Official concert recording available for purchase in multiple formats, including CD and high definition audio, from Springsteen's official live download site at nugs.net/bruce (previously live.brucespringsteen.net).
- Running Time: 2:54:10
Note: In December 2014, this was the second in a series of archive shows to be officially released at live.brucespringsteen.net. The seven 15ips, half-track tapes located by Toby Scott were transferred via the Plangent Process, the same analogue tape restoration technique used to good effect for the November 2014 box-set release of Springsteen's first seven albums (although Plangent was not used for The River). and mastered by Gateway Mastering. The show is available as a three-CD set, as well as MP3, FLAC, ALAC and 24 bit 192kHz high definition FLAC. The audio quality of this transfer is a fine upgrade over any previously available bootleg. It's also part of the 'Darkness on The Edge Of Town Tour 1978 8-Show CD Box Set', available on February 1, 2021 via Nugs.
Soundboard and radio broadcast tapes exist. The show has been released on various unofficial bootleg LPs and CDs including 'Agora Night' (Crystal Cat) (probably the best quality available from bootleg sources, transferred from pre-FM reels), 'Just In Time For Summer' (no label listed), 'Agora 1978' (Super Sonic) and 'Summertime Bruce' (E Street). Released to retail in 2014 under the title 'Agora Ballroom 1978' (Leftfield Media), which is not an official release.
Note: In May 2012 Cleveland's //Plain Dealer reported that Agora owner Henry LoConti was attempting to release a four-CD set of the show. While one audio feed (for radio, produced by Jimmy Iovine) went to a production truck (actually an old school bus converted into a recording studio by Sam Kopper, a former announcer at Boston's WBCN) outside the venue, another went to Agency Recording, a studio located above the Agora, which recorded the show onto 24-track tape for a possible live album. (Although it appears that the masters LoConti owned were only 2-track. Perhaps while a 24-track feed did go to the recording studio, LoConti only kept a mixed-down, 2-track version. The location of any multi-track masters is currently unknown). LoConti transferred this tape and made ten copies of the box set, which also includes Springsteen's June 1974 set at the Agora. Copies were sent to Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, and Springsteen's management asking permission to issue the set, with all proceeds going to the Western Reserve Historical Society. Unfortunately, no permission was forthcoming. In addition, LoConti also claimed that the set includes an extra track not included on bootlegs, but as far as we know, "Twist And Shout" was the final song, a position which is supported by press and fan reports. "Twist And Shout" was not included in the original broadcast, and may have been missing from the earliest vinyl bootlegs. "Twist And Shout" was first broadcast the following day, and on subsequent rebroadcasts of the show. Sadly, Henry "Hank" LoConti passed away in May 2014.//