Darkness Tour

Darkness Tour
Tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Associated album	Darkness on the Edge of Town
Start date	May 23, 1978
End date	January 1, 1979
Legs	1
Shows	115
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour chronology
Born to Run tours (1974-1977) Darkness Tour (1978) The River Tour (1980-1981)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Darkness Tour was a concert tour of North America that ran from May 1978 through the rest of the year, in conjunction with the release of Springsteen's album Darkness on the Edge of Town. (Like most Springsteen tours it had no official name, but this is the most commonly used; it is also sometimes referred to as the Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour or most simply the 1978 Tour.)

The tour has since become viewed as perhaps Springsteen's best in a storied career of concert performances. Biographer Dave Marsh wrote in 1987, "The screaming intensity of those '78 shows are part of rock and roll legend in the same way as Dylan's 1966 shows with the Band, the Rolling Stones' tours of 1969 and 1972, and the Who's Tommy tour of 1969: benchmarks of an era."

Itinerary

The tour ran in one continuous motion, starting May 23, 1978 at Shea's Buffalo in Buffalo, New York and playing halls, theatres, and occasional arenas across the United States and back several times, with a couple of forays into Canada. The first eight shows were played before the Darkness album was released on June 2. Big cities, secondary cities, college towns were all visited. A few shows were cancelled due to sickness but were made up later in the run. The tour wrapped up, after 115 shows, on New Year's Day 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio's Richfield Coliseum.

After a brief, unpleasant 1975 touring experience in Europe after the release of Born to Run, and with the weaker commercial appeal of Darkness compared to its predecessor, Springsteen did not venture overseas on this tour.

The show

The 1978 shows were longer than in previous Springsteen tours, typically around 25 songs, but they were not yet the true marathon concerts that would occupy the River and Born in the U.S.A. Tours. Nor was the set list variety that great among Springsteen songs, as his career was not yet long enough to offer the old rarities surprises of the later Reunion, Rising, or Magic Tours.

Rather, the word that almost every account of the 1978 shows uses, is intense. "Badlands" often opened, with the verses were taken at a much faster pace than in the studio, with drumming more active, and with Springsteen fairly spitting out the lyrics nearly ahead of the band's ability to keep up. "Born to Run" near the end of the show was also done at breakneck speed. In contrast, slower numbers such as "Streets of Fire" were taken even more slowly, with ghostly organ lines set off against Springsteen's growling-to-screaming vocals.

Many new Springsteen songs appeared. Some were songs that were or soon would be big hits for others, such as "Fire" and "Because the Night". Two new slow numbers that were immediately accessible and especially effective were aching family saga "Independence Day" and the nightmare "Point Blank", both of which would later appear on the 1980 The River album, as would several other songs first heard sporadically in 1978.

Especially notable were some of the treatments of his most famous songs. "Prove It All Night", the failed first single from Darkness, was reshaped into an eleven-minute epic with a long, howling guitar-over-piano introduction and a frenetic organ-and-guitar-over-drums outro; this rendition would become a fan favorite still referred back to decades later. "Racing in the Street"'s piano outro was surprise-segued into the piano intro to "Thunder Road". On Born to Run, "Backstreets" was already a six-and-a-half minute epic tale of betrayal and loss that critic Greil Marcus had likened to The Iliad; now it was extended to eleven to thirteen minutes by way of a long, mostly soft piano-based interpolation variously known as "Baby I remember you", "Little girl don't cry" or "Sad eyes"; on some recordings the audience can be heard squealing as the emotional drama plays out, before the tempo rises, suddenly stops, and the "Hiding on the ba-ack-streets" coda kicks back in full force. This interlude would later be used as the basis for part of "Drive All Night" on The River, but for many fans, in this extended 1978 "Backstreets" Springsteen had found the height of his performance artistry.

Throughout, the E Street Band had a powerful but almost sparse sound, with each instrument's role clearly delineated (as members were added in the 1990s and 2000s the band's sound would become bigger but lose this clarity). In particular, Roy Bittan's piano was the musical keystone of many of the numbers.

