Ducky Slattery Rises (ER Archives Via JEMS)

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Uploader: SB

Brucebase Info (28.03.1976)

…Audience tape from the ER archives via JEMS. The tape entered circulation in August 2012, prior to this there was no circulating audio. Above-mentioned presumably complete setlist is culled from information from a May 20th 1976 report in Rolling Stone, a brief review in Duke University's Student Newspaper and an audience recording (which contains the full set, save for "Quarter to Three"). A Brucebase reader present also adds that he recollects "It's My Life" also being played and that "I distinctly remember looking down the row of people and seeing that every single one of them had their mouths open (as did I) in stunned silence, mesmerized by the story and the music. It was thrilling." This is one of only a few shows in which all eight songs from the Born To Run album are performed. A contributor to the Greasy Lake website says that "Detroit Medley" was performed. First confirmed public Springsteen performance of "Raise Your Hand," and the recording supports that claim as Springsteen calls out chord changes to the band. Some sources suggest that "Kitty's Back" was played, but there is no evidence of it on the audience recording…

Ducky Slattery Rises

ER ARCHIVES VIA JEMS

1976.03.28 - Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC

Disc 1

01. Night
02. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
03. Spirit In The Night
04. It's My Life
05. Thunder Road
06. She's The One
07. Born To Run

Disc 2

01. Meeting Across The River
02. Backstreets

03. Blinded By The Light
04. Jungleland
05. Rosalita
06. Raise Your Hand
07. Sandy
08. Detroit Medley

Notes:

Hello and welcome to the first in a planned series of releases from the ER Archives, the collection of an active '70s taper and trader who stepped away from collecting, leaving his tapes pretty much dormant until now. We're still culling through the archive, but it is already clear that it contains some previously uncirculated shows as well as upgrades to circulating tapes, both audience and soundboard. ER used high-end tape decks and good tape, so his copies of even well- known shows may well be improvements.

The first of them is this previously unknown recording from Duke University, March 28, 1976, making it the earliest document we have of the Chicken Scratch tour, predating East Lansing (a JEMS master recording as it turns out) by nearly a week. The Chicken Scratch tour draws its name from the trek's circuitous routing and it hit several markets that were missed on the previous year's tour, including the Carolinas.

Bruce alludes to this foray south at a couple points in the show, asking if anyone in the crowd was down from Jersey or New York ("we got the same crowd following us around everywhere"). He also name drops "Ducky Slattery," made famous during the 1973 Main Point broadcast, saying that he used to tell a story about this guy who lived next to a gas station.

The setlist is reflective of the early part of the '76 tour, and features one of only four known (and three recorded) performances that year of "Blinded By the Light," which Bruce himself introduces by saying they haven't played it in a long time. The set also includes the first known cover of Eddie Floyd's "Raise Your Hand," with Bruce calling out at least one chord change ("D!") to support the idea that this is indeed its premiere.

The Duke show is also notable as one of but a handful of period shows to contain performances of all eight songs from Born to Run, including the rarely played "Meeting Across the River." There's also a passionate reading of "It's My Life" leading into "Thunder Road." The good news is that a few minor defects aside, this is a very nice recording for 1976 and all the songs are intact without cuts. I even heard some guitar bits and vocal parts I had never noticed before in other '76 shows. The only missing track is the presumed set closer, "Quarter to Three”.

/Wayne Darlington for JEMS and the ER Archives