January 12, 2024
After last month's double-shot of official archival live recordings dropping on December 8 and December 22 (continuing the tradition of an extra "Christmastime surprise" drop,) speculation's been running high as to whether we'd see a return - however brief it might be, with the resumption of the current tour just over two months away now - to a monthly "First Friday" archival release schedule. While it took an extra week beyond this month's First Friday to arrive, today's release of July 23, 2013 Cardiff is a very encouraging sign indeed, with Live.BruceSpringsteen.net's official email blast referring to it as "the first Live Archive Series release of the year," strongly implying that there are at least a few more to come.
In any case, July 23, 2013 Cardiff is a fantastic addition to the Live Archive Series. It was a great night on the second European leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour, filled with rarities including a one-night-only performance of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" with special guest legend Eric Burdon, and a ragged but right "TV Movie" (with Bruce laughingly proclaiming afterwards, "You heard it first; you heard it last!") And of course, sound recorder John Cooper, mixer/masterer Jon Altschiller, and all at "Team Springsteen Sound" knock it outta the ballpark (or in this case, rugby/soccer stadium) once again.
Click here to read Nugs/Columbia's Erik Flannigan's essay "Prime Time First Run" and click here to purchase July 23, 2013 Cardiff. If you're into streaming, you also may want to take advantage of Nugs' special $99.99/year streaming subscription offer, which will end next Wednesday, January 17. It gets you yearlong streaming-on-demand access to everything in Nugs' Springsteen live archives - including any and all yet-to-be-released titles from the current tour and past tours - as well as access to all other artists' Nugs offerings. Click here for details.