Of course not everything in the show was moody. The third number played was nearly always the seriocomic, crowd-involving "Spirit in the Night", and towards the end of the shows things lightened up considerably with set closer "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" and encores including Springsteen's classic R&B "Detroit Medley" frolic and James Brown-styled antics during Gary U.S. Bonds' party dance anthem "Quarter to Three". Springsteen's on-stage raps and stories became a little more honest than before, with his trademark "goddamn guitar" story about the bitter conflicts with his father leavened by a hint of embrace (especially when a family member was present).

The tour also saw Springsteen headlining full-sized arenas for the first time (including New York's Madison Square Garden), a move that he agonized over lest the increase in scale undermine his control over the audience. The shows still translated in the larger venues, and Springsteen would play in arenas or sometimes even stadiums for decades to come.

Critical and commercial reception

According to the unofficial fan website Brucebase, most of the shows on the tour were sell-outs or near sell-outs; only a handful had substantial numbers of empty seats, including one in Kalamazoo, Michigan where Springsteen offered to compensate the promoter for any financial loss. According to Lynn Goldsmith, tour photographer and Springsteen's girlfriend at the time, there were more than a few half-full venues, but Springsteen's performance level never varied no matter how many were there to watch.

Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn wrote, "I realized the faith I was beginning to put in Springsteen the December day in 1978 that I drove 400 miles to Tucson, Arizona, to see him in concert [for personal reasons, not as a professional assignment]. The show was part of a short western swing near the end of the Darkness tour that skipped Los Angeles.... [a] swell of emotion came to me during Bruce's concert in Tucson ... seeing Springsteen push himself so hard on stage and listening to the eloquence of his songs made me forget about doubts and think about my own dreams again."

Lynn Goldsmith later said that the 1978 Tour was far from the stereotypical rock tour, and compared it to The Rolling Stones' 1978 American Tour which she had also covered: "With Bruce, it was no drugs, no drinking, [long] sound checks and [long] shows. With the Stones, it was no sound check, lots of parties and running off-stage as quickly as possible to catch the private plane.... During that tour, Bruce didn't have any money, period. Instead of hanging out at discos after shows, he'd just as likely pass the time by playing pinball or watching the landscape roll by from the back of the bus."

Broadcasts and recordings

Live radio broadcasts help spread the reputation of the 1978 Tour.

One of the reasons the 1978 Tour is so well-remembered, and often viewed as the peak of Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert, is that several complete shows were broadcast live on progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio stations. These included the July 7 show at West Hollywood's The Roxy, broadcast on KMET, the August 9 show at Cleveland's Agora Ballroom, broadcast on WMMS, the September 19 show at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, broadcast on WNEW-FM, the September 30 show from the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, broadcast on about 20 Southeastern stations, and the December 15 show from the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, broadcast on KSAN-FM. These broadcasts were mixed by Jimmy Iovine and of high audio quality, and were listened to at the time by a larger audience than attended the concerts. Over the years the stations would surreptitiously play the broadcasts again, and many high-quality bootlegs were made and circulated of these shows.

A syndicated radio interview with New York disc jockey Dave Herman also included live excerpts from a July 1 Berkeley Community Theatre show, including the long "Prove It All Night"; these clips would also be heard on other radio promotional vehicles such as the King Biscuit Flour Hour.

In addition, in the early 1980s a long music video for "Rosalita" was released to MTV, from the July 8 show on this tour (filmed in its entirety) at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona, that included band introductions and numerous adoring women rushing the stage. It captured the energetic and playful side of Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert, and was the first such introduction many casual fans had.

The 1986 Live/1975-85 box set contained nine selections from the 1978 Tour, but fans were generally dissatisfied with them, as the "Backstreets" interlude was edited out, other raps and stories were edited or spliced together from different shows, and the long "Prove It All Night" was missing altogether. Additionally, a few of the tracks from the 1978 contained overdubs recorded at the Hit Factory during 1986.

In 2006, Springsteen manager Jon Landau indicated that a full-length filmed concert DVD from the Darkness Tour might be in the offing, following a similar release for a 1975 Born to Run tour show. Fans speculated heavily about such a possibility. It finally materialized in November 2010 with the release of The Promise: The Making of "Darkness On the Edge of Town", an elaborate box set that included a DVD containing a house recording of the full December 8, 1978, show from Houston's The Summit arena.

