1978-08-25 New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Show includes the only known '78 tour version of Ike & Tina Turner's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" in the second set - this song was last played in 1975 and is never played again with the E Street Band - to date anyway. "Growin' Up" features the teenage werewolf story. Following this show, Bruce is interviewed by Bob Harris for the Old Grey Whistle Test UK TV show - see our Media tab to watch the interview. The interview along with a live clip of "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" from the show of July 8 is broadcast on March 27, 1979. Attendance was reported by Billboard magazine to be a sellout 9,586 with gross receipts of $76,841.

Intro to "Factory"
´´I grew up in this small town, it was about 10,000 people….uh….and I used to see my old man twice a day….once was at night when I´d come in….he´d be sitting in the dark at the kitchen table with a six-pack of beer, smoking a cigarette….and I always remember in the morning, my bedroom was out over the backyard and….I´d hear him at 6 a.m….popping the hood of one of those 200-dollar junk cars he used to buy….trying to get it started laying on the cold ground trying to get to work…..and he did that for a real long time….I wrote this song for him…..”

Intro to "Heartbreak Hotel"
´´It makes you so lonely you could die….”

Intro to "Racing in the Street"
´´This is uh….here´s a song, I went to California recently about (?) and my folks moved away about ten years ago when I was 18, it was, I guess, it was a different situation at my house, like, my parents, they moved away from me, it´s like, they left, they went out to California and I hadn´t see ´em in a long time and I hadn´t seen my little sister, she´s like 16 years old, you know, and she got her license and she comes up to me, she says ´Wanna go cruise El Camino ?´…like, El Camino, that´s like the strip out there so, so I´m sitting like in the passenger seat of all things and my 16-year-old sister, right (chuckles) and like uh…..(?)….(?) ….I don´t know like when my, when my car breaks down, like I am like….Alice in Wonderland under the hood, you know (?)….(?) you can still go racing in the street….even if you don´t know what a distributor cap is (chuckles)….”

Intro to "Thunder Road"
´´Last summer me and Steve and two friends of mine, we drove to Salt Lake City, we bought this 900-dollar Ford Galaxy and drove from Salt Lake City to Reno, Nevada…..and it was along the highway, we came upon….there was this house this Indian had built, this Indian had built from stuff he´d scavenged out of the desert….and out in front he had a…..had a big picture of Geronimo and it said ´Landlord´ on top and he had a big white sign, painted in red it said ´This is the land of peace, love, justice and no mercy´….and the sign pointed down this dirt road that said ´Thunder Road´…..”

Intro to "For You"
´´(?) This is a song that, uh, I lived in Asbury Park in 1973…..and I remember (?) this place, why I always remember this place ´cause it´s the, it´s the first place I saw Bob Dylan (?)….it was about two years ago (?)….it was 1973 and I was in Asbury Park….I was listening to…. ´Sooner or Later One of Us Must Know´ which is one of my favorite songs (?) and…..”

Intro to "It´s Gonna Work Out Fine"
´´(?) ´Can you please say hello to Abe and Debbie (?)….who met at the Performing Arts Center in August ´76….(?)…they´re getting married September 10th 1978´….alright, this is, this is a song for, uh (?) gotta do 'em a song….like this is, we´re doing a getting married song, this is for Abe and Debbie, it´s an old song….(music begins)….sit down, we´re gonna play all night, sit down, sit down….alright (giggles)….I remember….sometimes I sit down and I think what happened (?)…first guy, a guy that was in my very first band….now, we had this one guy, his name was Vinnie 'Skeebots' Manniello, 'Skeebots', that was a nickname, he used to always wear these nylon socks that you could see his ankles through and stuff….I remember we were 16….let´s bring it down a little bit….(chuckles)….we were 16, and like he, he disappeared for about a week, didn´t come to band practise or nothing, you know, and he comes back and he was going with this girl Bobbie….I don´t remember her last name, anyway, ´Skeebots´ had this old ´55 Chevy, took, eloped and got married, came back, didn´t tell nobody, right….so he comes back (?) got married and….this happened the other day…. and he did ok, there was this other guy, it was the rhythm guitar player George and George, he was the guy with the pretty face, you know (chuckles), all the girls used to, like, love him ….he used to….and he got married, he was going out with this one girl, he got married and I was at his wedding, I was about 18, I think….and then this other guy, our bass player, Curt, he got married….who´s married here ? how many folks ? who´s married ?….all you other guys still fooling around, right ?….(?) girls too running loose….today….the good girls gonna go bad….and the bad girls are gonna get worse, alright (chuckles)….anyway, this is for…. it was, let me get that right, I´m gonna make sure (?)….Abe and Debbie, Debbie tell me….tell me if this is the way that he came up to you and (?)….alright, here we go….”

