1978-12-08 Summit (The), Houston, TX

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Show includes stand-out versions of many songs, including a searing "Streets Of Fire", "Prove It All Night" (with one of the longest guitar introductions of the entire tour) and Texas favorite "The Fever" with some great interplay between Danny and Clarence. "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" is dedicated to "all the folks from the Liberty Hall days," referring to Bruce's shows at the famous Houston venue in 1974. Final tour appearance for "You Can't Sit Down". The 100th show of the tour, and one of the few Darkness concerts that does not include the full "Sad Eyes" sequence in "Backstreets". Set includes good versions of "Because The Night" and "Point Blank" - watch for Clarence missing his cue during the former, and Bruce's subsequent reaction. "She's The One" includes "I Get Mad". Billboard reports ticket sales of 12,003 (a sellout) and gross receipts of $98,925.

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´It´s Hard To Be A Saint In The City´´
"What´s the rush? I just got here….this is for all the folks from the Liberty Hall-days…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Darkness On The Edge Of Town´´
"How´s everybody been, huh, alright? (crowd cheers) what´s with the lousy weather?….it´s like New Jersey down here now….why don´t you guys go sit down, you´re making me nervous….somebody help these people find their seats….here´s ´Darkness On The Edge Of Town´…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Independence Day´´
"It’s combat conditions … Huh?….we´ll do that, alright, we´ll play that one….this is, uh, damn….this is a song, I guess I wrote during the ´Darkness´ album, this is called ´Independence Day´…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´
"(some people yell for ´Fever´) Maybe….here´s ´Promised Land´…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Prove It All Night´´
"Let´s see if you can prove it all night….this is for everybody way up on the hill…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Racing In The Street´´
"Alright, this is for the fellow from Louisiana….how come I never see you in Louisiana?….I only see you in Texas….so that´s the kind of guys you are, huh?….this is ´Racing In The Street´….this is for Roberto, wherever that crazy fool may be (chuckles)…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Jungleland´´
"This is for the guys that, uh, that painted up the Texas version of the billboard, alright (chuckles) I know you´re out there, this is for you guys…."
[Bruce is referring to the events of July 1978, when he and other band members spray painted a billboard advertising Darkness On The Edge Of Town on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles]

08.12.78 Houston, TX, after "Jungleland"
"Thanks (crowd cheers) Clarence Clemons on the saxophone (crowd cheers) E Street Band (crowd cheers) thanks, I'd just like to announce that if anybody came here to throw firecrackers or bottles, you can get the fuck out, ok? (crowd cheers) and that, uh, if anybody sees anybody doing that, tell somebody so we can get their asses out of here, I came to Houston to play for you guys and you guys paid your money so you can sit and watch without getting blown up or, or buzzed off or fucked up, alright? (crowd cheers) so we'll be back in 20 minutes to do another set for you (crowd cheers)…"

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´The Ties That Bind´´
"This is a brand new song, this is called ´The Ties That Bind´…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Santa Claus Is Coming To Town´´
"Alright…OKAY, what do you got there, some old posters? ,,,You guys there….I´ll set the scene for you: it was a cold December night, it was Christmas Eve….and me and Steve are walking home from a bar down the boardwalk….it´s snowing…. [OUT->and] as we look up in the distance, we see something coming towards us…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´The Fever´´ (following ´´Santa Claus….´´)
"Alright, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, all that stuff (chuckles) …“ [OUT-> and all that stuff….´´]

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Fire´´
"Alright, some girl up front asked for this song before so this is for her so, wherever she is…. this is called ´Fire´….

(…) (Crowd cheers) Please, this next part is very difficult….Romeo and Juliet … Yeah! (at very end)“

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Point Blank´´
"This is a new song….you wake up and find that….you´ve been shot point blank … point blank…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, “I Get Mad!” in “She’s The One”
"Wait a minute! … Big Man! … Let me tell you … It’s like this … I call her up … She ain’t home … I stop by her house … She ain’t home … I send her a letter … I get no reply … I wanna lay down … and die … Sometimes, I drive by her house … real late … I see two silhouettes … on the window shade (chuckles) … and then … I GET MAD! … like Al Capone … I GET MAD! … like Jesse James … I GET MAD! … like Smokin’ Joe … I GET MAD! … like a Pretty B, Pretty Boy Floyd … I GET MAD! … like Popeye (chuckles) … Sometimes, Big Man … I get SO mad … (Fan yells: How mad?) … How mad? (chuckles) … How mad is it? (chuckles) … I get SO MAD … that, I just wanna … I just feel like I have to … (band stops) … I just … I just wanna … I feel like if I don’t … I feel like I just have to … I feel like if I don’t I just gotta … I feel like I wanna … I feel like I wanna … I just don’t know …“

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Backstreets´´
"Can you see me in that thing?….can you? (crowd cheers)….(chuckles)….

