Like its predecessor For You, Lawrence Kirsch's The Light In Darkness is a beautifully put-together, limited edition coffee-table sized collection of reminisces from Bruce Springsteen fans. What makes this a must-have for the Springsteen fan on your holiday shopping list are the hundreds of photographs here — many of which were shot by fans as well, and thus are seen here for the very first time.
The difference with The Light In Darkness is the fact that this volume focuses specifically on the 1978 tour behind the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town. As most longtime Boss fans will tell you, this was the tour where Springsteen and the E Street Band largely solidified their reputation as one of the greatest live attractions in rock.
On this tour, Springsteen shows rarely ran under 3½ hours, and when multiple encores were factored in, would often push closer to the five-hour mark.
These were the days so fondly remembered by the fans who were there, when songs like "Prove It All Night" began with a blistering guitar intro that was longer than the song itself, and where "Backstreets" included a lengthy mid-song rap (then called "Sad Eyes") which eventually formed the foundation for the song "Drive All Night" on the 1980 album, The River.
Here, on page after lovingly assembled page, these same fans recall their memories of seeing such legendary performances as the oft-bootlegged December 15, 1978 show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom — one of the very final rock concerts to take place at the legendary venue. In the case of this particular show, several stories are recounted, including a beautiful photo essay of the show from Backstreets photographer P. Jay Plutzer, that includes many never-before-seen photos.
In addition to the hundreds of images and personal anecdotes from fans, there is a list of every show and every song played during the Darkness tour. In another section, writer Roy Opichinski examines the songs left over from the original sessions for the Darkness album that failed to make the final cut — including both the ones Springsteen gave away to other artists like Patti Smith ("Because The Night"), and such lost masterpieces as "The Promise" and "Iceman."
Article comments
1 - John Zur
FYI: Bruce never played longer than he did on 12/31/80 - at around 4 1/2 hours on a new year's eve. People have tended to exaggerate the length of his shows over the years (i.e., there weren't 5 hour shows)
2 - Glen Boyd
I believe the quote here was "would often push closer to the 5 hour mark" John.
Such as the time I saw him on December 20, 1978 in Seattle -- for those of us who stayed till the end, and were treated to a version of "Twist And Shout" with the house lights up, we weren't home till well past 1 AM.
Thanks for the comment.
-Glen
3 - doug m
Should be reviewing something you contributed to?
4 - Glen Boyd
Thats why the disclaimer is there at the end, Doug.
The book is mainly about the photos and rememberances, rather than the pithy few paragraphs I contributed as a fan, so I saw no conflict.
For the record, I also was not paid for my contribution. It was written as a fan, like the others were (including folks from Backstreets, who also have a review of it on their site).
-Glen
5 - Christopher Rose
I've never understood the US approach of 2-4 hour long sets. I couldn't take much more than 45 minutes, maybe an hour and a half tops. I simply don't understand how anybody could actually listen to music attentively for that long.