Please join us in welcoming the newest contributor to The Second Disc, Randy Fairman! Randy's checking in today with news of the latest addition to Bruce Springsteen's live archive series!

Bruce Springsteen is continuing his Archive series at a fast pace, with the latest release coming just over a month after premiere of the last (December 31, 1975 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania).  This time, the concert is another from New Year’s Eve, but five years later and a little up the coast from the previous release:  December 31, 1980 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

This concert is one that fans of Bruce and E Street Band have wanted to be officially released for quite some time.  First, it is from The River tour which has seen no official live releases.  Second, this concert stood for decades as the longest set Springsteen ever played, clocking in at just over 3 hours and 45 minutes.  (This record was not broken until a concert broke the four-hour mark in Helsinki in 2012.)

The epic night from New Year’s Eve in 1980 was the band’s third and last night at Nassau Coliseum and the last concert in the first leg of The River tour.  It featured a whopping 38 songs over two sets and an encore.  As they had done with the previous concerts during the tour, Springsteen and the E Street Band played the majority, but not all, of The River.  They also performed some cover tunes (“Who'll Stop the Rain," "In the Midnight Hour,” “Detroit Medley,” “Twist and Shout,” etc) and some seasonal songs (“Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Merry Christmas, Baby” and “Auld Lang Syne) together with some of their older songs which had already become staples like “Rosalita” and “Born to Run.”  Two performances from this concert have been released before:  “4^th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” appeared on the Live 1975-1985 set in 1986 (together with some songs from the other two nights of Springsteen’s 1980 Nassau Coliseum stand) and “Rendevous” was chosen for 1998’s Tracks box set.

The show was recorded live with Record Plant Remote by Toby Scott and assisted by David Bianco and Jim Scott.  Toby Scott (assisted by Rob Lebret) has newly mixed this release from multi-track reels earlier this month at Thrill Hill.

As with the other releases in Springsteen’s live series, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 1980 is available in multiple formats: MP3 ($9.95, 256 kbps), FLAC or Apple Lossless ($12.95), HD-Audio ($24.95, 24 bit/192 kHz, FLAC-HD or ALAC-HD) and CD ($23.00)  (Please note that these are CD-Rs).  CDs will not begin shipping until April 25, but those purchasing the CD have the usual option to pay $5.00 extra to obtain MP3s now.

All four volumes of The Bruce Springsteen Archive Series – plus a number of recent concerts from 2014 – are available at Springsteen’s official live store for download and physical purchase.  You can also sample tracks at this link!

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY 1980 (Columbia/Nugs.net 2015)

1. Night
2. Prove It All Night
3. Spirit in the Night
4. Darkness on the Edge of Town
5. Independence Day
6. Who’ll Stop the Rain?
7. This Land is Your Land
8. Promised Land
9. Out in the Street
10. Racing in the Street
11. The River
12. Badlands
13. Thunder Road
14. Cadillac Ranch
15. Sherry Darling
16. Hungry Heart
17. Merry Christmas, Darling
18. Fire
19. Candy’s Room
20. Because the Night
21. 4^th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
22. Rendezvous
23. Fade Away
24. The Price You Pay
25. Wreck on the Highway
26. Two Hearts
27. Ramrod
28. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
29. Held Up Without A Gun
30. In the Midnight Hour
31. Auld Lang Syne
32. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
33. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
34. Jungleland
35. Born to Run
36. Detroit Medley
37. Twist and Shout
38. Raise Your Hand