Bruce Springsteen Releases “Open All Night” Recording from First Full-Album ‘Nebraska’ Performance

Bruce Springsteen, photo by David Michael Kennedy

Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska is currently enjoying a long-overdue revival. The legendary 1982 album, which represented a pivot towards raw, unguarded soul-searching, is the subject of the imminent biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, as well as Nebraska ’82, Springsteen’s upcoming expanded edition featuring the solo album’s coveted full-band sessions. Today, the artist stoked anticipation for the five-disc reissue with a glimpse into his first-ever complete live performance of the album, captured in an intimate concert film.

Earlier this year, Springsteen stepped out before an empty house at Red Bank, N.J.’s Count Basie Theatre to bring Nebraska to the stage, four decades after its release. With sparing accompaniment from Larry Campbell and Charlie Giordano and videography from Thom Zimny, all parties took pains to preserve the record’s closeness and gravity while imbuing it with the artistic insights Springsteen has accrued in the years since.

“The one thing that we didn’t do on the ‘Nebraska’ album was we didn’t play it live, so my first thought when we were talking about celebrating the record was there’s got to be a performance, singing these songs from top to bottom,” Springsteen reflected. “What I was concerned about was getting some of the spooky quality the record had. We’re lucky we got the great Larry Campbell and Charlie Giordano to assist in the very minimal instrumentation on the record, and Rob Lebret did a really nice job of mixing and maintaining the record’s integrity on that level.”

“As a filmmaker, you want to enhance the performance without it being noticeable — to step into that music and really try to be an invisible partner in it, and carry along this presentation,” Zimny added. “There’s no introduction or explanation. Things just unfold. And that’s the beauty of Bruce as a storyteller, of his writing and of this album.”

To preview the recorded performance, Springsteen has shared his new rendition of “Open All Night.” Nebraska ‘82 also includes Nebraska Outtakes, a set of nine solo rarities from his original acoustic sessions and a scrapped solo studio session, as well as a 2025 remaster and Electric Nebraska, recorded with a powerful backing at New York’s Power Station in 1982 and introduced earlier in September with a roaring early version of “Born in the U.S.A.” The full collection is available to pre-order and pre-save now.

In June, Springsteen released Tracks II: The Lost Albums, a collection of seven eclectic full-length albums recorded between 1983 and 2018 and now finally pulled off the shelf, including LA Garage Sessions ’83, the coveted missing link between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. that bridged two of Springsteen’s most distinctive and celebrated eras. Read more on that sprawling archival upheaval here.

Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition Tracklist:

Disc 1: Nebraska Outtakes

1. Born in the U.S.A.

2. Losin’ Kind

3. Downbound Train

4. Child Bride

5. Pink Cadillac

6. The Big Payback

7. Working on the Highway

8. On the Prowl

9. Gun in Every Home

Disc 2: Electric Nebraska

1. Nebraska

2. Atlantic City

3. Mansion on the Hill

4. Johnny 99

5. Downbound Train

6. Open All Night

7. Born in the U.S.A.

8. Reason to Believe

Disc 3: Nebraska (Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ)

1. Nebraska

2. Atlantic City

3. Mansion on the Hill

4. Johnny 99

5. Highway Patrolman

6. State Trooper

7. Used Cars

8. Open All Night

9. My Father’s House

10. Reason To Believe

Disc 4: 2025 Remaster

1. Nebraska

2. Atlantic City

3. Mansion on the Hill

4. Johnny 99

5. Highway Patrolman

6. State Trooper

7. Used Cars

8. Open All Night

9. My Father’s House

10. Reason To Believe

Disc 5 (Blu-Ray): Nebraska (Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ)

1. Nebraska

2. Atlantic City

3. Mansion on the Hill

4. Johnny 99

5. Highway Patrolman

6. State Trooper

7. Used Cars

8. Open All Night

9. My Father’s House

10. Reason To Believe