1978-08-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Scheduled: 20:00 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

Final night of three at Madison Square Garden is a 25-song, three hour set that is musically the longest of the tour to-date (July 7 at the Roxy can claim the longest overall after the band returned to the stage for the finale after nearly 15 minutes of applause). "High School Confidential" opens, and the show also includes "Adam Raised A Cain" and the first "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" for over a month. Bruce's mother Adele takes to the stage to convince him to continue playing during "Quarter To Three": "Here’s my mother….but Mom, I’m tired….but Mom, I can't….I should have never flown you from California." "Factory" is dedicated to Tex Vinyard.

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´Heartbreak Hotel´
´´Hey, the Ringling Brothers left town a few months ago, huh ?….right on the edge of that darkness, they built a hotel (chuckles)….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´´Factory”
´´When I was 16….I was practising….in this little, this little room in this double-house ….in a part of town that for one reason or another, they used to call Texas….and a block down the street, there was this big rugmill…where, I guess, early fifties, my father worked there….and his father worked there before him….and uh….somebody came tonight who….I ain´t seen in a real long time….and who….who I love very much, he´s Mr.Tex Vinyard…who when I was growing up….made sure I had a place to…. place where I could sit down and play, play the guitar and…get away from the house and this….gonna do this song for him ´cause he worked hard every day….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´The Promised Land´
´´What do you got now, another one tonight ?….everybody (?) bought a harmonica, now I get to use everybody´s but mine, I guess….alright now, how many of you folks been back here more than one night ? (cheers)….this is for, this is for the faces that I see every place I go (?)….this is ´Promised Land´….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´Prove It All Night´
´´I remember when my father was 43 years old, he packed up everything we had in the house ….put it in a trailer, took my mother and my little sister and went to California …where he didn´t have…they didn´t have jobs, didn´t know what they were gonna do ….and I found out that you can wait, you can wait, you can wait and a lot of things, some things just ain´t gonna ever change…(?)….you just gotta prove it all night….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´Thunder Road´
´´It was last summer me and Steve and two friends of ours went out to Salt Lake City, we bought this….900-dollar ´65 Ford Galaxy….and we drove down to Reno….and on the way, off to the side of the highway we found, there was this house that this indian had built from stuff that he´d scavanged off the desert out in Nevada….and out in front he had a….he had a big picture of Geronimo, on top it said ´Landlord´….and he had a big white sign….it said, it was painted in red and it said, said ´This is the land of peace, love, justice and no mercy´…. and it pointed down this little dirtroad that said ´Thunder Road´….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´Sherry Darling´
´´Alright….gonna do this next song for the guys at the Islander Surf Shop in Long Branch….I think I just saw the guy out there….somewhere, I don´t know, that, that my man right there ? spotlight this guy (chuckles) it´s good to see you, thanks for the hat there, oh, over here, he´s over here…Islander Surf Shop, (?) surfboards right there…. alright, this is for Vin (?) (chuckles) and this is a song, in the early 60´s, there was this kind of music called Fraternity Rock, its main distinguishing characteristic was that the audience was always twice as loud as the music on the record…..so that was like ´Double Shot of My Baby´s Love´ by the Swinging Medallions, ´Farmer John´ by the Premiers, ´Louie Louie´ by the Kingsmen, I wrote this song two summers ago, it´s a summer song, it´s a song called ´Sherry Darling´ and what we´re gonna need right now is a lot of New York City party noises ! (cheers)….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Hey baby….hey, little girl….it´s good….it´s good….to see you back again….and I remember you…..standing on the corner….of Richmond Avenue….with your hair rolled up high and that wild look in your eye for every boy that was passing you by….and I remember back then, back then I swore….I swore, for you, that I´d drive all night anytime anyplace….I´d drive all night anytime anyplace….I´d drive all night anytime anyplace….I´d drive all night, all night, just to buy you some shoes….and to taste your tender charms….to have you hold me in your arms….and for just one kiss….baby, just one kiss….and a look from your sad eyes….´cause I remember then….(?) we used to hitchhike….way outside of town…..and in the middle of the field there was this old stripped-down Cadillac….just with the seats in the back…..and baby, down and down and down and down and down we´d go….and the world spinned ´round…..and I remember I had this dream….of you running down the tracks….there was this old farmhouse on fire up the road and you were running down the tracks towards the flames and you were running down the tracks towards the flames, you were running down the tracks towards the flames, you were running down the tracks towards the flames and I was chasing you and you were running down the tracks towards the flames….and you were just screaming that you wanted to burn…..you were crying, you were running down the tracks towards the flames….screaming that you wanted to burn ….and all the time….all the time you were crying….all the time….all the time you were crying….and all the time you were crying…..and all the time you were crying…..and all the time you were crying…..baby, you were always crying…..but I didn´t know….I didn´t know (?)….I didn´t know till you reached that house….till you (?) the flames…. till you looked up at me….and I stood at the tracks….that baby….darling….you weren´t lying…..you weren´t lying…you weren´t lying….baby, you, you weren´t lying….you weren´t lying….you were just running scared !….and I was running scared too…. running scared….and I was running scared too…..from all that…..from all that….(?) from all that….you were just running scared….you were just running scared…..and now you´re back and baby, I´m back too…..and look into my face….look into my face….. ´cause we could stop….we got to stop….we could stop….we´ve got to stop….we could stop….we could STOP !…..”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, after ´Rosalita´
´´Big Man !…the best band in the world, E Street Band….and my uncle Ernie !….”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´Thank you….I wanna thank everybody for coming down to the show, thank you very much….and, you know, like, over the past two, three years, every time I´d go out some place or I´d come into the city, there´d be some guy coming up to me saying ´Man, we´re waiting for the record, we know it´s coming out and stuff and we´re behind you´ and I wanna thank you for the support that that you gave me over those two, three years….I just wanna say thank you very much and this is for you…..”

23.08.78 New York City, NY, middle of ‘Quarter to Three’
‘‘(Bruce’s mother comes onstage) Here’s my mother….but Mom, I’m tired….but Mom, I can´t….I should have never flown you from California….oh shit….”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation