Added: 6 years ago
From: OberstKrautwaschl
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  • No words, I mean... how could someone write a song like that? This is the work of a genius, the feeling this song gives me... I mean, some things are better left unsaid, but others just can't get explained, like in this case. This will be different to every other person, but boy, what it did to me...

  • This is the most beautiful Springsteen song ever. I used to put the vinyl on the turntable and fall asleep to it at the age of 17. INCREDIBLE track. Why it isn't on the 'Live' box set I will never get.

  • Fucking amazing track.

    my favorite Springsteen of all time.

  • My favorite of his. Never seen/heard it live. Thanks for posting.

  • I hope the people at this concert realize how lucky the were to have witnessed this song. He played it in the early 70s and then didn't play it at all until this point and only a few times since. My absolute favourite Springsteen song. True power of the E Street band in this performance. Hopefully by some miracle Ill get to hear it on the 2012 tour. Keep rocking on rocking down on E Street!

  • great song!

  • it doesnt get any better enjoy

  • A Diamond in the Greek language means unbreakable. A Diamond is also structurally atomized to allow very little to no contamination, otherwise being quite pure. I would be complimented to be called Diamond Jackie.

    Sometimes being cute is an invitation to serious.

    Listening is always wise. Walking Tall is a good thing, if one is not sporting an injury.

    I am walking Tall and Listening, please keep me up-to-speed on current events.

  • An awesome song, RIP Clarence "The Big Man" Clemmons.

  • Miss you already, Big  Man.

  • The magic wont be the same w/o Clarence. :(

  • RIP Clarence You will be missed!!!

  • my favorite slow song of all time better than last resort not to criticize that song or anything though

  • If he ever did this in one of my concerts I'd bawl like a baby

  • das ist sere schone music der schonest Du hast mein Herz Ich liebe dich Bruce

    Springsteen. Was machst du haute abened mein eine gut freund?

    Gluck Auff!!!

  • Gutted that I've never seen this performed in the 33 times I've seen him. Magical song!!

  • A rare live gem. Saw in Boston in 1999. I was shocked.

  • THANK YOU (Ober) One of my Top 5 Boss songs and it is like searching through a landfill to find any of the few recordings of the gem thI am so happy the Boss did a total turn around of years ago (suing his FANS that released Booties) to now opening the gates of heaven with the upcoming DARKNESS release Fans of the Boss at times are never satisfied -I know I am I BOW ----- "He walks those Tenement Halls" Rich

  • god that is soooooooooooooo good.

  • I was forced to study Mr. Springsteens songs as the poems that they are when in high school, thank God.

    Went to see him when I was 18, worse seats in the house, directly behind the stage.

    Turned out to be the best seats in the house, Mr springsteen spent at least 60% of the time playing the back side of the stage.

    In my opinion, this is the most beautiful song ever written.

    You hang in there mtoth07, i bet things will get better.

  • i'm going threw by far the roughest time of my life right now and all i can think of is "walk tall....or baby don't walk at all"..... be strong people! bruce i love you

  • Breathtaking!! It's one of the quintessential Bruce songs--absolutely mesmerizing.

  • I would pay just to see this performed. He could walk off stage after wards, and I would be fulfilled. Brings chills to me every time I hear it. Bruuuuuuuuucccceeeeeeeeeeeeeee­eeeeeeeeeee

  • There are many things that can be said about Bruce, and one is that he has never, and will never, become complacent with his art. Great video - thanks for posting.

  • So wanted this song to play 10/3/09 at the meadowlands, but I guess I'm gonna have to wait until he plays the new giant's stadium to see if it is on the setlist

  • Best of Springsteen. I saw him in '75 and knew he was headed for Greatness.

  • What's not to love?

  • this is absolutely my favorite of his songs... ain't no words to describe it... such amazing... what else can I say?

  • Favoloso!

  • This tune is designed for 2 - 3 AM, lights off, with the one ya love...

  • he's singin singin singin

    amazing

  • makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!! pure musical genious!! there is a heaven here on earth

  • wonderful !!!

    he is not a singer...he is a god. and his songs are my religion :)

    greetz from germany

  • pure genius

  • hey baby won't you take my hand and walk with me down broadway...

