Editing Openai/67bf2631-0338-800a-827e-4ba18dbb4e0c (section)

==== VCU Campus Concerts and Communication Arts Involvement ====

Early Shows at VCU: Springsteen’s first Richmond appearances were closely tied to the Virginia Commonwealth University community. In mid-1969, his then-band Child traveled from New Jersey to play a free outdoor concert in Monroe Park (adjacent to VCU). This show – part of an RPI/VCU arts festival called Bang – made a big impression on local students and musicianshandfulofbrains.blogspot.com<ref>{{cite web|title=handfulofbrains.blogspot.com|url=https://handfulofbrains.blogspot.com/2008/08/springsteen-richmond-complete-history.html#:~:text=01%2F06%2F69%20,Davy%20Hazlett%20is%20in%20the|publisher=handfulofbrains.blogspot.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>magazine.vcu.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=magazine.vcu.edu|url=https://magazine.vcu.edu/2022-fall/the-franklin-street-gem/#:~:text=Then%20there%20was%20Springsteen,kept%20playing%20until%20he%20was|publisher=magazine.vcu.edu|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. By that fall, Child was performing on campus: they headlined a show at the old VCU Gym (Franklin Street Gym) on Nov. 1, 1969, advertised as “a night of explosive sound” for $2.50richmondmagazine.com<ref>{{cite web|title=richmondmagazine.com|url=https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/the-boss-is-back-in-town/#:~:text=Nov,50|publisher=richmondmagazine.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. These campus gigs were often organized or promoted by VCU’s student-run concert committee, illustrating Springsteen’s early involvement with VCU’s arts and music scene (even if not formally a professor or student there).

Legendary 1970 Gym Concert: On May 23, 1970, Springsteen (now with his band renamed Steel Mill) played an infamous show at VCU’s Franklin Street Gym – an event that has become campus folklore. The band whipped the crowd into a frenzy with songs like “Going Back to Georgia” and “Sweet Melinda.” When police and VCU officials tried to enforce an 11 p.m. curfew, they literally pulled the plug on the amplifiers. Drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez refused to stop, pounding out a defiant drum solo in the dark until security tackled and arrested him on stagerichmondmagazine.com<ref>{{cite web|title=richmondmagazine.com|url=https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/the-boss-is-back-in-town/#:~:text=Take%20one%20particularly%20noteworthy%20show,whipped%20the%20crowd%20to%20life|publisher=richmondmagazine.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>magazine.vcu.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=magazine.vcu.edu|url=https://magazine.vcu.edu/2022-fall/the-franklin-street-gem/#:~:text=three%20of%20those%20shows%20were,to%20the%20ground%20and%20arrested|publisher=magazine.vcu.edu|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. Springsteen later reminisced about “that free show at the VCU gym” – it was a wild night he “talked about… for quite a while,” as locals like Tom “Cool” Yolton recallrichmondmagazine.com<ref>{{cite web|title=richmondmagazine.com|url=https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/the-boss-is-back-in-town/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPolice%20had%20to%20shut%20it,%E2%80%9D|publisher=richmondmagazine.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. This concert (with Steel Mill headlining and VCU-based band Mercy Flight opening) solidified Springsteen’s reputation in Richmond’s youth culturehandfulofbrains.blogspot.com<ref>{{cite web|title=handfulofbrains.blogspot.com|url=https://handfulofbrains.blogspot.com/2008/08/springsteen-richmond-complete-history.html#:~:text=ONE%20show%2C%20double%20bill%2C%20held,There%20are%20continuity%20cuts|publisher=handfulofbrains.blogspot.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>handfulofbrains.blogspot.com<ref>{{cite web|title=handfulofbrains.blogspot.com|url=https://handfulofbrains.blogspot.com/2008/08/springsteen-richmond-complete-history.html#:~:text=match%20at%20L262%20point%20that,referred%20to%20in%20several%20interviews|publisher=handfulofbrains.blogspot.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. It also highlights how VCU’s Communication Arts milieu fostered these happenings – art students even designed psychedelic concert posters, which band members saved as much for the “neat artwork” as the memoriesnewjerseystage.com<ref>{{cite web|title=newjerseystage.com|url=https://www.newjerseystage.com/articles/getarticle.php?titlelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newjerseystage.com%2Farchives%2Fgetarticle.php%3Ftitlelink%3Da-look-at-mercy-flight#:~:text=Well%2C%20I%20saved%20them%20because,else%2C%20they%20were%20neat%20artwork|publisher=newjerseystage.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>newjerseystage.com<ref>{{cite web|title=newjerseystage.com|url=https://www.newjerseystage.com/articles/getarticle.php?titlelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newjerseystage.com%2Farchives%2Fgetarticle.php%3Ftitlelink%3Da-look-at-mercy-flight#:~:text=So%2C%20I%20was%20keeping%20them,I%20might%20have%20something%20here|publisher=newjerseystage.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>.

Campus Ties: Although Springsteen had no official academic post at VCU, his ties to the university ran deep. He played at least three shows in VCU’s Franklin Street Gym between 1969 and 1973magazine.vcu.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=magazine.vcu.edu|url=https://magazine.vcu.edu/2022-fall/the-franklin-street-gem/#:~:text=Then%20there%20was%20Springsteen,kept%20playing%20until%20he%20was|publisher=magazine.vcu.edu|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. In fact, local lore suggests Springsteen felt so at home in Richmond that he even mulled moving to the city during those yearsrichmondmagazine.com<ref>{{cite web|title=richmondmagazine.com|url=https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/the-boss-is-back-in-town/#:~:text=through%20the%20years|publisher=richmondmagazine.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. Decades later, he fondly recalled that Richmond in the early ’70s was “one other place [besides New Jersey] we would come down… make a few dollars to keep us going,” thanks to devoted college-aged fanstheshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com<ref>{{cite web|title=theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com|url=https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2024/12/when-bruce-springsteens-band-steel-mill.html#:~:text=,the%20audience%20in%20these%20parts|publisher=theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>. (In 2014, Springsteen returned for his godson’s graduation at VCU and took a nostalgic drive past the old Mosque theater, recalling the Richmond gigs of his youththeshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com<ref>{{cite web|title=theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com|url=https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2024/12/when-bruce-springsteens-band-steel-mill.html#:~:text=,the%20audience%20in%20these%20parts|publisher=theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com|access-date=2025-11-17}}</ref>.) In short, VCU – through its concert committees, student community, and even its art department resources – provided Springsteen a supportive launching pad in the late ’60s/early ’70s.