The Tunnel of Love tour again? That’s surely a sentiment some are expressing with this month’s release of New York 5/16/88, the outstanding opening night performance from the final, five-show stand on the US leg of the 1988 tour.
A memorable six-night stand in the City of Brotherly Love ends on a high note with some old friends on Philadelphia '99. The 22-song set begins in jaw-dropping fashion with the long-awaited return of “Incident On 57th Street,” last played in December 1980, and features the first Reunion tour performances of “Point Blank,” “Sherry Darling” “Streets of Philadelphia,” “Jungleland” and “Raise Your Hand” to appear in the Archive Series. Philadelphia ’99 also includes one of only five stagings of the epic “New York City Serenade” circa 1999-2000 following a 24-year hiatus.
Bruce Springsteen released a live archival recording of an E Street Band concert from C.W. Post College in Greenvale, New York on December 12, 1975.
This Sony release is essentially the Bruce Springsteen greatest-hits set that appeared earlier in 2009 as a Wal-Mart exclusive – setting off a mini storm in the media about whether or not the pro-union Springsteen should have any dealings at all with the non-union Wal-Mart company – with three tracks, "Long Walk Home" (from 2007's Magic) and live versions of "Because the Night" and "Fire," added to the end of the sequence. Columbia's 18-track Greatest Hits set from 1995 probably does a better job of charting through the commercial, radio-ready side of Springsteen's career, but the addition of the live tracks here strengthens this collection and makes it feel like a much broader and more rounded portrait than the original Wal-Mart issue was. The truth is, Springsteen has so many great songs that it is probably impossible to put out a single-disc greatest-hits set that would please everyone, but this one essentially does it's job – you've heard all of these songs on the radio.
The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were recorded at the September 1979 MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This set features 13 songs performed over two nights, that are newly remixed and remastered.