1978-09-01 Masonic Temple Theatre, Detroit, MI

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Set includes the solo piano version of "Lost In The Flood" which was only played three times on the '78 tour. This was the last known version of the song until the final show of the 2000 New York City stand. Also features the premiere and only tour performance of Dylan's "Chimes Of Freedom", which will be resurrected on later tours. Bruce reads the lyrics from a music stand. "Growin' Up" includes the 'Teenage Werewolf' story. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" features a whistled intro. Excellent show.

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Good Rockin´ Tonight´
´´This is Detroit, huh ? (cheers) you guys are tough guys, huh ? (cheers)….”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Heartbreak Hotel´
´´There was a….there was a song written by a lady by the name of Mae Axton back in about 1955, she was Hoyt Axton´s mother…and I guess if my mother´d wrote this song….she wouldn´t be in California and I would be in New Jersey but uh (chuckles)….but I, I think it´s a beautiful song, (?) my most favorite song and uh….it´s a song about what happens when you get so lonely that you could die….”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Factory´
´´I grew up in this small town, a town called Freehold, New Jersey, about 10,000 people…. and uh….in the early 50´s, late 50´s there was a part of town they called, for one reason or another, I don´t know, they called it ´Texas´ (?)….they used to have a, there was this big rugmill, took up about two city blocks….you´d hear the machines running inside all day…. and uh, I drove back there about, had a couple days off and I drove back through town about three in the morning about three weeks ago….and the places was all demolished, the windows were all smashed….it closed down but I remember that…..my father, he worked there and his grandfather, his father, he worked there and I wrote this song for him…..”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Thunder Road´
´´I wrote this….next song about….1974, 1975, I had this old ‘57 Chevy…I was living about a block off the beach….and I wrote it because I liked this Robert Mitchum movie so much, you know….but I didn’t ever know if there was ever a….there was ever a real place like it or not, you know…and it was two summers ago, or was it in the middle of last summer that me and Steve and two friends of ours….we drove through Salt Lake City down to Reno, Nevada….it was somewhere out along the desert, we came upon this house that this indian had built from stuff that he’d scavanged all….all off the desert and built into this sculpture….out in front it had a big picture of Geronimo, over top it said ‘Landlord’….then there was this big white sign and painted in red, it said ‘This is the land of peace, love, justice and no mercy’ and it pointed down this little dirt road that said ‘Thunder Road’….´´

