Artist Arlen Schumer makes prints of vintage Springsteen art available

Arlen Schumer created this art for the marquee for Bruce Springsteen’s shows at the Capitol Theater in Passaic on Sept. 19-21, 1978.

Special art was commissioned for the marquee of the Capitol Theater in Passaic just one time during its long run as a rock theater: For Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s homecoming shows there on Sept. 19-21, 1978, during their Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour.

Arlen Schumer art for the concert program of Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 concerts at the Capitol Theater.

The man responsible for that art, Arlen Schumer, is now making available four of his Springsteen images, including the marquee and his art for the concert program. These are authorized reproductions shot from his original art, and are available in two editions: digital prints and signed, limited-edition hand-printed duotones.

For more information, visit arlenschumer.com.

Also on the site, Schumer — the art director of the Springsteen fanzine Thunder Road at the time of the ’78 Capitol shows — tells the story of how he came to design the marquee, and what it was like to meet Springsteen at one of those shows.

“Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (in its longest-running version) have never been better, on a pure musical level, then they were during their 1978 Darkness On The Edge of Town tour,” Schumer writes on the site. “Sure, there have been larger shows, ‘grander’ shows, shows with more spectacle; but for maximum rock & roll, those Darkness shows can’t be beat. And of those shows, the September 19th concert at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, in Bruce’s home state of New Jersey, is (un?)arguably Bruce Springsteen’s single greatest live performance.”