Live Archive: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Seneca Field House, Toronto, ON, December 21, 1975

SETLIST: 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 (COME OUT TONIGHT) / 4TH OF JULY, ASBURY PARK (SANDY) / SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN / DETROIT MEDLEY / FOR YOU / QUARTER TO THREE

The E Street Band at this moment is Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Steve Van Zandt, Garry Tallent, and Max Weinberg

Venue capacity: approximately 3,000

An official archive release [affiliate link]

Bruce Springsteen’s first appearance in Toronto (not Canada - Montreal a few nights earlier received that honour, and not his first appearance in Ontario, because Ottawa got that the night before) was originally scheduled for a 1,000-seat venue and then a 2,000 seat venue and finally, where we are tonight, the 3,000 seat Field House at Seneca College’s Newnham Campus. (The building no longer exists.) 

It’s a beautiful “Thunder Road” to open, slightly extended intro from Roy, and then a pitch-perfect vocal delivery from Bruce. The audience is deeply, deliberately silent. It feels as intimate as if there were only 300 people present and not 3,000. It’s remarkable.

This show is an official archive release so it’s a soundboard, but it is a particularly sparkling piece of work. You will hear the E Street Band in the kind of detail and fidelity you are not accustomed to, especially from this era. The mix is spectacular. There is no moment in which you will be quietly grousing that you can’t hear a part or a band member. They dropped this in early December and I don’t know if it was the holidays or everything else but a lot of folks missed it. I didn’t even listen to it myself until January and I got 75% through “Thunder Road” and started texting pals to make sure they listened to it. Every one came back with some form of “wow you were right.” So go get it now if this describes any of you. The show was recorded by Bruce Inc. back in the day because there were plans to release a live album. And now, they have.

I love so much how “Spirit In The Night” morphed from being a wood sprite into no less than Titania as the tour has gone on, and also listening to this knowing how it will transform even more in the future, when it expands its power even further. Here, Bruce is ebullient, Max is wailing on the crash cymbals, Clarence dominates. You can hear Bruce trying to get the crowd onboard when he gets to the bridge, and you can literally feel that they want to, they just don’t know what to do yet! Listen to Roy’s ebullience in the last chorus. Even Bruce feels particularly loose. He’s connecting, you just can’t hear it back. If you look at photos of the show on Brucebase, the audience was right at the stage. They’re just quiet!