Glory Days

How many Villanovans can say they saw Billy Joel before he was a rock-and-roll legend? Or Peter, Paul and Mary before their rise to the top of the charts? The list of big-name talent to have performed on campus might leave you starstruck: from a 1966 concert featuring Peter Nero and Dionne Warwick to such famous jazz musicians as Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis to classic heavy metal acts like Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly.

But there’s one concert that stands out from the rest. On Jan. 16, 1973, Bruce Springsteen sang songs from his debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., at St. Mary’s Hall Auditorium Theatre for a reported gathering of 25 people. For those lucky few in attendance, it was a rare opportunity to see an icon in the making—just three years later Springsteen would release his seminal album Born to Run and appear on the cover of Time magazine.

The Boss returned to campus several months later on a double bill with fellow singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. A ticket that would fetch hundreds if not thousands of dollars today had a price tag of just $4—and an early generation of diehard Springsteen fans was born.