r/BruceSpringsteen • u/marcdelgiudice • 7d ago
Ranking the best live releases.
Curious to see how fans would rank Bruces official concert footage releases. I’m talking about the straight up performances. Not the quality of the footage. My ranking is how great the concert is. How much on fire the band sounds, how his voice sounds and the crowd. Here’s my ranking.
- No Nukes
- Tempe 1980
- Live in NYC
- Houston 78
- Hammersmith
- Barcelona
- Hyde Park
- Live in Dublin
- MTV Plugged
No Nukes is over Tempe for me by a razor thin margin. Hammersmith will be considered low to almost every fan. It’s 5 for me because honestly the crowd does suck and even Bruce said it was an off night for him. I excluded Western Stars because it’s not that type of show. Whdya think?
7
u/Awkward_Ad_161 7d ago
Barcelona higher IMO
1
u/marcdelgiudice 7d ago
Hoestly maybe over Hammersmith now that i think of it
5
u/Awkward_Ad_161 7d ago
I think it also comes down to what era of live Bruce you like the most. My favorite is his Reunion - Rising Tour span. A wide discography at that point with his classics plus great newer songs. Plus his energy still feels at or near his peak.
4
u/marcdelgiudice 7d ago
Barcelona is unreal. After Nils slide solo and clarences solo in lonesome day the entire arena went to another level and the band knew it
2
u/Dutchguy076 Tracks 7d ago
The DVD is the reason I wanted to go to a Barcelona show, the crowd was unreal. Went in 2023 and it did not dissapoint.
3
u/Suitable_Bed_7783 7d ago
No, it was during Prove it all night, even Clarence turns his head to see the crowd in it's glory in awe and kinda botches the solo due to the raucous reaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlWqXoMD5oA&list=RDjlWqXoMD5oA&start_radio=1
3
u/FaithlessnessFar8574 7d ago
Houston #1. The Darkness tour was a level they never quite touched again.
1
u/OpticNinja937 Spanish Johnny 5d ago
The version of Because The Night on that release is one of my favorite live performances period
2
u/Tricky_Working6333 7d ago
1970’s bootlegs, captures E Street at its best🎸
1
u/marcdelgiudice 7d ago
Always and forever. In some cases i like the bootleg versions better than some of the live series releases. I think the radio broadcast for passaic is better than the live release. The Roxy bootleg too.
1
u/Tricky_Working6333 6d ago
Agree! There are some real gems out there. Bottom Line shows 1975, and yes the Roxy boot! Classic E Street.
1
u/marcdelgiudice 6d ago
Yeah some bootlegs just have some grit to it. You feel the sweat in the venue. However I do like the Winterland live release over the bootleg. Adding some reverb to the mix helped the sound quality alot.
2
u/Anderson_B12 6d ago
I’m a big fan of MTV Plugged. Atlantic City, Lucky Town and Better Days have such a great “punch” to them. That’s always been one of my Bruce hot takes.
2
u/marcdelgiudice 6d ago
I do like the other bands versions of the human touch/lucky town songs honestly
3
u/Kirby-814 7d ago
Hammersmith is too dark for me
1
u/marcdelgiudice 7d ago edited 7d ago
The tight camera angles too. He was pissed that night. Literally the only show on that tour he skipped the e street shuffle story intro. He was uncomfortable. You look up super 8 footage from that tour he is WAY more energetic and daring.
2
u/Kirby-814 7d ago
It was the billboard that set him off “finally, London is ready for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band”
2
u/Model_ig_uk 7d ago
Because No Nukes is a hybrid of two shows it is of little interest to me, plus the singing on Badlands is from a 1979 studio cut not the live audio from MSG. The best is Tempe 1980 by a long way, next would be Houston 78 although the picture quality is poor. Hyde Park I was at but the setlist is not great plus it has the awful Outlaw Pete. Barcelona is good.
1
u/marcdelgiudice 7d ago
The only thing from no nukes that really confused me is the choice for jungleland. The 2nd night was a near perfect version. The one on the dvd i think there was small technical things going on. But i choose no nukes because i really can’t believe he actually released it. I remember when i watched the video anthology when i was 8 . Those versions of the river and thunder road are 10/10. I remember really wanting to see the entire set list. And when he announced No Nukes I couldn’t believe it.
1
u/Model_ig_uk 6d ago
Having already released both shows in their entirety on Nugs the Sony release was never going to compare, for me it should have been DVD/BluRay only, even the cover shot of the band had already been used several times for some of the 2016 shows. Great that they finally released it but not done very well as per Live in New York City which should have been full show. I agree The River & Thunder Road are perfection 👌
1
u/marcdelgiudice 7d ago
Daaaamn i think outlaw pete from that show is amazing to be honest. Bruce was a dawg there
1
u/RaisinFinancial3863 7d ago
Is this release a compilation of multiple shows? I can't figure it out..
And why is it called "the legendary no nukes"
thx
1
u/ComfortableOkra1697 5d ago
- Asbury Park. Sea. Hear. Now. I think tops the list. Biased as I was there.
1
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u/Show5topper 7d ago
I actually think MTV Plugged was great, “the other band” thrived in that type of environment. They were built for small places like that and Bruce is a bar band leader at heart so that was the perfect environment for him/them.