To make ends meet Springsteen and the E Street Band toured constantly during the first set of recording sessions for it, performing his new songs as he developed them.

Early versions of album tracks "She's the One" (with parts of what would become "Backstreets") and "Jungleland" (without the Clarence Clemons' later-famous saxophone solo and with an extra section at the end) were beginning to appear in set lists.

By the summer of that year, Springsteen's career fortunes had begun to turn; he played his last-ever gig as an opening act on August 3, becoming a headliner from then on.

Shows were played up and down the East Coast to help integrate the new members' sound into the band as well as to provide some income while recording sessions dragged on — finances were often tight and manager Mike Appel often had to borrow money to pay the road crew.

An advanced, slightly different mix of "Born to Run" was given to certain progressive rock radio stations throughout November; it made an immediate impression and stimulated interest in Springsteen's first two albums and his concerts.

The Born to Run Tour proper began more than a month ahead of the album's release date, on July 20, 1975 at the Palace Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island.

Columbia Records had put up posters of Springsteen around the city, the audience was heavy with press and music industry types, and an August 15 show was broadcast live by influential WNEW-FM.

[1] A similar four-night, six-show, stand was conducted beginning October 16 at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, which was attended by Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Cher, Ryan O'Neal, and Carole King, and various entertainment industry executives.

The tour ended with a New Year's Eve 1975 show at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, which was recorded on multitrack and released as a bootleg.

The opening night's performance was captured on video (later released on DVD as Hammersmith Odeon, London '75); before which Springsteen in a "nervous rage" reportedly tore down promotional posters bearing his image.

Meanwhile, in August Springsteen and the band played some local shows, mostly in Red Bank, New Jersey, with The Miami Horns on loan from Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Three new songs intended for the next album, Darkness on the Edge of Town were performed; "Something in the Night", "The Promise" and "Rendezvous" were debuted in live form.

What the official Springsteen chronology called the U.S. Tour ran from September 26 through November 4, 1976, starting at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix and ending with a six-night stand at The Palladium in New York.

His baggy pants, T-shirt, worn leather jacket and sloppy headwear look was now offset by two frontline visual foils, as both saxophonist Clarence Clemons and guitarist Steven Van Zandt were stylishly dressed in suits and distinctive hats.

"Backstreets" was augmented with a guitar line far more prominent than on record, while "Night", one of the least visible tracks on the album, became a show opener for a spell as well.

The 1986 Live/1975–85 box set contained just one selection from any of the Born to Run tours, the "solo piano" (and electronic glockenspiel) "Thunder Road" taken from the following night's show at The Roxy.

(The lack of further coverage of the tours was one reason for fans' dissatisfaction with the box set at the time; Springsteen management said the available recordings did not have good enough sound quality).

In 2005, as part of the Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition re-release package, a full-length concert film was assembled of the notorious November 18, 1975 Hammersmith Odeon show in London and included as a DVD.