Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: Thoughts on double LP bootleg releases from the DARKNESS Tour '78 (concluded)

This bootleg is one of the earliest triple-vinyl box sets. Two blue-transparent
vinyls on the center are LP discs and the lilac-opaque disc on the right is a
12" EP (45 rpm). I don't know anything about "Hangman" labels except that
this East Coast-based (?) bootleg label has also released some other
Springsteen LP and 7" vinyls, such as PAID THE PRICE TO BE THE BOSS
from a November 1976 show and the Fever/Higher & Higher (live) single.

It was since 1978's DARKNESS Tour that triple-vinyl format has become standard for Springsteen's live bootleg, as represented by PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE, LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND and PHILADELPHIA SPECIAL. This simply reflected the length of concerts Springsteen performed during this tour which had been substantially extended compared to the previous tour (i.e., From this tour, shows were divided into two sections plus encores). Before these bootleg titles, there had probably been only one or two releases of multi-disc sets consisting of more than a double LP: BOX O' ROCKS (5LP) and THE GREAT WHITE BOSS (3LP). However, the former is a repackaged volume of the first three issues of Hoffman Avenue Records releases [i.e. THE JERSEY DEVIL (1LP), THERE AIN'T NOBODY HERE FROM BILLBOARD TONIGHT (2LP) and HOT COALS FROM FIERY FURNACE (2LP)]. The latter, on the other hand, is actually not a 3LP set but to be exact, it is a double album plus a 12" EP (45 rpm), and I don't know for certain if this particular version (i.e. Hangman labels) among several of the Bottom Line bootlegs indeed came out before the aforementioned DARKNESS Tour bootlegs.

Designating who gets how many copies?  Pictured is a portion of
a supposedly bootlegger's memo (personal names erased) found
on the rear side of a white plain sleeve that was frequently used
for "slick cover" U.S. bootlegs back in the 1970s. This sleeve was
included as part of the stack to ensure protection of vinyl discs 
inside the shipping packaging when I obtained some Springsteen
titles from a West Coast collector a few decades ago. Almost
certainly, “Roxy” refers to the double LP (THERE AIN'T ...) from
October 1975, but not July 1978.

On the previous post, taking a particular bootleg (BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 78) as an example, I mentioned about the shortened 2LP version of the legendary Passaic '78 concert that is captured almost entirely on another bootleg (PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE). Because both bootleg titles were most probably made by the same bootlegger (Vicki Vinyl; or one by her and the other by her intimate co-worker), this practice is usually regarded as greedy bootlegger's routine to suck money from collectors. However, in a recent communication with Dave, a fellow collector and contributor to this blog, he pointed out another interesting possibility which sounds plausible to me. According to him, the bootleggers might have wanted to do minimal investments with the partial shows before sinking bigger money into the more deluxe sets for the complete concerts. This speculation is reasonable because by doing so, bootleggers might have estimated the sales potential of "their" future products that would contain a full or more complete concert. Without such information, it would have been risky for bootleggers to make and release multi-disc sets like 3LP or 4LP in box packages. In fact, single- or double-disc versions of incomplete live bootleg have been available for each of the following 1978 FM-radio broadcast concerts from the Roxy [e.g. LIVE AT THE ROXY THEATER, HOLLYWOOD 1978 (2LP), SPRINGSTEEN RAISES CAIN (2LP) and THE ROXY IN STEREO (2LP)], Agora [WARRIORS REST (1LP)], Capitol Theater [BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 78 (2LP) and THUNDER ROGUE (1LP)], and Winterland [FIRE (2LP)]. It seems that, if not all, most of these bootlegs originated from West Coast in the late 1970's.

Dave's speculation requires at least one assumption that these "concert-excerpt" bootlegs came out before the releases of the more complete editions [e.g. THE AGORA SHOW Part I & II (2 x 2LP), PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE (3LP box) and LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND (3LP box and then gate-fold sleeve)]. However, it is now impossible to confirm whether this indeed was the case or not.

Lastly, regarding the DARKNESS Tour double-LP bootlegs, one thing curious to me for long is the fact that in the vinyl bootleg era, the Roxy concert had never been treated as a complete or near-complete form, despite its reputation as the best show (or one of the best) ever performed by the man and his combo. Was the market saturated with the three different titles of double LP releases mentioned above? My thoughts on this may be posted on another occasion.