(….) I remember you….little girl, I remember you…..and I know [OUT->knew] you remember me too….I remember riding out….I remember running outside of town….and I remember that old field ….and I remember that stripped-down Cadillac….and I remember baby´d….take me riding in back….take me riding in back….(long instrumental part)…"

08.12.78 Houston, TX, middle of ´´Rosalita´´
"If ever was the night … Rosie, come out to-night …

(…) On the piano….Professor Roy Bittan…..on the guitar….Miami Steve Van Zandt….on the bass, Mr.Garry W. Tallent….on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg….on the organ, Mr.Dan Federici….and last but not least….king of the world…..master of the universe….your next governor….is it a bird?….is it a plane?….is it the Big Man?….Clarence Clemons on the saxophone….."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, ´´Encore Break´´ (following ´´Rosalita´´)
”Big Man … E Street Band … “

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Born To Run´´
"Thanks….I wanna thank everybody for coming down tonight, thank you very much….(?) (chuckles)….I´d like to thank all you guys, I know a lot of you guys stand out in line for a long time waiting to buy tickets and stuff….so we wanna thank you guys, hang in there (chuckles) here´s to you…."

08.12.78 Houston, TX, middle of ´´Detroit Medley´´
”Are you loose? (crowd yells: “Yeah!”) … As loose as this? (crowd yells) … Good … Let’s go … 1, 2, 3, 4, … <DWTBDO><GGMM><C. C. Rider><Jenny Take A Ride-1><Boogie-1> … Oh … Bring it down now boys … So you guys down here in Texas think you´re tough, huh? (crowd cheers) … Big Man, come here … I want you to help me out here … What I wanna know.… Are you tough enough, to stand it, when me and the Big Man, do this? … And can you take it, when me and the Big Man, do this? (crowd cheers) … Can you hold on … when we … do this? (crowd cheers) … But … now … we´re gonna separate the men and the women … from the boys and the girls … <Boogie-2> … Are you ready? … Are you ready? … Are you ready? … Are you ready? … Are you ready? … I don’t think you’re ready … Are you ready? … Are you ready? … Ready? … Ready? … Yeah! … <Jenny Take A Ride-2> … "

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro to ´´Tenth Avenue Freeze Out´´
”I can’t stop! … a-1, 2, 3, 4, … “

08.12.78 Houston, TX, intro & outro to ´´You Can´t Sit Down´´
"This is a song we haven´t done yet on this tour (crowd cheers) … Don´t stop yelling, you got me excited (crowd cheers) …

(…) We’re gonna go hide behind the curtain … you guys yell, then we come back out and do another one, okay? (crowd cheers) …”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

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You Can’t Sit Down — The Other Great Shows of the Darkness Tour

It is nearly impossible to find a Springsteen fan who doesn’t revere the Darkness tour. Those who witnessed one of its 111 shows in person speak of it in language typically reserved for religious conversion. Happily for the the rest of us, either born or converted after January 1, 1979, the palpable sense that Bruce and the E Street Band were laying it all on the line every-single-night is remarkably well preserved in the live recordings, from the official download of the Agora in Cleveland, August 9, 1978, on through the various audience tapes, radio broadcasts and soundboards in circulation among fans ever since.

Our insatiable appetite for the Darkness tour and a truly worthy cause make the audio release of Houston, December 8, 1978 most welcome. Many will be familiar with the show from its inclusion as the live DVD in the 2010 Darkness box set, but this download marks its first release in a more user friendly, audio-only edition. And the show warrants re-appreciation.

A big source of that deep and widely held love of the ‘78 tour stems from the fact that five incredible concerts were broadcast on the radio regionally: The Roxy in Los Angeles, the aforementioned Agora in Cleveland, the Capitol Theater in Passaic, the Fox Theater in Atlanta and Winterland in San Francisco. Hundreds of thousands of fans have been listening to recordings and bootlegs of the ‘78 broadcasts for nearly 40 years, to the point where they are as familiar with those performances as they are with the Darkness album itself. Myself, maybe more so.

Justifiably, all five are held in extremely high regard as some of the best shows Bruce and the band ever played. The Houston show was never available as anything but an incomplete, mediocre audience recording until the DVD. As such, it lacks the kind of decades-long familiarity that makes the five radio-broadcast shows so legendary.

But Houston stands strong on its own merits as a fantastic and vital show representative of the tour’s final leg and boasts an outstanding setlist and performance to match. The city has had a long relationship with Springsteen, as one of the first markets outside of the east coast where he found a following before Born to Run. Bruce is well aware of that history during the show, name-checking Liberty Hall, site of a mini band residency in March 1974, before a scorching “Saint in the City,” and adding the unreleased early burner “The Fever” to the second set.

Those are but two of the highlights in a 27-song setlist packed with them. A look back to ‘74 is complemented by a peek into the future as Springsteen plays what at the time were three unreleased songs from his next album, The River, opening the second set with “The Ties That Bind,” after playing “Independence Day” in the first, and adding an unsettling “Point Blank” later in the show.

If you’re counting, that’s four unreleased songs so far, to which he adds the Darkness outtakes “Fire” and “Because the Night,” for a total of six, seven if you count the snippet of “Preachers Daughter” in the mesmerizing intro to a long “She’s the One” that also contains an unusual mid-song breakdown often referred to as “I Get Mad.”

From the album Darkness we draw another seven tracks to the set, notably “Prove It All Night” with its long, piano-and-guitar intro, a scorching “Streets of Fire” and a fine “Candy’s Room.” The bounty continues with cover songs, first “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town,” as the season demands, and an encore which pays homage to Mitch Ryder with the “Detroit Medley,” Philly’s own Dovells with “You Can’t Sit Down,” and Springsteen hero Gary U.S. Bonds for the show-closing “Quarter to Three.”

You’ve watched the Houston show before. But have you listened? This release gives us all a chance to do so again with fresh ears and revel at Bruce and the E Street Band at the peak of their powers in 1978.

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^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

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