Bruce Springsteen at The Roxy: July 7, 1978

The Roxy, West Hollywood · July 7, 1978

Getting a ticket was the problem. Bruce Springsteen had played the Forum two nights earlier. Now he was bringing the E Street Band into a club that held fewer than 500 people. Tickets went quickly, and fans showed up at the radio station and record company offices hoping somebody could get them in.

KMET broadcast the show live, so missing out on a ticket didn’t mean missing the music. It was the first of five FM broadcasts on the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour. For listeners who knew the records but hadn’t seen the band, this was a chance to hear why people kept talking about the shows.

They opened with Buddy Holly’s “Rave On.” “Badlands” and “Candy’s Room” came early, while “Prove It All Night” stretched past ten minutes. The set moved from the new album to older songs, with room for “Growin’ Up,” a long “Backstreets” and a second encore ending in “Twist and Shout.”

Springsteen also debuted “Point Blank” and “Independence Day,” playing the latter alone at the piano. Both would eventually appear on The River. Even with the radio audience listening, he was willing to give unfamiliar songs a place in the show.

The broadcast and circulating tapes made Roxy ’78 a show people could get to know without having been there. They also carried the club’s name far beyond the Sunset Strip. Springsteen was already playing arenas, but this small room became the setting for one of the recordings fans kept passing around.

Shop: The Roxy Tee

Listen: The Roxy, West Hollywood, CA, July 7, 1978 on nugs. Start with “Prove It All Night,” then go back for the full show.

Sources: Erik Flannigan’s account of the concert and broadcast and Bruce Springsteen’s official concert archive.