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Jungleland´
´´You guys be careful down here, alright ? you guys are getting knocked all around (?) what you think ? think, you´re gonna touch this, it´s gonna make you a millionaire ? it´s like (chuckles)(?) take your seats ´cause we´re gonna be playing long, we´re gonna play pretty long, you´re gonna squash everybody down here…..”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Lost in the Flood´
´´(?)…you gotta gimme some lights over here….this is a song off the first album….and I don´t remember the words for this one (?)(chuckles) but uh….this is, uh, never done this song, might´ve did it a few times but recently we haven´t done it in about four or so years (?) (chuckles)….”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Chimes of Freedom´
´´I wanna try something, uh….why, what the hell, right ? (chuckles) I got, I got, I wanna do this song that once again I don´t know these words, we had just thought about doing this last night and so I´m gonna read the words, ok ? (?)….wait till you get how ridicilous this next move looks, where´s that, where´s that thing ? (chuckles) where´s that thing ?….where is it ? get ready for this, get ready for, like, high school, alright ?….this is embarrassing (a music rack is brought onto the stage)….(?)…. this is, this is really wild (chuckles) now….this was one of my favorite songs….this will get in the way of rocking out (?)(chuckles)….here we go, here we go, alright, let´s give it a shot, alright…. ”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Growin´Up´
´´Let me think….where did this all begin ?…well, I remember….it was the night after my 13th birthday….I looked outside….and there was a full moon….didn´t think nothing of it….so I went to bed (Roy plays a lullaby)….I kept being woken by this strange sound (crowd howls) I went into the bathroom….I looked in the mirror….I had on my football pyjamas….when I looked in the mirror, all of a sudden I realised that I had hair grown all over my face…..over my body too, my fingers got longer and out the side, right around the (?) popped a gold guitar…thought I was dreaming, went back to bed…..I awoke the next morning to another strange sound….went to school, ate my arithematic….ate my book (chuckles) and pissed in my desk….got sent home….was told by the Sisters that I needed deep psychiatric attention ….my mother took me over to my brother-in-law….he was a practising nut….and in the basement of his mobile home we went through long scientific experiments until it was discovered that by some strange coincidence….I….was the teenage werewolf….now, this would scare some guys….I took it in stride….I passed out….this went on and on until finally they took me to a doctor….he strapped me down on this bed, I was growling and growling ….they didn´t realise that it wasn´t I was sick, I was trying to get it to nurse….anyway, the doc comes over to me, he says ´Kid, when did you start acting this way ?´….I said ´Doc, I´m glad you asked me that….because one night I looked outside my window, there was this big bright light and Doc, as sure as I´m lying here strapped to this bed with this hair all over my face….I stood stonelike at midnight…..
(….) This went on for years…..every full moon I grew all this hair….this guitar´d come out, I used to haunt the arcades in Asbury Park…..but one day my mother and father got together with the local police and decided that I was….now much more than a public nuisance….I was definitely a big fucking pain in the ass….so they tried to catch me….they tried to track me down…..I was on top of the ferris wheel of the Palace Amusements, they slammed into it with a cop car, I jumped down onto the roof and down into the middle of Kingsley Avenue ….got on Asbury Avenue started heading towards the Route 35 Circle….hit the Route 35 Circle, got on Route 33 all the way into Freehold….hit the Freehold Circle, went straight out heading straight out for the New Jersey Turnpike…..but by now I had the Asbury Park police force, the Freehold local police, I had, I had, uh, the state police, I had the United States army, I had the United States navy, I had the United States Marines all on my trail….well, I hit the New Jersey Turnpike and the motor cooled down, the heat cooled down, that´s when I heard that highway sound, rain was blowing under my hood, knew that was doing the engine good….but they were catching up….and all of a sudden….a black Sedan pulled over on the side of the road….I looked through the front window….and on the frontseat….I saw a saxophone….the driver rolled down the window, said ´Kid, I don´t know what you done but how did you get your hair that way ?´….he said ´Step inside, I like your style´….I got in the passanger seat, Clarence slammed it to the floor…..we were in a Earl Shy special, we must´ve been doing, we must´ve hit….I don´t wanna exaggerate, no, we must, we must, we were, we were going, we were going fast, we were (?) we, we must´ve hit 55 !….now I stuck my head out the window and something else too and all I could hear was the chief of the Asbury Park police yelling through the megaphone : ´Somebody stop that son of a bitch with that gold guitar !´….but it was too late !….”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Hey, little girl….hey, little girl….baby, I remember you….I remember you….it´s good to see you back again….and I know you remember me too….(?) when you were standing on the corner….baby, you owned that corner down on Richmond Avenue….with your hair up high and that wild look in your eye for every boy that was passing you by….sweet darling….and back then I swore….back then I promised….that 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 anywhere…..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….a look from your sad eyes….all the time they were crying, cry-cry-crying, baby, they were cry-cry-cry-crying….they were cry-cry-cry-crying, and we´d drive outside of town….(?)…in the middle of this field was this stripped down old Cadillac with nothing but the backseat….and baby, down and down, I remember that night because the kids set fire to the old abandoned farmhouse up the road and you got out….you started running across the fields towards the flames….running across the fields towards the flames
….running across the fields towards the flames….running across the fields towards the flames ….and when you turned around….I could see that you were crying, I could tell that you were crying, I could see that you were crying, could tell that you were crying but I didn´t know…. baby, I didn´t know….that you were lying….all the time you´d been lying….all the time you´d been lying….you were young and you could tell such pretty lies….you´d been lying….well, now you´re back….well, baby, I´m back too….and I´ve been out…..and I´ve found out some things….about me….about you….. we´ve gotta stop….we´ve gotta stop…. we´ve gotta stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP !… ”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Rosalita´
´´(whistles)(chuckles) Let´s rock, this is for the guys from Creem…..
(….) On the piano….Mr.E=MC2 …Professor Roy Bittan….on the guitar….master of the soul, no ….poet of the soul, master of rock and roll, Miami Steve Van Zandt….on the bass guitar… the elegance, Mr.Garry W. Tallent….on the drums….the Mighty One, Max Weinberg…..on the organ, Mr.Daniel Federici….and last but not least….king of the world….master of the universe….emperor of the North Pole….mayor of half of (?)….your next president….the Big Man Clarence Clemons….”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´I wanna thank everybody for coming down tonight to the show, thank you all very much…. and I wanna thank you for, we haven´t been to Detroit that much and I wanna thank you for the support that you´ve showed the band (?)….thanks a lot….doesn´t go unappreciated….and I wanna do this for you guys and for Bob Seger (?)….”

01.09.78 Detroit, MI, intro to ´Because the Night´
´´This is for Frankie….(?) the first, to show you first like what an E-chord was on the guitar is my cousin and he lives up here now and I went over to his house and uh…..I looked through the chord charts and I didn´t know what they were and he says ´Oh, that means you put this finger here and this finger here and watchout for that finger´ so (chuckles) this is, Frankie, this is for you and for all the little Frankies there, alright….”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

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