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 2 of 4)

The B5-size flyers were most likely distributed at or near the
Tokyo and Kyoto concert venues as well. English translations
of the Japanese text and descriptions provided by this blogger.

One more trivial recollection concerning bootlegs: I remember that on April 23, the final date of the Japan leg in 1985, a young guy was handing out what looked like flyers as I walked down from Osakajōkōen Station (Osaka Castle Park Station) — the nearest stop on the JR Osaka Loop Line — toward the concert venue, Osaka Castle Hall. Out of curiosity, I took one, which turned out to be a pre-order form for a then-unknown three-disc bootleg titled BORN IN THE AMERICA, slated for release on May 20, according to the description. Initially, I expected this new release to feature live recordings of Springsteen's first-ever concert(s) in Japan. However, I quickly realized the flyer explicitly stated “LIVE IN U.S.A. 1984,” although it provided no further details, such as the date, venue, or tracklist.

The flyer also gave ordering instructions, asking buyers to send 6,800 JPY (about US $27 at the time, roughly $80 in 2025) via registered mail to a listed address — a collector’s shop called Universal Records Inc., located in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, long regarded as the mecca of bootlegs in Japan. Delivery was free until April 30, after which an additional 800 JPY shipping fee applied. Living in Kyoto back then, I had no way of knowing whether the shop actually existed, so I naturally refrained from placing an order. After all, this was 40 years ago — no email, no internet, no social networking apps, and calling Tokyo was very expensive!

Images are taken from the relevant Discogs entry (here), as my own copy has been in storage at my parents' house for years. Mine is also shrink-wrapped but lacks the small silver sticker that reads "Special Limited Red, Blue, white wax [sic]."

Nevertheless, by mid-July, I found the bootleg in stock at one of my regular stores — JEUGIA's Shin-Kyogoku Sanjo branch in Kyoto — pressed on red, white, and blue vinyl, just as the flyer had advertised. The foldout insert sleeve carried no recording date or venue, and bootleg guides often noted the source as unknown (e.g., Last Ride In A Pink Cadillac; see 04/23/2016 for this booklet) or listed it incorrectly from Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherfold, N.J., August 1984 (e.g., Wanted Vol. 1 by Jan Rodenrijs [1994]; see 12/08/2020 for this excellent guidebook; and the original entry in the Discogs database here).

Last Ride In Pink Cadillac (authors unknown, circa 1986), included in
the gorgeous 6-LP bootleg box set GRANDE FINALE, is a concise
discography that exclusively lists and reviews Born in the U.S.A. tour
bootlegs — 97 titles in total, not including GRANDE FINALE itself.
Numbers in parentheses indicate sound quality ratings on a scale
from 12 to 21, with higher numbers representing better quality. For
example, THIS GUNS FOR HIRE (5LP), sourced from an excellent
audience recording, is rated 19, while the dubious honor of receiving
the lowest rating (12 to 13) goes to LEEDS 85 (4LP).

However, for a young Bruceleg junkie, it wasn't difficult to deduce from the tracklist that this triple-vinyl set was essentially a reissue of the double LP BORN IN THE U.S.A. LIVE Vol. 1. 21-7-84 Montreol [sic], combined with excerpts — mainly encore performances — from the four-record set BORN IN CINCINNATI. Both titles had already circulated locally here before the Japan leg of the tour began, and I had acquired both by then: LIVE Vol. 1, on March 19, 1985; CINCINNATI, on December 15, 1984. The bootleggers simply reconstituted these two sources to present the set as if it were from a single concert recording. Moreover, the mediocre and uninspired album title, along with the sleeve design based on the Star-Spangled motif, was largely borrowed from the latter, one of the earliest and, in my opinion, worst bootlegs from this long-stretched 1984-85 world tour. According to the inaugural issue of Wanted, mentioned above, BORN IN THE AMERICA (reportedly limited to 300 copies) and LIVE Vol.1 are of Japanese origin — yes, both have stamped, not hand-etched, matrix numbers in their dead wax, at least.

I could probably go on about these bootlegs, but I’ll stop here and turn to three collectibles from that official big-selling album — each a bit too minor or mundane for a standalone blog post, yet still worth mentioning.

— Continued to Part 3 / Back to Part 1.