Fifty years ago tonight, on December 31, 1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a memorable New Year’s Eve show at the Tower Theater in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. In honor of the milestone anniversary, nugs.net has just released a newly updated edition of the performance that’s available now via streaming and as a digital download.
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In addition, a CD featuring the concert can be purchased and will ship during the week of January 19, 2026.
Springsteen and the E Street Band’s New Year’s Eve 1975 show originally was the third concert released as part of nugs.net’s Bruce Springsteen Live Archive series, which launched in 2014. To date, 100 Springsteen shows have been released as part of the series.
The December 31, 1975, performance was remixed and mastered by veteran mastering engineer Jon Altschiller earlier in 2025. Altschiller used the original 16-track analog master tapes, which were transferred via the Plangent Process system.
The New Year’s Eve gig was the finale of a four-night stand at the Tower Theater. Bruce and company played to crowds of more than 3,000 at each of the four shows. The December 31 concert put an exclamation point on a huge year for the Boss that saw the release of his breakthrough album, Born to Run, in August. The E Street Band members all wore tuxedos for the occasion, although Bruce himself dressed more informally.
More Details About the Concert
The two-and-a-half-hour show featured 18 tunes. It included renditions of seven of the eight songs on Born to Run, six covers, and five selections from Springsteen’s first two albums.
The covers were versions of Manfred Mann’s “Pretty Flamingo,” The Animals’ “It’s My Life,” Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels’ “Detroit Medley,” Gary U.S. Bonds’ “Quarter to Three,” the 1960 Harold Dorman R&B hit “Mountain of Love,” and the Isley Brothers and Beatles smash “Twist and Shout.”
More than half of the songs ran more than seven minutes. “Pretty Flamingo,” “Jungleland,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” and “Detroit Medley” all were extended past 10 minutes, with “Rosalita” topping off at a marathon length of 15 minutes, 20 seconds.
“Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?,” a song from Springsteen’s 1973 debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., was played for the last time in 18 years at the show. The Boss wouldn’t play “Mountain of Love” in concert again until 2008.
Details About Accessing the Updated New Year’s Eve 1975 Concert
Fans who purchased the download of the original version of New Year’s Eve 1975 concert at nugs.net can stream the 2025 remix for free using the “My Library” section of the nugs mobile app. The app offers streaming access to downloads and CDs purchased via nugs.net. Visit the website for more details.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA – 12/31/1975:
- “Night”
- “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
- “Spirit in the Night”
- “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?”
- “It’s My Life”
- “She’s the One”
- “Born to Run”
- “Pretty Flamingo”
- “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City”
- “Backstreets”
- “Mountain of Love”
- “Jungleland”
- “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”
Encore
- “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”
- “Detroit Medley”
- “Quarter to Three”
- “Thunder Road”
- “Twist and Shout”
(Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns)
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