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Notes: TWO shows, triple bill, with the bottom-billed Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner DAVE VAN RONK and the second-billed DORIS ABRAHAMS. Van Ronk’s 6-night (12-show) residency at Max’s Kansas City included Bruce’s first series of “official” public performances after signing with Columbia, although there was absolutely no CBS-sponsored promotion of the event. The club’s earliest promotional material for this residency only mentions Dave Van Ronk and not the two then-unknown “understudies”. A later advertisement mentions Van Ronk and Abrahams, but not Springsteen. However an AD (below) from mid-residency mentions Bruce. It is likely that Bruce was a last-minute addition to the billing but performed at all the shows. Bruce’s inclusion on the bill may have been arranged by John Hammond, a good friend of Van Ronk. Springsteen has briefly mentioned opening for Van Ronk, with his most well known comments coming during the 1990 Christic Benefit gigs. Shortly before Van Ronk died he also acknowledged letting Bruce open for him during his 1972 residency at Max’s (Van Ronk’s only appearances at that club that year). Promoter Victor “Igor” Wasylczenko has commented to BRUCEBASE that he attended one of these Van Ronk dates, Bruce definitely was the opener, and he ended up giving Bruce a ride home to Asbury Park after the show (they lived near each other at the time).
Definitely one, probably two, and possibly several of Bruce’s shows during this residency were audio & video recorded in their entirety, utilizing Max’s (crude by today’s standards) in-house video camera. It is believed the recording was carried out at the request of Columbia, who wanted footage of Bruce for potential promotional use.
09-Aug-1972 New York,NY Max's Kansas City,USA
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Notes: Second of two shows. See early for details.
Notes: First of TWO shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner DAVE VAN RONK and folk stylist DORIS ABRAHAMS. Each of Bruce’s shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
Very brief audio-video excerpts of both “Henry Boy” and “Growin’ Up” from one of the 12 shows during this August 1972 Max’s residency first surfaced in a 1990 documentary about John Hammond called “From Bessie Smith To Springsteen”. The complete audio-video of both songs has recently leaked out and is circulating among collectors. These complete takes represent what was originally supplied to the Hammond film producers by CBS. The producers were only allowed to use brief excerpts of the two songs in the documentary – and were not supplied any footage of the rest of the show. “Henry Boy” is the opening number of Bruce’s show and “Growin’ Up” is the closing number. The remainder of the show (probably only a couple of more songs) exists in CBS’s vault but has never circulated. The other show this night may also have been filmed.
The recently surfaced complete audio-video takes do not include the audio introduction of Bruce by Max’s owner Mickey Ruskin that is heard in the documentary, However the recently surfaced complete take of “Growin’ Up” includes an additional 20 seconds of Bruce chatting at the conclusion of the song that was not featured in the documentary. In this brief segment Bruce begins to introduce the person who is to follow him with the comment “here’s a protégée of mine” - but the tape ends before the artist’s name is mentioned. The term “protégée” would seem to be referring to Doris Abrahams. Note: BRUCEBASE has placed this performance under this date but it could be from any of the nights during this Aug 9 – 14 residency.
Notes: TWO shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner DAVE VAN RONK and folk stylist DORIS ABRAHAMS. Each of Bruce’s shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
A brief, 20-second audio-video excerpt of Bruce performing “Growin’ Up” first surfaced in April 1992 in MTV’s 50-minute Springsteen “Rocumentary” (produced by John Landau’s longtime friend Kurt Loder). MTV’s credits failed to identify either the location or recording date of this performance. It is likely this clip is also from one of the Aug 9 thru 14, 1972 Max’s shows. However it is clearly from a different show (and a different night) than the other performance of “Growin’ Up” seen in the Hammond documentary. The same video camera seems to have been utilized – but positioned at a different angle to the other show. Note: BRUCEBASE has placed this performance under this date but it could be from any of the shows during this 6-night residency and it could possibly be from Bruce’s Jan 31 – Feb 5 Max’s residency.
12-Aug-1972 New York,NY Max's Kansas City,USA
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Notes: TWO shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner DAVE VAN RONK and folk stylist DORIS ABRAHAMS. Each of Bruce’s shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
13-Aug-1972 New York,NY Max's Kansas City,USA
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Notes: TWO shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner DAVE VAN RONK and folk stylist DORIS ABRAHAMS. Each of Bruce’s shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
14-Aug-1972 New York,NY Max's Kansas City,USA
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Notes: TWO shows, triple bill, with Springsteen (solo) opening for headliner DAVE VAN RONK and folk stylist DORIS ABRAHAMS. Each of Bruce’s shows was limited to about 30 minutes (3 to 5 songs).
All up Springsteen performed 12 shows, with 3 to 5 songs played per show (i.e. approximately 40 to 60 song performances over the course of the week). Although the setlist details for these shows is not known, it is highly likely that all 10 songs from the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. album were performed. As well as the Greetings LP material (and in addition to “Henry Boy”, which is on the video), the other songs likely to have been played during this residency are those known to have been recorded at 914 Sound Studio for potential inclusion on the debut album. These include “Arabian Nights”, “Two Hearts In True Waltz Time”, the still uncirculating/unheard song “Let The Words”, “Visitation At Fort Horn”, “Lady And The Doctor”, “Circus Song” and “Song Of The Orphans”. Two other major songs written by Bruce around this time, “Balboa vs The Earthslayer” and “Calvin Jones & The Thirteenth Apostle”, may also have been performed over the course of these shows
30-Aug-1972 New York,NY Max's Kansas City,USA
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Notes: A date long-circulating and attributed to a Springsteen performance at this club, but a date that is now all but certain to be erroneous as it has been verified that proto-punk/glam band THE NEW YORK DOLLS were performing two raucous, sold out shows at the club on this night. Springsteen audio from other Max’s Kansas City gigs of the era (most notably 31/1/73, as well as audio and/or video from Bruce’s August 9 - 14, 1972 shows) is often incorrectly linked to this date.
