28 July 2008

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Channeling Sacred Fire in 1978

The force-of-nature pop music professor, whiteray, at Echoes in the Wind, found this YouTube clip. I note below both his take on it, and then mine, (both entries below reposted from his blog (link supra), on Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's 1978 tour. The YouTube clip and the show I saw were less that two months apart. Wanna know why Jon Landau said, "I have seen the future of rock and roll ...", check this out.
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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Channeling Sacred Fire, on "The Darkness on Edge of Town" Tour (1978)

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whiteray: "....And here’s a black-and-white clip of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performing “The Promised Land” at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, on September 19, 1978. The visuals are a little grainy, but the music is excellent. ...."

Me
: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band were on the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" tour during the show in the clip -- I saw their St. Petersburg, FL gig in August, very soon befor this clip was shot.

Bruce was burning up with an inferno of inspired passion, of sacred prophet fire that I do not believe, until The Rising, his 9/11 album.

Live Darkness beats families turning to pink dust in the New York sky ever time.

Guitars wailed through the night like "singing winds and crying beasts." And then, you enter,
Candy's Room .... 'Yea, I'll pay the price, and I'll be there on time.'

"We are born into this life payin', for the sins of somebody else's past."

Are you down with that?

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7 comments:

whiteray said...

This is great stuff, isn't it? Glad to see you using the clip, and you're welcome to my words, such as they were . . . Rock on!

Paco Malo said...

Thanks a million, my friend.

Anonymous said...

I'm down...Of all the great armies of rock fans, few can match the devotion of Bruce Springsteen's. Anyone who has experienced Springsteen in concert will testify that the bond between audience and artist transcends the usual adulation. Something magical, almost mystical happens. Some might describe it as spiritual-most definitely it is life affirming. It is in trying to nail this phenomenon that the beautiful hardbound For You has arrived.
Edited by Lawrence Kirsch and replete with an amazing welter of outstanding photographs, it's a mind-blowing collection of thoughts and stories from fans of every age and many nations, each explaining why Springsteen occupies such an important place in their hearts. Covering all four decades of Springsteen's career it is possibly the ultimate fanzine for it is the fans who have made the journey and whose words tell us as much about them as they do about Springsteen. The warmth and humanity that flows from every page is truly moving and provides a beacon of hope from which we can all draw strength in these hard times. Not a book to be read at one sitting but rather to revisit and enjoy over time. www.Foryoubruce.com

Paco Malo said...

I don't know anything about this book, but the dude above promoting it does write quite well.

I add, and not about the book, that he / she "had me at 'mystical'". That's what I saw that hot august night (thanks Neil) in 1978 -- a human being transcending time, space, and the way of the Tao to create music that changes your soul.

Unknown said...

All I remember was perfectly normal
people turning into like zombies or something during certain songs..
and you had to wait all the way to the end of a BOC concert to see that.

:)

plus a lot of women...

Paco Malo said...

This is not gris gris I am describing. This was a real revival show, but not Pentecost and Revelations stuff, but rather rather "rock and pain and redemption" gonna save my soul -- if that makes me a zombie, with girls around (quite unlikely) -- then I am a rock and roll truth fight the man with wisdom from Woody Guthrie and Bruce and Neil and Bobby Zimmeman and open G tuning zombie fascist killing machine.

"It's only rock n' roll, but I like it, like it, yes I do!"

Unknown said...

lol .. zombie fascist...