Update on my previous post:
03/08/74 - SCHAEFER MUSIC FESTIVAL, CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK
JUNGLELAND / KITTY'S BACK / ROSALITA
ONE show, triple bill, with Springsteen & The E Street Band occupying the middle slot in a show headlined by ANNE MURRAY, with BREWER & SHIPLEY as the opening act. This was an evening show held outdoors in the Wollman Ice Rink Theatre within Central Park. This concert had originally been booked with Boz Scaggs headlining, Anne Murray billed second and Brewer & Shipley opening. When headliner Scaggs pulled out of the gig in June promoter Ron Delsener replaced him with Springseen in the headlining slot. However Shep Gordon and Johnny Podell (managers of Murray) objected to Springsteen receiving headlining status, citing Murray's then-superior commercial success. As a consequence the schedule was changed the week before the show, with Murray receiving the top billing. Advertisements exist from both before and after the change of headlining status (see photos below). Mike Appel reluctantly agreed with the change on the condition that Springsteen would be allowed to perform for at least 80 minutes. As it turned out approximately 80% of the 5,000-strong crowd came specifically to see Springsteen - and half way through Bruce's performance Murray's managers realized they'd made a serious mistake, even trying in vain to get Mike Appel to yank Bruce offstage prematurely. Needless to say Bruce played his full show and Anne Murray was placed in the nightmarish position of having to follow him. Partial setlist above is from an attendee recollection. THERE IS NO CIRCULATING AUDIO FROM THIS SHOW. This would turn out to be the last time (excepting charity benefits) that Springsteen & The E Street Band opened for another artist.
A BRUCEBASE reader who attended the show states
.
"It is absolutely true that most of the crowd booed when the announcer informed us that Anne Murray would be out in 15 minutes - while we were still screaming for another encore. Most of us left. In Los Angeles Mark Brickman (Bruce's lighting director) was talking to my wife and said that Anne Murray was hysterical backstage - really pissed off that her manager had forced Bruce to play second. The story made it to JOHN SEBASTIAN, who voluntarily took second spot on 18/10/74 in Passaic."