Intro to "Sandy"
´´Alright, while….while we´re in the lovers´ mood (chuckles) this is uh (giggles) this is Fourth of July in Asbury Park…..”

Intro to "Growin' Up"
´´There I was…I remember…I remember one night I was…first full moon after my 13th birthday….I was standing outside….and I started to feel a little strange….went to my brother-in-law….and after a long…scientific experimentation in the basement of his mobile home…. we discovered….that for some reason or another….I….was….the teenage …. werewolf….(?)… and I remember I went to school….sat down, ate my arithmetic book and pissed in my desk ….the Sisters, they told my mother that I needed psychiatric attention for sure….my mother, being a good mother, took me downtown to a doctor…sat on the doctor´s couch and he said ´Son….when did you first….start acting like this ?´…I said ´Well, Doc….I´m glad you asked me that question….I´m glad you asked me that question because one night….one night I was all alone….matter of fact….about 3,000 nights I was all alone (chuckles)….and….but there was this one moment, Doc, wasn´t like any of the other ones, I remember I was outside…. and I looked up….and for just this one moment…..
(…..) This went on for years….every full moon….I had this hair grow all over my face ….my fingers'd get longer….a gold guitar'd pop out of my left side….and finally…my mother got together…and my father got together with the local police and they decided …. that I was much more than a public nuisance…I was definitely a big pain in the ass….so they tried to track me down, they caught me one night at the top of the ferris wheel in Palace Amusements…jumped down onto the roof, down onto the Kingsley Avenue …. hustled down to Asbury Avenue, up to the Route 35 circle….(?) I had the whole Asbury Park police force on my tail…hustled down Route 33….past the Freehold circle….burning towards the New Jersey Turnpike….they called out the state police….they called out the national guard….they called out the United States army….they called out the U.S. marines ….they even called out the navy….and now I was just about a mile ahead of ´em….burning up the turnpike, they were just about to catch up to me when all of a sudden….a black Sedan pulled over…I looked inside….and on the front seat I saw a saxophone….the driver rolled down the window, he said ´Kid, I don´t know what you did….but how´d you ever get your hair to go like that ?….I like your style, come on, step inside´….so I got inside and Clarence slammed it to the floor and we started burning up the New Jersey Turnpike, we were doing, we were doing, we were doing…..55 !….and all I can hear….as I rolled down the window….stuck out my head…. was the chief of the Asbury Park police force saying ´Somebody…..stop that son of a bitch with the gold guitar !….”

Middle of "Backstreets"
´´Hey baby….hello, little girl….it´s good to see you back again….and baby, you´re looking fine….don´t you know I remember you…..little girl, I remember you…..standing on the corner of Richmond Avenue….with your piled high and that look in your eye for every boy that was passing you by….and back then I swore….back then I promised…..I´d drive all night….. anytime, anyplace….I´d drive all night….anytime, anywhere…..I´d drive all night….anytime, anyplace….. I´d drive all night….anytime, anyplace…..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…..you had such lonely sad eyes….and all the time they were crying….all the time they were crying, crying, crying, crying…..baby, crying, crying, crying, crying…..crying, crying, crying, crying….baby, crying…..I didn´t know ….oh, you didn´t tell me that them pretty eyes…..baby, they were lying…..(?) they were lying ….didn´t you know….they were lying….(?) you were so young and you could tell such pretty lies, you were so young and you could tell such pretty lies….you were young and you could tell such pretty lies….you were young and you could tell such pretty lies….and now you´re back…..well, baby, I´m back too…..and me, well, I was your fool…..I thought that maybe I could stop your crying….´cause I´ve been out…..and I´ve seen some things….about me…. about you….girl….we´ve got to stop…..little girl, we´ve got to stop, little girl, we´ve got to stop, little girl, we´ve got to stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP…..”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Interview with Bob Harris following the show for the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test

