NIGHT TRAIN

Live 30 Sep 1978 version

[Spoken intro:] These guys are gonna die up here. (chuckles) Popcorn. I gotta− I tell you what we need, we need a... we need a little uh... need a broom and we need a little "Night Train."

Have a great time ladies and gentlemen, it's nice to be here at the Fox Theatre tonight. Go a little cleaning house to take care.

Atlanta, Georgia

Coming through Dallas, Texas now

Come to Miami, Florida

Alright!

Hey-hey-hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Let's rock it now, go ahead!

Coming through to Houston

[Spoken outro:] Alright, that's the clean-up crew.

Info

NIGHT TRAIN is a 1952 song by Jimmy Forrest. See the original Jimmy Forrest version for more details. However, it is James Brown's version, released in 1961, that Bruce Springsteen covered. See the original James Brown version for more details.

Live 30 Sep 1978 version

The above lyrics are for the live 30 Sep 1978 performance of NIGHT TRAIN at Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA, during the Darkness On The Edge OF Town Tour. It seems that the previous song, SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN, was accompanied by fake snow. So while some members of the tour crew were cleaning up the fake snow, or "popcorn" as Springsteen referred to it (see the spoken intro above), he and the band played NIGHT TRAIN.

The 30 Sep 1978 Show

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed two consecutive shows at Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA, during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour, on 30 Sep and 01 Oct 1978. The first night's show was broadcast by about twenty FM radio stations throughout the Southeastern United States. This was a make-up show that was originally slated for 23 Jul 1978 (see ad and ticket below) but was postponed due to Springsteen coming down with a throat infection. On the audio recording, Springsteen can be heard apologizing for being sick and missing the original date.

Promotional ad for the postponed 30 Sep 1978 show at Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA

Ticket stub for the postponed 30 Sep 1978 show at Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA

In October 2020 the complete 30 Sep 1978 concert was officially released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net (see the "Official Live Downloads" section below for more details). The concert was recorded live by David Hewitt and DB Brown with the Record Plant remote truck. The original broadcast was mixed by Jimmy Iovine. The two-inch 24-track analog master reels were freshly transferred by Jamie Howarth at Plangent Processes via Sonicraft in Freehold, NJ. The audio was mixed by Jon Altschiller, with additional engineering by Danielle Warman, and mastered to DSD and PCM by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering in Portland, ME.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- September 30, 1978

The 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre was commercially released in Europe. Since 2005 some enterprising record labels in Europe (mostly in the UK) have been releasing Bruce Springsteen radio and TV broadcasts (and some soundboard recordings) from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Though these releases are not authorized by Bruce Springsteen or his record company, they are lawful due to a legal loophole in Europe.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia USA 30th September 1978

3xCD - Echoes (ECHO3CD2031) - UK, 2014

This release contains the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia USA 30th September 1978

4xLP - Echoes (ECHO4LP2031) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Fox Theater, Atlanta, Georgia, 1978

3xCD - Live Wire (LW2006) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Foxy Night 1978

3xCD - Leftfield Media (LFM3CD537) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- The Complete 1978 Radio Broadcasts

15xCD - Sound Stage (SSCDBOX10) - UK, 2015

This release contains the 09 Aug 1978 broadcast from The Agora, the 07 Jul 1978 broadcast from The Roxy Theatre, the 19 Sep 1978 broadcast from Capitol Theatre, the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre, and the 15 Dec 1978 broadcast from Winterland Ballroom.

Bruce Springsteen -- The Great American Road Trip

10xCD - Evolution Music (EMG01) - UK, 2020

This release contains the 31 Jul 1973 broadcast from My Father's Place, the 03 Mar 1974 late show broadcast from Georgetown University, the 09 Mar 1974 KLOL-FM radio broadcast, the 05 Feb 1975 broadcast from The Main Point, the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre, plus some various TV performances from 1992-1995.

Bruce Springsteen -- Thunder Road - Live

20xCD - KP Music (SPRING01) - Europe, 2020

This release contains the 31 Jul 1973 broadcast from My Father's Place, the 03 Mar 1974 late show broadcast from Georgetown University, the 09 Mar 1974 KLOL-FM radio broadcast, the 05 Feb 1975 broadcast from The Main Point, the 15 Aug 1975 early show broadcast from Bottom Line, the 17 Oct 1975 early show broadcast from The Roxy Theatre, the 09 Aug 1978 broadcast from The Agora, the 30 Sep 1978 broadcast from Fox Theatre, the 05 Jun 1992 broadcast from Hollywood, the 20 Aug 1994 show with Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers at Marz American Style, plus some various TV performances from 1992-1995.

Official Live Downloads

Prior to the High Hopes Tour, Bruce Springsteen's management announced a new service allowing fans to download concert recordings approximately 48 hours after each show. The initial plan required fans to purchase a special USB wristband, which could then be used to download a single High Hopes Tour show of the purchaser's choice and also functions as a regular reusable USB flash drive. The wristband, which could be purchased online or at the concert venue, was priced at $40. Following some negative response from fans over the high cost for the wristband, Springsteen's management subsequently announced a separate cheaper option for purchasing shows directly, without the need for the wristband. The shows were available for purchase and download via Live Nation, Bruce Springsteen's concert promoter, priced at $9.99 for MP3 and $14.99 for FLAC. Audio recordings for 31 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, and 03 May 2014) were released as such and they were available until 30 Jun 2014.

On 17 Nov 2014, Live.BruceSpringsteen.net was launched. It's a new addition to the official website, serving as an online store offering high-quality live concert recordings as well as high-resolution digital releases of Springsteen's album catalog. The download store is powered by Nugs.net in cooperation with Columbia Records. Audio recordings for 30 of the 34 High Hopes Tour dates (all except 16 Feb 2014, 06 Apr 2014, 03 May 2014, and 18 May 2014) were re-released on the new download store in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Nugs.net adopted the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) format on 24 May 2017. From then on, all Bruce Springsteen live concert recordings, including the previously released ones, became also available in MQA.

Audio recordings for all 75 The River Tour 2016 dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Audio recordings for all 14 Summer '17 Tour dates were also released on Live.BruceSpringsteen.net in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless CD-quality FLAC or ALAC, and 24-bit HD FLAC or ALAC or MQA, as well as audio CD-R with custom artwork. Each show was generally released within a month after it took place.

Archival releases were periodically released on the same site, as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archive Series. These shows were also made available in multiple formats, including MP3, lossless FLAC or ALAC, 24-bit FLAC or ALAC or MQA, DSD, and audio CD-R. So far 90 shows (or sets of shows) were released from the ongoing series.

Live History

NIGHT TRAIN is known to have been performed at least once during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour (111 dates, May 1978 to January 1979), on 30 Sep 1978 in Atlanta, GA. A few of that period's setlists are incomplete or unknown, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates during the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour, but that's very unlikely. The live 30 Sep 1978 version of NIGHT TRAIN was released on the September 30, 1978 official live download in 2020.

Available Versions

List of available versions of NIGHT TRAIN on this website:

Page last updated: 09 Oct 2020