  • amazing.... gives me the chills !

  • Hey baby won't you take my hand, walk with me down Broadway. :*(

  • Incredible! Bruce at his best.

  • My favorite rock song of all time.

  • el mejor

  • As an artist if I could paint only just one piece as good as this..; heard it at 15 and realised that there could be more in life than I had imagined. this song and Goya has kept me believing...

  • @ghostart1 same here man, i heard it just recently for he first time even though ive always loved bruce, so i heard it at around 16 and i completely agree with you

  • Took me 5 minutest to fall in love with........and over 30+ years I've only grown to love it more and more.....doesn't get any better.

  • you hit the nail on the head with this.. it just gets better with time

  • Amazing song. Took me 5 years to fall in love with it, but... Man, it's amazing. <3

  • this is just a tremendous vocal performance by the boss

  • One of Bruce's best and a wonderful performance thank you!

  • I want this in Philly

  • Bruce! PLEASE play this in NJ this fall 8th or 9th!!

    We really need to hear it!!

  • for Suze and New York with love from England x

  • 10 years later and this one still stands up to anything i've seen in 33 years of bruce concerts. he also opend with Night into Prove It. a top 5 all time show.

  • Takes your breath away. I was there that night, and I've seen him do NYC Serenade other times, but none come close to this performance.

  • I saw the one in Chicago on the Reunion Tour. A dream come true.

  • Genius. An absolute gem! This is in the top 5 of Bruce tunes I still need to hear live. Won't die happy til I get None But The Brave though.

  • BRUCE please play this Oct 8th or 9th !!

  • NYC Serenade was played 4 times on the Reunion tour: NJ, Philly, Chicago (all in 1999) and MSG (6/20/00). It was then played one time on the Rising tour at Shea on 10/3/03 and has not been played since.

  • It was also played closing night in Boston on the reunion tour, 8/27/99. A tremendous show that I was lucky enough to catch.

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  • My dads friend was in the pit at the first izod show two weeks ago, with a big NEW YORK CITY SERENADE sign right in bruces face. Bruce didn't even pick it up. Shame.

  • Dosent matter how many signs there are... He won't pick it up.... Well, it seems like that.

    Is this the last time he performed NYC Serenade? or did he play it on The Rising Tour?

  • He played it once on the rising tour, one of the shea stadium shows i believe. And i think they might have played it a few times after this performance on the reunion tour. As far as i know, the shea stadium show was the last performance of NYC serenade. And no, i always see Serenade signs, and they never get picked up. Maybe somebody just has to make a REALLY good one instead of just writing NYC Serenade on a Bush Light box (which i saw at my most recent concert)

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  • first saw bruce sing this in 1974 at the celebrity theatre in phx, you could hear a pin drop. forever my favorite. get chills just thinking about it.

  • So hope that he'll bring this back out of the vault for bonnaroo. Or one of the izod shows.

  • Will i every hear this live??

    I HOPE! it's magical. Just amazing

  • The guy saying: "Oh Yeah!" at 1:02 sums it up

  • what an amazing song he never plays it live anymore

  • such a hard song to play live but they pull it off. you know an artist is great when they have so much material that a song this good is kept relatively unknown.

  • The Wild, The innocent & The E Street Shuffle. best album of all time

  • Could there be any more beautiful blessing of all mankind? Even after all these years it still brings tears to my eyes. Thank you Bruce. Singing, singing...

  • does anyone know if there's an MP3 version of this live song?

  • yes i have it

    i have all of his music

  • The Wild, The Innocent...has to be mentioned in the same sentence as BTR and Darkness. A brilliant album from then a young genius.

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  • I liked Bruce Springsteen before, but after listening to this song, I became a HUGE fan of his. I actually first heard this song sung by Pete Yorn.

  • Pete has a great cover of this but ahh to hear Bruce sing this....just beautiful.