Bob Harris
I'd like to say first of all, I enjoyed the show so much tonight, in the theory of getting back what you put out, I mean from the audience, you and the band seem to enjoy it so much.

Bruce Springsteen
You know, one of the initial things I want to have fun, you know. I just started out doing it for fun, and it's a big reason why I still do it. I'm lucky I can make a living at it now, and the day it stops being fun, probably be the day I stop doing it.

Bob Harris
Because I get the impression with the layoff that you had, you must have been building up and longing to get back on stage again.

Bruce Springsteen
We were on stage, see what happened was we had three years out of commission really because of the legal thing. But during that time we were doing small tours, we toured down south, and we toured the Midwest and different parts of the country. That's how we were keeping everybody you know, staying alive, keeping the band paying everybody's rent and things they needed. So we were playing during that time. We did I think four tours during that three year layoff and then took about 11 months to do the album.

Bob Harris
I'd like to talk to you about your roots, Bruce, because two times I've seen you, at the Roxy, I remember you did Manfred Mann's Pretty Flamingo and other songs that you did that night. And you did Quarter To Three tonight and I noticed a bit of 40 Miles of Bad Road crept into ?. So you're obviously in the middle of the rock and roll thing, but diverse as well, in the 60s, so what actually are your roots?

Bruce Springsteen
Well, I was nine years old and my mother had on Elvis Presley. So that was the first place and when I'd come down to go to school the radio is on in the kitchen every morning, whatever the top 40 station was, and so she was always listening to music, the early rock and roll stations. I was only nine, and I remember I saw Elvis and it affected me enough to go out and get a guitar and try to play it, which I couldn't do, because I wanted to play like it right away. When you want to take lessons, it was some crazy song or something. So, I gave up, I was 13 and the English thing happened in America, Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the Animals. That was a time when I was in my teens, you know, 1965 I was 15, 66 I was 16. I went back, in a funny kind of way, to the early Spector things, which is early 60s, I was 12. I went back and I remembered them in the back of my mind - in 1955 I was 5, 56 I was six, but I went back to that stuff, because it was the stuff that was ringing most true to me at that time, you know, because it was a strange period and music from the late 60s into the early 70s I wasn't connecting with too much of what was going on, you know, and that's sort of how it formulated. Born To Run, I was listening to a lot of Phil Spector and Duane Eddy, just your traditional rock and roll guitar sound, it was Duane Eddy or Peter Townshend chords. I was not that blues influenced, I was never that into blues. I was into the soul stuff and the r&b artists.

Bob Harris
I've seen you play twice, once this evening of course, and once at the Roxy three years ago. There's a difference now isn't there Bruce, in terms of the way you're putting yourself across on stage, I noticed there's more guitar?

Bruce Springsteen
What happened was, on the record, the material was suited more to the guitar, which is more of a fuller sound, and the saxophone, very warm sound, and it's more urban, and the stuff on the new album is not that urban centered material. [makes little sense due to edits in this passage]

Bob Harris
This Darkness album was painstakingly put together, wasn't it?

Bruce Springsteen
In the making?

Bob Harris
Yeah.

