"Sock it to me, baby!" - Nugs/Live Archives' "First Friday" series returns with a great '81 show

October 4, 2025

Yesterday, the Nugs/Live Archive "First Friday" series dropped its first release since last April. The series has returned with quite a banger, too: another great show from the Summer 1981 stand, in which Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band christened the then-newly-opened Brendan Byrne Arena, now no longer in use for any public events (though notably used for some concert scenes in the upcoming Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere biopic) and facing possible demolition in the near future.

Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 6th show) finds Bruce and his bandmates reveling in their celebratory six-nights New Jersey homecoming after their first full-scale European tour, in the wake of Springsteen's first number-one album and top-ten hit single. It joins the previously released Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 9th show) as official releases of full-length concert-recordings from that six-show stand. (Recordings of some songs from each of these 1981 Brendan Byrne Arena shows also were featured in the Live/1975-85 box-set.)

Among the highlights from this show are a loose and lovely duet with Stevie Van Zandt on Stevie's classic "I Don't Want To Go Home," which remains among the most impressive songwriting debuts of all time. Click below to hear Bruce and Stevie (as well as an arena-ful of folks) having big fun back in '81:

The July 6th show also marked the first time that another one of Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels' big hits, "Sock It To Me - Baby!," was included in "The Detroit Medley." "Sock It To Me - Baby!" would be included in "The Detroit Medley" during the rest of the Brendan Byrne Arena '81 shows and only two other shows, both of them also in '81: a Spectrum arena show in Philly on July 13th and an L.A. Sports Arena show on August 23rd.

As usual, Nugs is presenting this complete archival live-concert recording in its highest-available quality. It's newly mixed by Jon Altschiller from Plangent-Processed multitrack master tapes, with additional engineering by Danielle Warman.

Click here to order/stream Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 6th show.) And you no longer need a different link to read Columbia/Nugs archivist Erik Flannigan's essay on this recording, entitled "Reach Up And Touch The Sky." On the same page where you can order/stream Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 6th show,) just click the "SHOW MORE" button where it reads, "Show Notes."