  • this is amazing :)

    I would have thought Brucie wouldn't play something like this past 1984. I'd love to hear it live myself one day

  • This is nice but I like Trade Martin's Come Back To New York City, here on you tube better.

  • fish lady oh fish lady fish lady she baits them tennement walls

  • absolutely mind blowing.

  • Did Bittan do the piano intro on the original album version or was that still Sancious back then?

  • it was sancious.

    First album Bittan played on was Born To Run

  • David Sancious later played with Sting. He was and is a genious. I was sad to see him leave the E Street Band. The band is still great, but David Sancious added so much to the band.

  • Who cares if he uses a teleprompter

  • i like the idiots below who think he uses a teleprompter.

    wow.

    but anyway, this is amazing n id give anything to hear this live, i can only imagine the raw passion of it!

  • Doesn't get much better than this!!!!!!!!!

  • Bruce's tunes from WIESS and Born to Run sound a bit like Van Morrison around Astral Weeks. Great rare video, btw!

  • agree with everyone..beautiful song. I have no idea how he remembers to play all these songs he hasn't played in 25, 30, 35 years remarkable

  • Its called a teleprompter.

  • thats just for lyrics he still has to remember the singing style, chords, etc its not easy trust me

  • True, I guess I didn't think of all that. Bruce is something else. There was no one or will be no one better than him. Man if anyone hasn't seen him live they sure are missing out!

  • This is the best song that my brotha has ever done!! I wish that he would perform this in concert. It has such meaning it is the story of the triumph over adversity....Bruuuuuuuuuuccccc­ccccceee you are the man!!

  • just listen.......

  • I was there for this and I'll never forget it. Personally my greatest Bruce song/moment after hundreds of shows.

  • i cant write anything on this, it's to deep inside my self. I.....

    thanks Bruce

  • the point is that mortals like us ain't able to find the words as Bruce does, because he isn't mortal, he's an angel

  • In my opinion, like some others, the greatest song he's ever written. I've seen him over 50times but never saw him perform it live. Thanks so much for posting.

  • true! I held this sing in Sweden "NYC serenade please".. I hope one day, I'll hear it live

    MAGIC

  • Incredible.

  • He really is an amazing singer, he never gets the proper credit for it.

  • Kenny's back in town!!!

  • its kitty, not kenny

  • Le plus grand , I love

  • great great song, amazing version ! I love it.

  • unbeleivable version, there is absoloutly no one better than this group of performers, entertainers, musical genius'

  • I'm from Germany and I have to agree. Bruce is the Greatest!

  • to think the Greatest RocknRoller ever is from NEW JERSEY!! what little respect we get, Bruce makes it all worth while. HE IS THE BEST!!

  • probably my favorite song by him. just an all-together beautiful melody, amazing lyrics, great accompaniment (RIP professor), and to think he wrote this when he was practically a kid. Goes to show that talent is inborn...but then he went and improved upon it.

  • RIP? The professor isn't dead.

    Your thinking of the Phantom, Danny Federici, the keyboard player.

    1/23/50-4/17/08

  • sir, you are right, and I admit I am absolutely retarded.

  • Always was my favorite song by Bruce. And I was at this show when he played it! Thanks for posting.

  • outstanding version.

    Bruce. Who else?

  • i have one!!!

  • Just Beautiful!!

    This is my favourite Sringsteen song and I've always wanted to hear it live... (this didn't disappoint.)

    Does anyone know where I can find an mp3 of this?

  • wow, beautiful. I was just listening to this very version a half hour ago, I can't belive I found a video for it on here like I ...wanted!

    Thanks for posting, fanatastic!!! Great video!

  • Legendary!

  • Wow. This is just incredible.

  • Thanks for posting this one. Indescribably beautiful

  • I was at this show, too. Great performance, but I still prefer this song from the shows I saw WAY back when, with Sancious on piano... ;-)

  • One of the great Springsteen tracks. I was there that night and knew it was a rare gem of a show; August 11, 1999- it was one of the great setlist shows of all time- Night, Sandy, Trapped, Independence Day & NYC Serenade.

