Dec. 18, 1975 review: Bruce Springsteen at Kleinhans Music Hall

 

On my personal list of all-time best concerts, this one is up around the top. 

Dec. 18, 1975 

Springsteen Springs

Rock ‘n Roll Big Beat 

Phil Spector’s Christmas album, that mating of holiday spirit with da-doo-ron-ron, booms out Wednesday night to a near-capacity Kleinhans Music Hall crowd that mostly was in grade school when Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans first translated “Here Comes Santa Claus” in the early ‘60s.

          It’s not nostalgia that’s got these kids yelling for “Rosalita.” They’re too young to remember Roy Orbison and all the rest.

          And it’s not the Time and Newsweek cover stories and all the type that gets them cheering for two lengthy encores. It’s a genuine case of old-time rock ‘n roll madness, renewed in Bruce Springsteen.

          “Greetings From Ocean City, N.J.,” a sheet hung over the front of the balcony reads. That’s South Jersey – not quite home for the bearded imp in roustabout’s clothing and a ratty knit cap with a gold loop flashing from one ear.

          He hails from Asbury Park. That’s North Jersey and its faded beaches, run-down roadhouses and urgent streets fill his rambling epics with midnight buccaneers yearning for deliverance.

* * *

IT’S A tight universe, but Springsteen and the six members of his E Street Band play it for all it’s worth, from the elegiac tenderness of “Thunder Road” to the dramatic insistence of “Spirits in the Night,” which climaxes as Springsteen falls to the floor as if wounded.

          “He’s two-thirds acrobat and one-sixth snake,” an associate observes. The ladies speculate on his earthy sensuality – the combination of fragility and roughness in his sandpaper voice.

          Tame by comparison are guitarist Miami Steve Van Zandt, a gangster of love in a white broad-brimmed hat, and Clarence Clemons, the Black saxman who’s perfected the sultry stylings of the ‘50s.

* * *

“BORN TO RUN,” Springsteen’s short-lived hit single, suggests the wear and tear of four months of hype and touring. It gets thundering Phil Spector drums, an unsprung melody line and a hurried feel, as if an obligation were being filled.

          But that’s the only time. There’s relish to the rap about girl-watching from the front porch. Delight in the oldie, “Pretty Flamingo,” that follows. Sheer electricity in the street warfare of “Jungleland,” though talking in the audience and uncommonly strict ushers short-circuit some quiet parts.

          The encores take the show beyond expectations. A Santa boogies on stage during a Phil Spector arrangement of “Here Comes Santa Claus,” gives each band member a miniature of his instrument and throws candy from his sack to the front rows. Someone up front gave Springsteen a gift – a “sneakers” T-shirt.

* * *

A MEDLEY of oldies like “Devil with the Blue Dress On” and “Jenny Jenny” prompts Springsteen to ask: “Are you loose?”

          “Are you loose?” he asks again in the middle of Gary (U.S.) Bonds’ “Quarter to Three.”

          “Are you sore?”

          The band goes bam for a quick reprise and Springsteen climbs to the top of the piano to belt a final verse.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons in November 1975.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: This date near the end of the “Born to Run” tour, Bruce’s breakthrough, was the first time I’d seen him live and his dynamism was stunning. It seems like the review is cut short, though. That often happened in those days. The editors just snipped from the bottom. Here’s the setlist from setlist.fm: 

Thunder Road

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Spirit in the Night

Lost in the Flood

She’s the One

Born to Run

Pretty Flamingo

It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City

Backstreets

Kitty’s Back

Jungleland

Rosalita

(encore)

4^th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Detroit Medley

For You

Quarter to Three