Unknown setlist If you know or remember something about this show, please write me at contrib@brucespringsteen.it . Your help is important!!
Notes: ONE show, 9:30PM to 1AM, with the SUNDANCE BLUES BAND the sole act on the bill. This was Line-up #2 of the group (Southside Johnny, Van Zandt, Lopez, Tallent and Springsteen (as a fully-fledged band member). A typical gig at this club consisted of four 40-minute sets separated by healthy intermissions (2½ hrs total playing time).
03-Jul-1971 Asbury Park,NJ Student Prince,USA
Unknown setlist If you know or remember something about this show, please write me at contrib@brucespringsteen.it . Your help is important!!
Notes: ONE show 9:30PM to 1AM, with the SUNDANCE BLUES BAND the sole act on the bill. This was Line-up #2 of the group (Southside Johnny, Van Zandt, Lopez, Tallent and Springsteen (as a fully-fledged band member). A typical gig at this club consisted of four 40-minute sets separated by healthy intermissions (2½ hrs total playing time). Following this show the group went over to The Upstage and played another show until sunrise.
03-Jul-1971 Asbury Park,NJ The Upstage,USA
Unknown setlist If you know or remember something about this show, please write me at contrib@brucespringsteen.it . Your help is important!!
Notes: ONE show 2AM to 5AM, with the SUNDANCE BLUES BAND the sole act on the bill. This was Line-up #2 of the group (Southside Johnny, Van Zandt, Lopez, Tallent and Springsteen (as a fully-fledged band member).
04-Jul-1971 Asbury Park,NJ Student Prince,USA
Unknown setlist If you know or remember something about this show, please write me at contrib@brucespringsteen.it . Your help is important!!
Notes: ONE show 9:30PM to 1AM, with the SUNDANCE BLUES BAND the sole act on the bill. This was Line-up #2 of the group (Southside Johnny, Van Zandt, Lopez, Tallent and Springsteen. Note: this was Springsteen’s last gig as a core member of Sundance Blues Band, although he would continue make guest appearances right up until the band was mothballed in early 1972. David Sancious (keyboards) was later added to the line-up of Sundance Blues Band in place of Springsteen.
10-Jul-1971 Lincroft,NJ Brookdale Community College,USA
Notes: ONE show, quadruple billing, with the newly-formed BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BAND headlining the outdoor “2nd Annual Nothing’s Festival”. Undercard acts were SUNNY JIM, ODIN and JEANNIE CLARK. This gig is the first known performance of The Bruce Springsteen Band. They’re essentially a modified version of Dr Zoom & The Sonic Boom (i.e., minus The Zoomettes, Southside Johnny and the various vaudeville elements). The lineup of this initial version of The Bruce Springsteen Band is Springsteen, Van Zandt, Sancious, Tallent and Lopez - plus (on selected tracks) Bobby Feigenbaum (sax), Harvey Cherlin (trumpet), along with the vocal duet of Delores Holmes & Barbara Dinkins. This large 9-member lineup of the band will eventually expand to 10, with the addition of Bruce’s manager Tinker West on congas. However this “big band sound” will only last about 2 months before it begins to shrink. The above-mentioned setlist is taken from a circulating 66-minute outdoor audience recording of (at best) fair quality. Given this show was a 4-artist
billing this audio is likely to represent most (possibly all) of Bruce’s performance at this show. This above-mentioned audio (minus “Natural Magic” and “Jambalaya”) can be found on the CD boot “DOWN THE ROAD APIECE” (Golden Stars). These performances of “Natural Magic” and “Jambalaya” are not currently found on any mainstream boot. Collectors should note that the liner notes on the “DOWN THE ROAD APIECE” CD bootleg mistakenly credit this audio to a 17/12/71 indoor club performance at Rutgers.
Unknown setlist If you know or remember something about this show, please write me at contrib@brucespringsteen.it . Your help is important!!
Notes: The Bruce Springsteen Band opens for the (at the time) red-hot HUMBLE PIE. After the show an impressed Peter Frampton, leader of HUMBLE PIE, tells Springsteen and the band he'd like to have them open for HUMBLE PIE on a national basis. Frampton also states that he would be happy to get the band an audition with his record label, the prestigious A & M Records. For no logical reason BSB manager Tinker West declines both offers on the spot. The story is corroborated in separate published interviews with Peter Frampton and BSB trumpet player Harvey Cherlin.
22-Jul-1971 Sayreville,NJ D' Scene,USA
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Notes: Early show, 9:00PM of two, double bill, with THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BAND (in its 9-10 member incarnation) headlining and SUNNY JIM opening. This was the first of two consecutive Thursday evening appearances at the club, with the event Poster double-sided, each side promoting one of the two gigs.
22-Jul-1971 Sayreville,NJ D' Scene,USA
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Notes: Late show, 11:30PM with double bill, with THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BAND (in its 9-10 member incarnation) headlining and SUNNY JIM opening. This was the first of two consecutive Thursday evening appearances at the club, with the event Poster double-sided, each side promoting one of the two gigs.
23-Jul-1971 New York,NY Lincoln Center, Damrosch Park,USA
Notes: ONE show, with THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN BAND (along with a several other un-signed groups) performing as part of the Guggenheim Memorial Concert Series that took place daily in Damrosch Park during the summer of 1971. According to the New York Times the headliner and scheduled 8PM show closer on the 23rd was THE RICHARD GOLDMAN BAND, a classical orchestra noted for its creative use of wind and brass instruments. Bruce and his team were one of several unnamed-in-print undercard acts, each of who were allocated hour-long performing slots. At one
point Bruce can be heard off mike asking “how much more time do we have?” The response back is “15 minutes” and Bruce times the end of his show impeccably.
The fact that Bruce’s mid-1971 lineup included horns may have been the reason Tinker got this particular booking. The trumpet and sax are highly prevalent throughout and the arrangements (likely created by Van Zandt) are outstanding.
The above-mentioned setlist is taken from a soundboard recording that is available on the CD “THE BRUCE SPINGSTEEN STORY, VOLUME 6” (E Street Records). The bootleg cover implies some Columbia Records/CBS affiliation with the recording – but this is just fantasy artwork. This 60-minute recording has continuity between songs and is almost certainly the complete BSB show from this afternoon gig. Although this was an outdoor event, Bruce and the band were performing within the Guggenheim Band Shell. The superb acoustics of that shell, combined with an un-degradated source tape, have resulted in a truly exceptional concert document. Add to this a tight, highly disciplined and inspired performance by the entire band and it’s easy to see why most rate this Damrosch gig as the finest pre-CBS Springsteen concert currently in existence. This texture of this performance is more in keeping with the funkiness of Bruce’s 1974 Wild & Innocent Tour dates and early Asbury Jukes shows. It is essential audio in any Springsteen collection. The 9-member Bruce Springsteen Band at Damrosch Park is the same as the 10-member contingent that performed at The Sunshine In ten days earlier (see 11/07/71 listing) with the exception that Tinker West is not playing congas – it seems Tinker was busy working the soundboard. This show includes some of Bruce’s finest early-period songwriting efforts. There are definitive live performances of “Jambalaya” and “You Mean So Much Tom Me” plus two songs (“I’m In Love Again” and “You Don’t Leave Me No Choice”) that are not available from any other show source. Barbara Dinkins (her actual married name is Barbara Gunter - her site is available at www.barbaragunter.com) delivers the sexy Ronnie Spector-ish lead vocal on these two songs. A Springsteen lead vocal of these two songs has yet to surface. Bruce’s searing guitar work during “You Don’t Leave Me No Choice” is among his
all time best.
