Collecting log: 40 years after the BORN IN THE U.S.A. Japan tour — nostalgic old bootlegs and miscellaneous vinyl/CD collectibles related to the official album (Part 1 of 4)

The ticket was mailed to me in a registered envelope from the
Osaka office of Udo Artists Inc., the tour promotion and man-
agement agency. A clipping — likely from a newspaper, though
uncertain — with the headline “Grammy Winner Bruce’s First-
Ever Japan Tour Becomes a Reality” appears to predate the
addition of two concert dates, April 13 in Tokyo and April 23
in Osaka, as those dates are not mentioned in the article.

This past April in Japan brought something of a celebration on social media among Springsteen fans and collectors. As you might know, this year marks the 40th anniversary of his first—and one of only three, if the one-off Amnesty concert is included — tours to the Far East, promoting his seventh album, BORN IN THE U.S.A. (see 04/23/2015 and 01/27/2018 for Japan tour-related posts). I was a junior in college when I had the good fortune to see him perform on the second night (April 23) in Osaka, which was also the final show of the Japan leg — a performance often regarded as the best of the eight played here. By the way, you might wonder why I’m not talking about the Kyoto concert held four days earlier (April 19), especially since I’ve occasionally mentioned on this blog that I was born and raised in this ancient capital city. The reason is simple: I missed it due to a critical mix-up that left me without a ticket — still one of the most regrettable memories of my youth.

As noted in my old handwritten purchase log, I gave the two double-
LP sets from the first night in Osaka a low sound quality rating (C on
an A-to-C scale), likely because I had been overexposed to excellent
FM-sourced bootlegs from the 1978 tour, such as PIÈCE DE
RÉSISTANCE and LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND. Note that the
4-LP gatefold edition is not listed here, as this version of the log is
relatively old, dating from the late 1980s, and predates its acquisition.

While I feel tempted to write something about the concert itself (see 04/23/2015), I’ll refrain — after all, it would likely turn into a dull, subjective personal account. Instead, as a collector, I’ll focus here on some of the miscellaneous vinyl and CD collectibles associated with this monster album that have not been featured before on this blog. They may not be especially rare or valuable, but they’re still worth noting. Before that, however, let me revisit my purchase log of bootleg records of the two Osaka gigs on April 22 and 23, 1985 (As far as I know, no vinyl bootlegs have ever been released for the Kyoto concert).

Left: All of the albums, except for the complete 4/22/1985 set (bottom right), were released in 1985, and every title was purchased at JEUGIA music stores in Kyoto city, as mentioned in the main text. Right: The clear LP bag holding the LP (SECOND DAY AT CASTLE HALL Vol. I, backside, which is nicely done) features a JEUGIA logo imprint, which is outlined with a dashed yellow line.

Although the tracklists on all eight sides are identical, as shown
in the image above for Side One, the dead-wax matrix numbers
differ between the two double-LP versions (top) and the quad LP
edition (bottom) of THE BOSS IN THE EAST.

As expected, vinyl bootlegs of the Osaka shows began to surface a couple of months later. The first to circulate were THE BOSS IN THE EAST Vol. I and II (TBS 22485 and 22486) — two double-disc sets capturing the first night (April 22), which still show up fairly often in online auctions here. Back in the summer of 1985, I found them for sale at a music store in Kyoto called JEUGIA (Karasuma-Shijo branch). However, I couldn’t afford to buy both at once — each set cost 5,000 JPY (about US $21 at the time, roughly $62 in today’s money, based on an online inflation calculator). So, I picked up Volume II first on July 10, mainly because it included Devil With The Blue Dress Medley performed exclusively on that night. It took four more weeks for a poor student to get Volume I — on August 6, according to my purchase log. 

Probably a few years later, a pirated copy — not a reissue or repress — of the above sets appeared as a 4-LP gatefold sleeve edition (Dynafidelity 22487). It was issued under the same title with the subtitle THE COMPLETE 4/22/85 on the front and a claim of “LIMITED EDITION 300 SET/PIECES” on the rear sleeve. I ignored it when it first came out but eventually picked up a copy on September 27, 1991 — again at the Karasuma-Shijo branch. Note that the records play back slightly faster than the actual performance.

Two snapshots were taken abroad the Shinkansen bullet train and
at the Japan Railways (JR) station where it stopped — possibly
during the trip from Tokyo to Kyoto. Alternatively, could they have
been taken during a one-day round trip from Osaka to Hiroshima,
as he reportedly visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
on April 21?

Shortly after the original release of THE BOSS IN THE EAST, another JEUGIA branch — located at Shin-Kyogoku Sanjo and specializing in vinyl imports — began accepting reservations for a similar two-volume bootleg set covering the second night I attended, with a 1,000 JPY deposit. The price was the same as that of the first-night bootlegs. By the end of that summer, SECOND DAY AT CASTLE HALL Vol. I and II (TBS 23485 and 23486) became available, and August 30 turned out to be a truly joyful day — I had finally gotten what I’d been eagerly waiting for, something that would let me relive the excitement and emotion through the magic of bootlegging!

A few months later, yet another bootleg of this concert appeared: LAST NIGHT IN THE EAST, a triple-disc set that came with a cheaply made insert and two snapshots. Although it was pricey at 8,000 JPY, I managed to purchase it at the Karasuma-Shijo branch on November 18, 1985 — simply because I had been there and believed it was an independent pressing, not a pirate copy of SECOND DAY ... (which, as it turns out, it was). Most likely, a similar 3-LP set, LAST NIGHT IN JAPAN (which I don't own: see the Discogs entry here), was merely a reissue of this title, featuring a redesigned insert but omitting the photos.

The copy I received is hand-numbered as No. 9 of 100. The concert
date, "April 22," on the front and rear sleeves is incorrect, and the
booklet contains a misspelling, printing “reson” instead of “reason.”

Fourteen years later, in 1999, the first CD edition (Piggham 12–13) of the final night was finally released by Piggham Records — a European CD-R bootleg label whose titles were relatively rare in Japan at the time. I probably learned about this release through LuckyTown Digest, the well-known online Springsteen message/discussion board of the era, and placed an order with the Spanish retailer mentioned earlier (see 12/08/2020). It became one of the last bootleg CDs I added to my collection before I stopped collecting that kind of material.

— Continued to Part 2.