The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts

September, 1979. I'd just returned home from being in Israel for 6 weeks. Less than a week later, my grandmother suddenly died from a heart attack. Sometime in the immediate aftermath of the returning home to New Jersey from my grandparents' shiva house in Connecticut, the school year started, and I understood that Bruce Springsteen was going to be playing at two of the upcoming "Musicians for Safe Energy" No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. On Rosh Ha-freaking Shannah. Tickets probably went on sale while I was out of the country, and I had no chance of getting any. There was a girl in my homeroom class, and she had tickets. Or, at least, she was going. She wasn't even especially excited about it. I was 17, a hardcore fan, and shut out. The burn, no doubt distorted by selective recall, lingered for a long time. It would be nearly another 2 years before I'd get to see Springsteen live. 

More than 42 years later, the concert film "The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts" has been released. It's not the same as being there. Nothing could be. But, oh my, for something to be viewed at home, it's as close to a time capsule as we'll ever come.

The concerts were shot on 16-mm film, and there were multiple cameramen stationed right up along the stage, producing spectacular camera angles throughout the shows. The sound, newly mixed by Bob Clearmountain, is fantastic. But most of all, there's Springsteen and the E Street Band, at their zenith. Bruce wasn't yet a national superstar, but he'd already achieved that status in New York and especially in New Jersey. The band wasn't on tour; they were working on Bruce's 5th studio album at the time, eventually to be called "The River." They had something to prove, and right from the opening notes of "Prove it All Night," played after other acts had already performed for several hours, they proved it. Bruce said, "I'm officially over the fucking hill" early on during the 2nd show, but clearly he was still climbing, with everything he had.

Springsteen's shows at The Garden were structured similarly to the prior year's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" tour, but without the slower songs. The set included just 9 original songs: three from his latest album, then two unreleased songs including the debut performances of "The River," and then the chestnuts from his "Born to Run" album and "Rosalita," before going to encores. By Bruce's touring standards, these were very short shows, and far less challenging than the Darkness shows. It stands as somewhat supreme irony, then, that the only two high quality full concert films of Springsteen from the '70's are from two of his shortest shows of the era (the other being the Hammersmith Odeon performance from 1975),

The film mixes performances from the two nights, in original running order. There's not much of an attempt to disguise the switches between the shows (there's only one switch during the main set, but during the encores each song is a change); after all, there's not much chance of confusing Clarence in red for Clarence in black and white. Based on the prior nugs release of the audio from the shows, I'd have been tempted just to stick with the 2nd show all the way through the main set, as in nearly every instance I prefer those performances. But I don't know what was caught on film from each of the shows.

What did I like most, here? hmmm... everything. The guitar solo in "Prove It All Night." The presence of Clarence Clemons throughout the show; he's featured on saxophone in every song except "The River," shows off his dance steps while playing "Rosalita" and "Quarter to Three," and even throws in a juicy little vocal during "Stay." Also, looking up at Clarence as he played; in concert he was truly the biggest man you'd ever seen. 

And more: Bruce calling out "wrong harmonica" before "The Promised Land," and then tossing the song's first harmonica in to the crowd when switching over to the Hohner Marine Band G model for the body of the song. Danny rocking out in his leather jacket. Bruce rocking so hard standing on Roy's piano during "Rosalita" that the entire instrument seemed to be swaying back and forth by several feet, leaving me to wonder how it didn't collapse. The goofiness of "Sherry Darling," culminating with Bruce's guitar coming unplugged and Mike Batlan chasing him around the stage trying to plug it in (Bruce's call-out to Batlan's 40-yard dash, after the song, was among the notable items edited out of the film). The occasional shouts to the people in the cheap seats. The many articles of clothing tossed on stage during the shows, including the one pair of sunglasses that ended up on Bruce's face for part of the Detroit Medley. The rare crowd shots showing young people bouncing to the songs, and the full-throated sing-alongs. Cigarette lighters illuminating the building between "Thunder Road" and "Jungleland" (and no fucking cell phones!). The way Bruce totally belted out "The River," his newest song. Even the air horns, those infernal noise-makers that infested every Rangers game at the Garden  during the '70's and that seemed to be blasted during every quiet part of any song that had one. Mostly, though, and ultimately: the total ownership of the moment.

As might be expected, not everything was caught on camera: Steve's guitar solo for "Jungleland" is mostly missed, as is Rosemary Butler's solo from "Stay." Perhaps those were filmed the other night, but since we get each song exactly once, we'll have to do without those shots. Also, some non-performance bits from the original movie, most notably Bonnie Raitt's memorable backstage quip to Chaka Kahn, after Kahn was distressed by the Garden audience going all "Bruuuuuuuce" during her set: "Too bad the guy's name wasn't Melvin or something." The context, that this was part of a larger event, is totally gone here, and what remains is the pure electricity of late '70's Springsteen. It put me right down front, and with better sound, than I possibly could have gotten in 1979.

The "No Nukes" concerts led to a triple album that was released, amazingly, less than 6 weeks after the shows. A movie culled from concert highlights was released the following spring. The movie was never released on DVD; to get it digitally you had to be sufficiently hard-core to get the Japanese laserdisc, complete with subtitles (my copy is in the next room). Although a total of 5 Springsteen performances was included in those releases, none of them are re-produced here: "The River" and "Thunder Road" were taken from the opposite shows in the original movie release and "Quarter to Three" was edited way down (or, I suppose, more edited than this new version, which significantly -- and probably for the best -- cuts out Bruce's embarrassing interaction with ex-girlfriend Lynn Goldsmith). On the LP, the version of "Stay" was from the first night, while the movie shows the 2nd night, including Tom Petty, along with Jackson Browne and Butler; "Detroit Medley" was missing the entire break. Even with the songs that were in the 1980 movie, the perspectives differ: the original movie largely focused on close-ups of Bruce, whereas Thom Zimny's new edits went more for full-length shots, generally to great effect.

In 2016, while on a business trip, I was able to arrange a layover for a night in my old friend's town. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were playing there, that same night. I invited her to come with me to the show, but she had other things to do. I told her I was a bit jealous that she got to see him at "No Nukes." "I've never seen him," she said. Whaaaaaat? "My date was worried we'd miss the last train out of Hoboken. We left before Bruce came on."