S&B Sept 1975 Springsteen Cover

Bruce Springsteen Concert at Grinnell, Fall 1975

50 years ago, Bruce Springsteen and his E Street band came to campus to perform in front of a packed house in the old Darby Gymnasium.  Springsteen, whose career was just taking off that Fall, with the August release of his successful Born to Run album, was one of the more than 1,000 concerts that Georgia Dentel organized in her 40+ year career at college, overseeing performances and events. Dentel’s career has been the recent focal point for a series of group MAP projects, over the past two summers, in which Grinnell students have carefully reconstructed her life, work, and musical legacy.

The set list for the September 20th concert at Grinnell was:

  • Incident on 57th Street
  • Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  • Spirit in the Night
  • It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City
  • Thunder Road
  • Kitty’s Back
  • She’s the One
  • Born to Run
  • Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Encore

  • 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
  • Quarter to Three

Clarence Clemons (sax), Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt (guitar), Darby Gymn, Sept. 20, 1975

While there is no known recording of the Grinnell concert, you can listen to the live set Springsteen played (later in the Fall) at the University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium (available at the Springsteen Archives on Youtube): https://youtu.be/H9BsJXUt0EQ?si=MY5LcAtWb0gQqELF