Bruce Springsteen, Featuring the E Street Band
06 May 1988
Tacoma Dome
Tacoma, WA

Recording Gear: Radio Shack lavalier mics > Sony D3

Cassette Masters >.WAV capture>Adobe Audition>FLAC via Trader’s Little Helper

01. intro/Palisades Park
02. Tunnel of Love
03. Be True
04. Adam Raised a Cain
05. Two Faces
06. Sax/Interlude/“Here She Comes Walking”
07. All That Heaven Will Allow
08. Darkness on the Edge of Town
09. Seeds
10. Cover Me
11. Brilliant Disguise
12. intro to Spare Parts
13. Spare Parts
14. War
15. Born in the USA
16. Tougher Than the Rest
17. Ain’t Got You/She’s the One
18. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
19. I’m a Coward
20. I’m on Fire
21. One Step Up
22. Part Man, Part Monkey
23. Backstreets
24. Light of Day
25. intro to Born to Run
26. Born to Run
27. Hungry Heart
28. Glory Days
29. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
30. Have Love, Will Travel
31. Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
32. Sweet Soul Music
33. Raise Your Hand
34. Twist and Shout

Capturing the second night in Tacoma, this alternate recording finally gets the attention it deserves. It likely didn’t circulate far and wide, if at all. Made by M&S, friends of JEMS who were some of the biggest music fans we know and occasionally taped in the Seattle area, it’s an excellent recording: the first set (which appears in mono due to a channel issue) runs ever-so-slightly hot in a few isolated places (though that issue seems to disappear when playback is over speakers rather than in headphones). The second set, however, is a gem: the recording (now in stereo) delivers warm sound, and maybe a bit less crowd interference than the first set does. And the ballads really shine: “One Step Up” (where instrument separation is particularly pronounced) and the acoustic version of “Born to Run” sound marvelous here. Overall it’s a solid performance and the music is great. Samples attached.

Changes in the set: “Roulette” gets the night off and, for the first time since its release, “Dancing in the Dark” is not played at a tour stop. This show also features the last 1988 appearance of “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” On the addition side, after several weeks of fiddling with various classic rock guitar licks during the bridge of “Light of Day,” they finally went all the way and performed an abbreviated version of “Born to be Wild.” And while it premiered in Los Angeles, the outstanding cover of the Sonics’ “Have Love, Will Travel” was earmarked for Tacoma, hometown of the Sonics (incidentally, it was a fan who worked at Tower Records in Seattle who had given Bruce the mixtape on which he first discovered “Have Love, Will Travel”). It may well be that Tacoma has a way to get Bruce thinking about ways to alter his set lists—it was here in 1984 that “Rosalita” bowed out of the set for the first time.

This version of the May 6 performance will likely take a place alongside the better recordings of the ‘88 U.S. tour. We’re happy to get it into general circulation and hope you enjoy it!

- slipkid68