Band members

• Bruce Springsteen - lead vocals, guitars, harmonica
• Roy Bittan - piano, background vocals
• Clarence Clemons - saxophone, percussion, background vocals, clarinet
• Danny Federici - organ, electronic glockenspiel, accordion
• Garry Tallent - bass guitar
• Steven Van Zandt - guitars, background vocals
• Max Weinberg - drums

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
May 23, 1978	Buffalo, New York	United States	Shea's Buffalo
May 24, 1978	Albany, New York		Palace Theatre
May 26, 1978	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		The Spectrum
May 27, 1978
May 29, 1978	Boston, Massachusetts		Music Hall
May 30, 1978
May 31, 1978
June 2, 1978	Annapolis, Maryland		United States Naval Academy
June 3, 1978	Uniondale, New York		Nassau Coliseum
June 5, 1978	Toledo, Ohio		Toledo Sports Arena
June 6, 1978	Indianapolis, Indiana		Indiana Convention Center
June 8, 1978	Madison, Wisconsin		Dane County Coliseum
June 9, 1978	Milwaukee, Wisconsin		MECCA Arena
June 10, 1978	Bloomington, Minnesota		Met Center
June 13, 1978	Iowa City, Iowa		Iowa Field House
June 14, 1978	Omaha, Nebraska		Omaha Civic Auditorium
June 16, 1978	Kansas City, Kansas		Memorial Hall
June 17, 1978	St. Louis, Missouri		Kiel Auditorium
June 20, 1978	Morrison, Colorado		Red Rocks Amphitheatre
June 23, 1978	Portland, Oregon		Paramount Theatre
June 24, 1978
June 25, 1978	Seattle, Washington		Paramount Theatre
June 26, 1978	Vancouver, British Columbia	Canada	Queen Elizabeth Theatre
June 29, 1978	San Jose, California	United States	Performing Arts Center
June 30, 1978	Berkeley, California		Berkeley Community Theatre
July 1, 1978
July 5, 1978	Inglewood, California		The Forum
July 7, 1978	West Hollywood, California		Roxy Theatre
July 8, 1978	Phoenix, Arizona		Veterans Memorial Coliseum
July 9, 1978	San Diego, California		San Diego Sports Arena
July 12, 1978	Dallas, Texas		Dallas Convention Center Arena
July 14, 1978	San Antonio, Texas		Memorial Auditorium
July 15, 1978	Houston, Texas		Sam Houston Coliseum
July 16, 1978	New Orleans, Louisiana		Municipal Auditorium
July 18, 1978	Jackson, Mississippi		Municipal Auditorium
July 19, 1978	Memphis, Tennessee		Ellis Auditorium
July 21, 1978	Nashville, Tennessee		Nashville Municipal Auditorium
July 28, 1978	Miami, Florida		Jai Alai Fronton
July 29, 1978	St. Petersburg, Florida		Bayfront Arena
July 31, 1978	Columbia, South Carolina		Township Auditorium
August 1, 1978	Charleston, South Carolina		Charleston Municipal Auditorium
August 2, 1978	Charlotte, North Carolina		Charlotte Coliseum
August 4, 1978	Charleston, West Virginia		Charleston Civic Center
August 5, 1978	Louisville, Kentucky		Louisville Gardens
August 7, 1978	Kalamazoo, Michigan		Wings Stadium
August 9, 1978	Cleveland, Ohio		Agora Theatre and Ballroom
August 10, 1978	Rochester, New York		Rochester Community War Memorial
August 12, 1978	Augusta, Maine		Augusta Civic Center
August 14, 1978	Hampton, Virginia		Hampton Coliseum
August 15, 1978	Landover, Maryland		Capital Centre
August 18, 1978	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		The Spectrum
August 19, 1978
August 21, 1978	New York City, New York		Madison Square Garden
August 22, 1978
August 23, 1978
August 25, 1978	New Haven, Connecticut		New Haven Coliseum
August 26, 1978	Providence, Rhode Island		Providence Civic Center
August 28, 1978	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania		Stanley Theatre
August 29, 1978
August 30, 1978	Richfield, Ohio		Richfield Coliseum
