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Bruce Springsteen - The Toledo Agora June 2, 1974 (1974)

Track listing:
  1. Angel Baby 8:51
  2. Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street 4:04
  3. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City 4:29
  4. Spirit In The Night 0:07
  5. For You 8:16
  6. Let The Four Winds Blow - I'm Ready 9:58
  7. Angel Baby 7:52

Notes

ONE show, with Springsteen & The E Street Band headlining. Beginning shows with one or two acoustic numbers had been a pretty consistent hallmark of Springsteen's concerts up to this point. However this was one of the last shows of this type, as the hiring of Mark Brickman as stage lighting director in July 1974 pretty much ended the opening acoustic solo spots in shows.

The above-mentioned partial setlist is taken from an audience recording of very weak quality that has been in limited circulation for many years. The material has yet to appear on any mainstream bootleg. The audio likely represents only about 30% of the evening’s total performance. All but a few opening seconds of "Spirit" is cut, as well as the opening minute or so of the evening finale, "Let The Four Winds Blow". Although this tape often circulates as undated, there are in fact several vital clues that almost certainly pinpoint the tape to this date and venue. Firstly, Bruce specifically mentions the name "The E Street Band" (which places the show no earlier than April 1974). Secondly, Bruce asks the audience how many of them have travelled from Detroit for this show (most respond yes - Toledo is only 70km from Detroit). Thirdly, this arrangement of "Let The Four Winds Blow - I'm Ready" was unique to the mid-1974 period and very similar to the following night's rendition in Cleveland.

From an historical standpoint the important performance is the wonderful love song “A Night Like This” (often referred to by collectors by the title “Dance On Little Angel” or Bruce’s original working title “Angel Baby”). Springsteen, identifying it as "a new song" but not mentioning the title to the crowd, performs it acoustically (with Clarence and Danny). Fortunately the audio of this song is complete and the sound quality is somewhat better on this track than the rest of the audio. Although "A Night Like This" bears no common melody or lyrics with "Sandy", both are stylistically similar and set along the summer Jersey shoreline. A studio take of this song has never surfaced but one was recorded a few months later (at 914 Sound Studios on Oct 16, 1974). Bruce later used a few tidbits of lyric from "A Night Like This" for his early 1975 composition "Lonely Night In The Park", another uncirculating recording from the BTR sessions.
Knut