  • Once again:

    ONE OF THE BEST UPLOADS OF ALL TIME OM YOUTUBE!

    Thanks..!

  • Superb......I absolutly love this track ...a hidden gem indeed

    I have had the CD playing in the car for weeks now and skip to start on track 7 each time I get in to drive

    Gives me goosebumps and I would love to see it played live!

  • He played this in Boston August (27th?) 1999 and the crowd was absolutely out of their minds. I was there with an ex-girlfriend and advised her at the beginning to take note of history: afterwards- She never questioned me again. :) Thanks for the post

  • i wish we could hear big man better. his part adds so much to the feeling of the song

  • Senza parole.

  • I still remember the first time I heard this son, I was about 14 years old, just bough the record, and I simply started to cry, it is now 22 years ago, stil hoping to hear it live some time.... It is the best song ever written, so lovely so deep so touching, just one of a kind. Go Bruce you are the boss!

  • Unbeliveble! I can just watch this over and over again and it gets better for each time! SO GOOD!!!

  • I love how Bruce tries to make every show special by playing rare songs and the fact that he's got hidden gems like this that are basicly unheard of live.

    On the other hand, I really hate it because I will never hear NYCS live......Bruce if you by some miracle read this, play this one at Copenhagen this summer. (no I didn't get the tickets for Gothenburg 4th of July)

  • THANK you for uploading this. It's my favorite Bruce song, and I've NEVER seen him perform it live.

    WOW.

  • Love this song! One of the best!

  • ONE OF THE BEST UPLOADS OF ALL TIME OM YOUTUBE!

    Thanks..!

  • I watch ths like 7-8 times a day!

    Just INCREDEBLE!!!

  • What is interesting is the intro and end od this tune are totally different than the studio version. Roy Bittan is a very taleneted pianist. I am not sure why he did not tackle David Sancious's intro. That makes the song so special.

  • Incredible!!!!! Outstanding !!!!

    I'm breathless. I totaly agree with Targuzz, it really is one of the greatest song of all time. Perfect :)

  • Cant explain/no words for how you feel after this.

    One of the Best songs of all time.

    Thansk Bruce. (hoooo..I'm breathless)

  • UNBELIVEBLE!!!!!!!!

  • "Listen to your junk man..."

  • Someone I know looks like The Boss, Deniro and even a lil like Dustin Hoffman...He looks so much like Bruce though I about fell over when I saw him the 1st time. I dont think he see's this though?

  • At 3.30 he looks exactly like Robert Deniro, but that apart, a stunning performance.

  • I made all of my friends to listen to this song. I am probably Norways biggest Bruce-fan, while they are no fans of Bruce`s music, but when they heard this song, many of them told me that this song was the most beautiful song they have ever heard. I converted them to Holy Bruce at once:D

    Hope he will play this song during his next tour in Oslo.

  • does springsteen have the most amazing imagination in music.

    i think so .

    brilliant!

  • One of the greatest gifts to music - New York Serenade - from one of the great albums of our time. This song is a perfect collision of soul and genius...

  • wow i thought i was the only bruce springsteen fan that likes this and all the rest like born in the usa ONLY but apperently not

  • I damn near cried when I heard him perform this at the United Center in Chicago a few years back. I never thought I'd hear it live. At the begining though, 5 cackling hens 3 rows behind me decided they were going to talk through this song while waiting for Glory Days or Hungry Heart. I went nuts and shut them up real fast. I was lucky security didn't throw me out.

  • Glory Days and Hungry Heart are good songs.

  • Thanks Bruce, your core fans still cannot get enough of the Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.

  • I was at the show and tried to tell my girlfriend at the time, just how special this song was and how rare it was to hear it. I've seen him 23 times, and this is in the top 5 of any live song. Another thing I remember is that he was closing with Land of Hope and Dreams on all the shows, but I made her stay after that, even though everyone was hitting the parking lot. I told her, "this is Jersey, you don't know what might happen". He then came back out and played Sandy!

  • Hi Yankfan. Look at this -YouTube actually did distribute my comments as replies after all. Anyway, Thanks for your encouragement about postings and also for taking a second look. After I get up the nerve I will take the chance again.

