Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band delivered a sold-out show at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Houston Field House on Nov. 12, 1978, part of the band’s Darkness on the Edge of Town tour which criss-crossed the United States and Canada between May 1978 and January 1979. In the audience that night was 16-year-old Joyce Bassett—now an award-winning sports columnist with the Times Union—who saw Bruce in concert for the very first time at the RPI Field House in Troy, New York, just a mile away from her house in the city’s Frear Park neighborhood. It started with seats in the back rows but by the night’s end Joyce was on her friend Patty’s shoulders in front of the stage, reaching out to The Boss.

During the episode, Joyce reflects on her memories of the setlist, meeting Bruce in 2016, her favorite Springsteen show of the 40 she’s attended during the last 46 years, and how the RPI show sparked a lifelong love of Springsteen.

The episode also features audio from the Troy concert, available via a bootleg recording called “Prove It All Night: Bruce Springsteen Live in Troy,” courtesy of JEMS.

Episode Notes:

• Bruce Springsteen: A New York Serenade
• AUDIO: Prove It All Night: Bruce Springsteen Live in Troy
• Bruce Springsteen’s Concerts: 1975-2012 A Journey of Shooting the Boss
• Video: Bruce Springsteen, Buffalo, NY - 1980
• Times Union: Joyce Bassett

Credits:

Produced, edited, and hosted by John Salka
Theme music by Steven J. Goldman, Four Legs Records

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