Steel Mill... more early Springsteen

Steel Mill
1970-01-13
The Matrix
San Francisco, CA





01 The War Is Over
02 Lady Walkin' Down The River
03 Jeannie I Want To Thank You
04 America Under FIre
05 He's Guilty (Send That Boy To JAil)
06 Goin' Down Slow


STEEL MILL the sole act on the bill. BOZ SCAGGS was the scheduled headliner but he cancelled at that last minute due to illness and so STEEL MILL played alone. This is the show attended by critic Philip Elwood, who turned up intending to review Scaggs but ended up writing a highly favorable review of STEEL MILL that appeared in the 14/1/70 edition of ‘The San Francisco Examiner’. The above-noted setlist emanates from long-circulating, excellent quality soundboard audio from one of the California gigs. This is very likely (but not absolutely certain) to emanate from this 13/01/70 show, as it seems to correspond closely to details noted in Elwood's article. Elwood mentions that the group opened with a brief warm-up instrumental rendition of "Satin Doll" - that track doesn't appear on the circulating tape. However the other tracks mentioned by Elwood do appear and the crowd noise corresponds with Elwood's 1984 comments that very few people were in attendance.




Steel Mill
1970-04-24
Monmouth College
Long Ranch, NY






01 Soul Freak Out / He's Guilty (Send That Boy to Jail)
02 Goin' Back to Georgia
03 The Wind and the Rain
04 Hail, Hail Resurrection
05 I Got a Woman
06 Garden State Parkway Blues
07 Sunlight Soldiers

STEEL MILL the sole act on the bill. This was a replacement concert for a cancellation of the musical “Hair”. The above-mentioned setlist is taken from a circulating soundboard of very good to excellent quality, although end-user quality tends to vary widely due to the fact the material has been in circulation for over 20 years and some circulating copies are many generations downstream. This 6-song, 78-minute segment of audio, long referred to in collector circles as “the West End gig”, would have to rank as the most misidentified, misdated and cannibalized of all Springsteen recordings. To make matters even messier though, the show’s epic 30-minute finale, “Garden State Parkway Blues”, is sometimes edited into separate segments and assigned fictitious titles such as “Mountain Child”, “I Got A Woman” or “Sunlight Soldiers”. Many LP and CD bootlegs (such as “TORN AND FRAYED”, “THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN STORY VOL 3” and “DEEP DOWN IN THE VAULTS”) contain one, two or several of these tracks – assigned to a wide variety of incorrect dates/venues. However “SUNLIGHT SOLDIERS AT THE WEST END” (Rattlesnake) includes the complete audio and merely messes up the correct date/venue.

This soundboard tape is very deceptive in that drummer Vinnie Lopez’s voice microphone is abnormally dominant in the mix, so much so that it sounds like a co-lead singer (i.e., Robbin Thompson) is interacting with Springsteen throughout the show. However under an extremely close comparison it can be determined that the “co-lead” vocalist is actually drummer and background vocalist Lopez, with his microphone turned way up in the audio mix. Robbin Thompson’s voice is definitely not present.

There are three critical clues during the performance that, when combined, powerfully point to the true location and date of this show. Firstly, Bruce’s dedication to the “West End Fire Department” - this signifies a Long Branch or close proximity location. Secondly, the distinct sound of wooden side bleachers being stomped during the final song – this signifies it’s indoors and it’s a gymnasium (not a theatre or concert hall). Thirdly, Bruce recites the opening line of James Taylor’s song “Sweet Baby James” during “Garden State Parkway Blues” – that places the show no sooner than late March, 1970. Consequently this audio can, to a high degree of probability, be identified as coming from this April 24, 1970 show.




Bruce Springsteen (guitars,back vocals)
Vini Lopez (drums)
Danny Federici (organ)
Vinnie Roslin (bass)
Steve Van Zandt (bass)
Robbin Thompson (lead vocals)