August 31, 1978	Cleveland, Ohio		Agora Theatre and Ballroom
September 1, 1978	Detroit, Michigan		Detroit Masonic Temple
September 2, 1978	Clarkston, Michigan		Pine Knob Music Theatre
September 3, 1978	Saginaw, Michigan		Saginaw Civic Center
September 5, 1978	Columbus, Ohio		Veterans Memorial Auditorium
September 6, 1978	Chicago, Illinois		Uptown Theatre
September 9, 1978	Notre Dame, Indiana		Edmund P. Joyce Center
September 10, 1978	Cincinnati, Ohio		Riverfront Coliseum
September 12, 1978	Syracuse, New York		Onondaga War Memorial
September 13, 1978	Springfield, Massachusetts		Springfield Civic Center
September 15, 1978	New York City, New York		The Palladium
September 16, 1978
September 17, 1978
September 19, 1978	Passaic, New Jersey		Capitol Theatre
September 20, 1978
September 21, 1978
September 25, 1978	Boston, Massachusetts		Boston Garden
September 29, 1978	Birmingham, Alabama		Boutwell Auditorium
September 30, 1978	Atlanta, Georgia		Fox Theatre
October 1, 1978
October 17, 1978	West Hollywood, California		The Troubadour
November 1, 1978	Princeton, New Jersey		Jadwin Gymnasium
November 2, 1978	Landover, Maryland		Capital Centre
November 4, 1978	Burlington, Vermont		Patrick Gym
November 5, 1978	Durham, New Hampshire		Lundholm Gym
November 7, 1978	Ithaca, New York		Barton Hall
November 8, 1978	Montreal, Quebec	Canada	Montreal Forum
November 10, 1978	St. Bonaventure, New York	United States	Reilly Center
November 12, 1978	Troy, New York		RPI Field House
November 14, 1978	Utica, New York		Utica Memorial Auditorium
November 16, 1978	Toronto, Ontario	Canada	Maple Leaf Gardens
November 17, 1978	East Lansing, Michigan	United States	Jenison Fieldhouse
November 18, 1978	Oxford, Ohio		Millett Hall
November 20, 1978	Champaign, Illinois		Assembly Hall
November 21, 1978	Evanston, Illinois		McGaw Hall
November 25, 1978	St. Louis, Missouri		Kiel Auditorium
November 27, 1978	Milwaukee, Wisconsin		MECCA Arena
November 28, 1978	Madison, Wisconsin		Dane County Coliseum
November 29, 1978	Saint Paul, Missouri		St. Paul Civic Center
December 1, 1978	Norman, Oklahoma		Lloyd Noble Center
December 3, 1978	Carbondale, Illinois		SIU Arena
December 5, 1978	Baton Rouge, Louisiana		LSU Assembly Center
December 7, 1978	Austin, Texas		Frank Erwin Center
December 8, 1978	Houston, Texas		The Summit
December 9, 1978	Dallas, Texas		Dallas Convention Center Arena
December 13, 1978	Tucson, Arizona		Tucson Convention Center
December 15, 1978	San Francisco, California		Winterland Ballroom
December 16, 1978
December 19, 1978	Portland, Oregon		Paramount Theatre
December 20, 1978	Seattle, Washington		Seattle Center Coliseum
December 27, 1978	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania		Stanley Theatre
December 28, 1978
December 30, 1978	Detroit, Michigan		Cobo Hall
December 31, 1978	Richfield, Ohio		Richfield Coliseum
January 1, 1979

Sources

• Born in the U.S.A. Tour (tour booklet, 1984), Springsteen chronology.
• Hilburn, Robert. Springsteen. Rolling Stone Press, 1985. ISBN 0-684-18456-7.
• Graff, Gary. The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z. Visible Ink Press, 2005. ISBN 0-57859-157-0.
• Marsh, Dave. Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s. Pantheon Books, 1987. ISBN 0-394-54668-7.
• Roger Catlin, "Capturing The Boss' Spirit of '78", Hartford Courant, May 5, 2000.
• Killing Floor's concert database gives valuable coverage as well, but also does not support direct linking to individual dates.
• Brucebase's concert descriptions even more valuable coverage