) and like all of a sudden, I tell you all of a sudden from out of the west came this big flash of light (guitar sound) right, came zooming, zooming across the highway, sideswiped my Impala, pushed us into the mud, right, and like, you know, I hit my head on the steering wheel and stuff and I woke up and like the girls, they were all like bitching and screaming ‘cause, you know, like there was mud all over and like we're stuck in a swamp, I said "Wait a minute, wait a minute," and we looked and over there, over there in a field, sitting in the middle of the swamp…was this big shiny dome, right, it was glowing and humming…it had "STP" on the side, chrome-reversed wheels, right, and on the side in red paint it said "Big Daddy Don Garlits"…we said "Come on," we got out of the car, we hustled over, right, out to the flying saucer like and we're standing around and finally the door opens up a little bit and this guy comes out, you know, and he says, uh…he says "What are you Martians doing way out here in the woods?" (chuckles) we said "No," we start laughing and stuff ‘cause this guy thought he was on Mars or something, we said "You're not on Mars, man, you're in New Jersey!"…right, so he goes "What?" he goes "Where's that?" so he says "Oh, took a wrong turn someplace," you know, and so…he says "Listen, how do I get to the Turnpike to get out here?" right… so we said "No way, man, you sideswiped our car, you scared these chicks, they're pissed off enough as it is, we ain't telling you how to get no place, you find yourself a way to get out of here," right…the cat says "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, don't be harsh, I give each you guys, you guys got one wish, you know, and then you tell me the way to get to Turnpike so I get out of here and you guys get your wish" so we thought about it, you know, and, uh, thought about like lots of money, no, no, money, no, so like everybody fixes up, Miami went first, he said "Okay, Mr. Spaceman, I want a yellow suit" (chuckles) right, so the guy goes "Sure, no problem," whipped one right up, Miami's standing there in his yellow suit looking sharp, right (crowd cheers) that's where he got that suit – this is a true story – Big Man walked up, said "Okay, Mr. Spaceman, I want a white suit" – boom! hit the Big Man, Big Man's standing there in white, looking sharp as he can look, I said "I want a leather suit, a fur coat and, and black leather boots and" – nothing happened, right, I was standing there just like this, right…I said "What's the story here?" he says "Come on, it don't work every time, you know, what can I do?" so it's like I says "Forget it, you ain't getting anywhere, I'm not telling you how to get anyplace," he says "Okay, okay, give, what else? got another wish" so I thought real hard, I said "Mister, uh…Mister, I wanna be…I wanna be, uh…I wanna be…I wanna be a rock and roll star…"

Intro to "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
"We got with us tonight…where are they?…the horns…we got with us tonight special guest stars…Miami Horns…they're gonna come up and help us do a song, they're looking sharp – oh yeah (chuckles)… ones with a brim, ones with the brims…"

After "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
"The Miami Horns (crowd cheers) talking ‘bout the Tenth…"

Intro to "Rosalita"
"This is a song about a girl, I don't see this girl no more, we used to go out a little bit, shaved off my beard, she don't like me no more, has to see my face (chuckles) but, you know, such is love – wherever you are, this is for you, Rosie…"

Middle of "Rosalita"
"We got with us…a long list of luminaries tonight…beginning to the left of the stage, at the piano, Professor Roy Bittan (Roy plays) play it, Professor (Roy plays louder) next we got with us, how can I put it? uh…artiste, producer, composer, man who brought you such hits as "I Don't Wanna Go Home," "Sweeter than Honey"…aah…what else? uh…that's all – Miami Steve (Steve plays) on the bass guitar, coming from Long Branch, New Jersey, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (Garry plays) on the drums, the Mighty Max (Max plays) on the organ, Phantom Dan (Dan plays) direct…direct from Philadelphia…by way of Newark…the Miami Horns (Horns play)…last but not least… master of the universe…king of the world…Mr. Hollywood… star of stage and screen…the Big Man, Mr. Clarence Clemons…"
(…) This is his last chance, tell him, Rosie, I ain't no freak…'cause I got my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek…"

After "Rosalita"
"Rock and roll is fun! (crowd cheers)…"

Intro to "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"
"I wanna thank everybody for coming down to the show (crowd cheers) I just wanna let you know that…I appreciate your support, you know (crowd cheers) for my (?) boys and, uh, here's something to everybody from Asbury Park to Albany with love… here's for the folks from Jersey…"

Intro to "Action in the Street"
"Are you out there?…"

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

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Action In The Streets 1977

Never Heard Before ’77 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

Bruce Springsteen’s national breakthrough came in 1975 with the release of Born to Run. The album’s supporting tour commenced that July and continued in multiple phases through the spring of 1977 when, after playing some 170 shows, Bruce and the E Street Band finally returned to the studio to record Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

Springsteen’s performances in this transitional era represent some of the most fascinating and vital of his career, with evolving setlists that dug deep into his first three albums, embraced inspired cover songs and, by early 1976, began testing new material intended for Bruce’s next album.

The final stretch of the 21-month trek was an eight-week run in early 1977 that saw Bruce and the E Street Band again augmented by the Miami Horns, the four-piece horn section that first joined the tour in August 1976.

While Springsteen’s 1975 performances are captured brilliantly by the official Hammersmith Odeon DVD and live album along with the Philadelphia 12/31/75 download, the 1976-77 stretch of the Born to Run tour isn’t nearly as well documented. In fact, until now, no soundboard tape of the ‘77 tour has ever surfaced among collectors.

Which is what makes this pair of newly recovered and nearly complete soundboard recordings of the tour’s first two shows–Albany, NY, February 7 and Rochester, NY, February 8–such a significant addition to Springsteen’s live performance history. They provide the first high-quality tapes from a compelling period when no multi-track recordings were made. And in the case of opening night in Albany, not even an audience tape has ever circulated before among fans.

Across the two nights we are treated to a trove of significant performances, beginning with Albany’s audacious opener, a true work-in-progress version of “Something In The Night” featuring remarkable alternate lyrics. Another unreleased song, the freshly penned “Rendezvous,” pops up early in both sets, along with the epic cover of The Animals’ “It’s My Life” and the Miami Horns/Clarence Clemons spotlight number, “Action In The Streets.”

Amazingly, this download marks the first ever official release of “Action In The Streets.” The Springsteen original was performed nearly every night of the ‘77 tour, but would never be played again with the E Street Band. There is also no known studio recording of the delightful soul rave-up, making its inclusion on these tapes all the sweeter in a version so embryonic, the chorus does not yet feature the song’s eventual title!

The two shows do vary slightly, with Albany getting a wonderful and spirited “Growin’ Up,” while Rochester pays tribute to Eddie Floyd with a cover of “Raise Your Hand.”

But for many, the indisputable highlight of the ‘77 tour was its stunning performances of “Backstreets,” which featured an expanded mid-song narrative of betrayal that teems with raw emotion and reaches its crescendo, as captured gloriously on both recordings, when Springsteen shouts repeatedly with mesmerizing conviction, “You lied!”

Albany also includes a striking solo-piano led version of “The Promise” (moved to the encore and joined in progress the next night in Rochester), perhaps the greatest Springsteen original penned in the era and yet another gem uncovered on these remarkable Front of House mix tapes recorded by Chas Gerber. While there are a few cuts due to tape flips, between the two shows we get a complete version of every song performed.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

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Action In The Streets 1977