Bruce Springsteen: 17. Cadillac Ranch - Live in Los Angeles (August 20th, 1981)

Sound quality: A-/B+ I’ve done one ‘81 upload already, but that show prompted me to upload the show following it. Here it is, one of the big boys. The first night of six at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles is one of the most acclaimed Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performances of all time, and listening to it, it’s not hard at all to see why. I’m gonna jump into why now! The run of shows at the Sports Arena in August 1981 is often regarded as one of the monumental peaks of The River tour, and the first night is usually seen as the best of them, and not just that, the greatest show of the entirety of 1981. While the run’s finale on August 28th does come pretty close, this August 20th show reigns supreme as far as I’m concerned. It really isn’t an exaggeration to say that this is one of Bruce’s greatest shows ever. I’ll just leave it up to this quote from theboots.net, as I couldn’t sum it up any better than this: "Possibly the most emotional show of Bruce's career, this benefit show starts with an introduction by Bobby Mueller, a disabled Vietnam veteran, and several band members reportedly had tears in their eyes when they started 'Who'll Stop the Rain?,' Credence Clearwater Revival's song about the Vietnam conflict. Bruce himself was overcome with emotional during 'The River' and stopped singing at one point. This show features the one and only performance of 'Ballad of Easy Rider.'" The first set of this show might honestly be the greatest set of music Bruce ever played in the 1980s, with the definitive cover of Who’ll Stop The Rain, perhaps the greatest Prove It All Night of the entire tour, maybe the best version of The Ties That Bind, some of the all time greatest versions of Darkness and Independence Day (even with the latter not having an intro story), a stunning version of Trapped and a version of The River matched by few, to name some highlights. The second set isn’t lacking in the slightest either, with maybe Bruce’s best cover of Jole Blon, and one of the best versions of Racing of all time. And man, that cover of Ballad of Easy Rider in the encores is something else. This is one of those shows that I just HAD to upload. It’s nothing short of brilliant. Seriously, check this one out as soon as possible. The sound quality is great on this release, with a partial soundboard at the beginning, albeit it admittedly isn’t that much better than the audience recording. Speaking of the audience recording, it sounds very good, with a perfect amount of atmosphere. Sorry for the weird tracking job on some songs, by the way, the files I used aren’t exactly tracked flawlessly, but the only real cut in the tape is a second or two at the start of Rosalita. Thumbnail is by me. Enjoy!