Bruce Springsteen
It was more fun than Born To Run. Born To Run, that was, that was really hard. Darkness was, it took a long time, but we recorded a lot of songs, we recorded about 30 songs. What happened was I'd write a song, I'd write 4 songs and there'd be a progression up, and the fifth song, that would be song number two on the album. And then I'd write 4 more, and the ninth song, that was like the third song on the album. Meanwhile, all these other songs they'd be like transitional material to help you get to a particular place. So that's sort of the way the record was done. The actual recording of the songs did not take that long. On the record, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, that cut, that's like all live in the studio. That's vocals and band, playing live. Streets Of Fire, that's mostly live. Something In The Night, that was a song that we did very first night in the studio, we did it as a demo tape, and that's all live. So three or so things, actually mostly live, did not take no more than one or two days to record. Some one day, you know. What took a long time was the conception.

Bob Harris
You said you enjoyed it very much. But did you feel pressure on this album too from the events of the previous two, three years?

Bruce Springsteen
There was a certain pressure you know, I was like, because I knew that we'd done Born to Run and like it meant a lot to a lot of people and a lot of people that supported me on that thing. A lot of people in the English press did and a lot of people in America, there was a lot of supporters that that really helped [me] get kitted out, and there's a pressure not wanting to let them down and you don't want to let yourself down. You're testing yourself to see what you got, what you got to give. So those pressures are the main pressures that that I felt.

Bob Harris
How did you react to the time, to the promotion that CBS put behind Born to Run? So it was a massive promotion campaign, wasn't it?

Bruce Springsteen
I think for those days it was, for 1975. What made it seem like a lot was the Time and Newsweek covers, it was a funny kind of thing. Plus there was a lot written about it in the press, there was not a lot of ads, it was something that was just focused on by media in general at that time. So it seemed like a bigger campaign than it was, it was a big thing.

Bob Harris
So to what extent did that affect the campaign for Darkness On The Edge Of Town?

Bruce Springsteen
I went through two periods, it was funny, at first I said, because I'd got blown away by the last time because I wasn't ready for that particular thing, I'd confused it a lot, you know, I'd labelled everything as being bad, publicity "bad", you know, that's bad, that's no good. And what it was, it wasn't bad, somebody came and wrote a story, said they'd liked it. We were a good band, we were playing real good at the time, and a lot of people got excited about it. There wasn't a whole lot else going on at the time either. There was a point where I said "I gotta idea, we'll do no ads", we'll just put it out, put it in stores, there'd be no ads, and then realized that I was being a jerk, I was being ridiculous since I'd spent eleven months making an album, which I'd been waiting to make for three years, and now I don't want to help get it out to the kid down the street. I said "that's crazy". Then I said, well then let's do some stuff, and I got into it, I got into promoting my album. This is my work, this is my life. This is three years of my life, I want to get it out to that last cat on that last block. I want to let him know it's there, then he can hear it and make his decision on it. If it don't get there, I don't want it to be my fault. When Born To Run came out we were popular on the east, on the west, but in the mid-west and down south we weren't hardly known at all. We were brand new down there, a new band, you're talking about nearly half of the United States, so we said "let's work here", we weren't established well in parts of own country, I guess we're going to come over to Europe and England and stuff.

Bob Harris
When do you think that's gonna be?

Bruce Springsteen
I don't know exactly when that'll be. It's hard, because when I come over I don't wanna do two dates and then run home. You gotta come over, play the all towns.

Bob Harris
So are you after a hit single now then Bruce, because that's really the only thing that hasn't happened here?

Bruce Springsteen
Yeah, I'd like to have one, I'd like to get on AM radio and blast it all across the United States. I'd love it. I want to, you know, blast it into them housewives kitchens. Badlands, you know? I always wanted Born to Run to be a big hit single, and it never was. Now we have Badlands out and I like that song. When you get in a car. I want it you know, you hit that tile. [vocalizes Badlands intro]. I want it, you know, I'd love it. I never heard anything of my own on AM radio. I'd like it a lot. Right now if you want an audience, well you gotta get off your ass. You gotta go you gotta go get it because you know they're not gonna come "Oh hi", walk around knocking on the door, "Hey, Oh, you're so great", they're not gonna, that's like a bunch of jive and if you want it, you better go take it, you better go work for it, you know? And that's what I'm interested in.

^{Compiled by : Brucebase.}

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Interview with Bob Harris following the show for the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test