  • I adore this song,it has a spetacular introdution played on piano...the boss's voice...altogether phenomenal exquisit, unique...Wow superb,souverain...a bow !!!

  • Incredible! I was there that night too, thanks for the memories!!

  • I was at this show and it was by far my favorite song that night. A beautiful version of a great song.

  • Hi from Bilbao,Spain. It could sound funny but this song is the main reason for me for wanting to go to New York

  • Hi--I hope you got here in the Seventies, because the NYC Bruce is singing about in this wonderful song was slowly demolished in the Eighties and it no longer exists!

  • This is a GREAT song... I think that Bruce should have to play it in every show... one of the most beautiful, it describes very very well the real street life of NYC and the people of its "badlands"...

  • It is a great song but the New York that Bruce sings about is not today's Manhattan.

    It was from the era in which it was written by Bruce. It was the Manhattan of 1970-1980, and it no longer exists unfortunately. For I am a lifelong New Yorker, and I don't like this one as much.

  • This song is transcendent. And what a performance. Oh to be able to hear this live. Alas, I think the chances of hearing this outside of NY are hovering right around zero.

  • This IS New York

  • Actually, this WAS New York from around 1970-1980. The city Bruce sings about in this near-perfect song no longer exists. Hate to make a correction but we are talking about Bruce history here and his best work.

  • Hey NYNYMatt. This is from 8/11/99. That show was in Jersey. Sorry for the correction, but this is Bruce history.

  • YouTube listed my comments in a list rather than as replies so they ended up making no sense. My comment next to yours was a joke. I was trying to REPLY to someone that the song NYC Serenade was written about Manhattan in the 70s; the way it appeared it sounded like i was saying telling you the concert was there. I know how ridiculous that sounds.

    By the way I had read your post and I am envious of you--it sounds like a great show you caught! I may give up on Youtube posts now

  • No problem. Now that I re-read it I see what you meant. My reading comprehension skills are not what they used to be. Dont' give up on the posts, keep em coming, it's great to share memories and opinions with other fans.

  • This song is very beautiful! Everyone I know who heard it from me fell in love with it at once. Even people who dont like Bruce. Think this could be a very popular song if it wasnt for it being so old and unknown...

    Me and my girlfriends song:)

  • NYC SERENADE...oh, she won't take the train!oh , she won't take the train...she's arfraid them tracks are gunna slow her down...well back in PENN CENTRAL days those tracks would slow her down!

  • I think this may be my favorite Springsteen song, but the conga's are sorely missed in this performance.

  • i was there.. pushed my way to the front for this one..sorry ..couldnt control it

  • roy's the boy

  • Very steady footage. Job well done! Send me the DVD if you want to!

  • I can't wait for this tour. I have never heard this song live but it's always been a favorite. Bruce is the best live performer of all time. I just so pumped just watching this video.

  • thank you for this video.

  • I was there! MY favorite Bruce song. Saw him back in 1974 in DC and he played this then, too.

  • great!!

  • i had to push my way to front row when he broke into this song...sorry

  • bad

  • Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh, PA, 1978 ... wish I were there again.

  • indeed this is the shit right here the kind nuggets of bruce ill tell you that right now but why does it seem like when bossman plays in philadelphia he seems to rock 5 times harder than in his own state thats just what i thinkwell i have heard bettewr bruce in philly...whatever whomever is posting these shows if u got philly post them all up what are you waiting for anyways ..lol...peace take em as they come my fellow boss fans ...........

  • Right on. My 1st Philly show was at the Spectrum in '76. My 20th show was at the Wachovia two months ago, on a Saturday night, awesome show. Is it me, or are the Saturday night shows always better?? Did you know that half of the 1st two records sales were sold in Philly, and WMMR DJ's like Ed Sciacky, Michael Tierson 'til 2 and David Dye played his stuff before anyone else did. And the Philly fans showed up before anyone else did. That's why he's better in Philly.

  • Not to mention him playing at The Point in Ardmore, week after week after week, waiting for that record contract.