1981-06-05 Wembley Arena, London, England

Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

Debut of "Jolé Blon", Bruce's version of the Cajun standard, European debut of "Here She Comes Walkin'" and "I Wanna Marry You", and first ever performance in England of "Can't Help Falling In Love". Final tour appearances for "Because The Night" and "Can't Help Falling In Love". "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" includes a snippet of "Sweet Soul Music". "Detroit Medley" includes "Shake" and "Sweet Soul Music".

05.06.81 London, England, intro to “Independence Day”
“This is called “Independence Day” (crowd cheers)(intro music starts)…I remember when I was growing up…I used to watch my old sit in the kitchen at night…and he used to sit there from when he would come in from work till when he’d go to bed and he’d have the lights out…and he’d smoke cigarettes and drink a little bit…and he did that…he did that from when I was a little kid till when I moved out…I used to always wonder what he was, what he would be thinking about sitting there…and, uh…then I went over to my aunt’s house…I went, I went for a Thanksgiving or something and she gave me a picture of my father when he was young in 1946…and I’d never seen him like he looked in that picture before, he was wearing a suit, he was looking into the camera and he looked like he was gonna eat the photographer or something…and I remember I’d never seen him look as proud as, as he did in that picture…and I guess…he got married when he was real young…and had a lot of…lot of bad jobs …and he losed that, I guess he losed that thing…that makes you feel like something…makes you feel like somebody…I remember I used to listen to the radio…and when you hear a song like “When My Little Girl Is Smiling,” a song by the Drifters…in the whole world where people are telling you that you weren’t, you weren’t worth nothing…it seemed like those songs said that was a lie… they just reminded you…that you were worth something…and I guess there’s two kinds of people in the world: the kind that remember that and the kind that forget that…(crowd cheers)…”

05.06.81 London, England, intro to “Johnny Bye Bye”
“This is, uh…this is another song that’s about fathers and sons…(?) …”

05.06.81 London, England, intro to “Two Hearts”
“Two hearts are better than one (crowd cheers)…”

05.06.81 London, England, after “Thunder Road”
“We’re gonna take just a short break, then we’re gonna be back, we got another whole set to do for you (crowd cheers) so we’ll see you in a little while, ok? (crowd cheers)…”

05.06.81 London, England, intro to “I Wanna Marry You”
“Here she comes…walking down the street…here she comes… walking down the street…she’s looking so fine, she’s looking so sweet…and someday I’m gonna make her mine…I know that I will… someday I’m gonna make her mine…I know that I will…someday she’s gonna instead of walking on by…she’s gonna stop instead of walking on by…she’s gonna stop now…my, my, my girl…little girl, little girl, little girl…”

05.06.81 London, England, middle of “Rosalita”
“Alright now, folks…now comes…my favorite part of the show (crowd cheers) I’m gonna introduce to you tonight…a bunch of superstars…beginning…at the far left of the stage…they throw around words like “genius”…they throw around words like “master of his craft”…they throw around words like…“the greatest goddamn person on the planet”…so let me introduce to you, over to the far left…the main man, Mr. Bobby G…now, let’s get the band, that’s Roy Bittan on the piano (crowd cheers) on the guitar, Miami Steve Van Zandt (crowd cheers) on the bass, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) and last but not least (crowd cheers) you know who I’m talking about…do I have to say his name? (crowd cheers) do I have to say his name? (crowd cheers) let me just say he’s the king of the world…the master of the universe…emperor of all things…he’s faster than a speeding bullet…more powerful than a roaring locomotive…able to leap tall women, I mean tall buildings in a single bound…it ain’t no bird (crowd: “No”) it ain’t no plane (crowd: “No”) it’s, it’s, it’s…Spotlight on the Big Man!…
(…) This is his last chance, baby, for his daughter to get down… ’cause the record company, Honey, just gave me the big Pounds…”

05.06.81 London, England, intro to “Jungleland”
“I’d like to…I’d like to take a second and I’d like to thank, thank all you guys for coming down to the shows that we’ve done here in London (crowd cheers) and I’d like to apologize for having to cancel out on you in the early tour, I hope it didn’t inconvenience you too much (crowd cheers) this is, uh, I’d like to thank youse for all of the, over the, over the years when we haven’t, we haven’t been over here, I wanna, thanks for supporting the band so much (crowd cheers)…”

05.06.81 London, England, intro to “Can’t Help Falling In Love”
“This is, uh…this is…one of my favorite Elvis songs…there’s, uh, in “Blueberry Hill” by Fats Domino…has this line…and it just says… “Though we’re apart, you’re a part of me still”…”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

Follow That Dream

Though they performed four concerts there in 1975 to promote Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 1981 European Tour was the first proper visit to the continent. Those three months and 33 shows would go on to form a bond between band and fans that persists to this day.

“Most of the audiences we played to spoke English, at best, as a second language,” Springsteen writes in Born to Run. “It didn’t seem to matter. We played to crowd after crowd who let us know they felt about music the way we felt about it….Playing for our fans overseas was, and continues to be, one of the greatest experiences of my life. It fully started in 1981, and it’s never stopped.”

European audiences had been waiting years to see Springsteen on stage, hungry to witness what their ears had only heard, indoctrinated by bootlegs of the ‘78 radio broadcasts as much as by the official catalog. They kept the faith when the UK leg, scheduled as the start of the tour in March, moved to May, and bought enough tickets to warrant second shows in Stockholm and Rotterdam.

Springsteen had been waiting, too. Promotion of his 1975 London dates spurred some antagonistic press outlets to question the hype surrounding him. Despite playing what in hindsight were two great shows in London (one of which has since been officially released), Bruce and the band left on a bit of a sour note. Shows outside the U.S. were never seriously considered on the Darkness tour, so after a nearly six-year gap, Europe remained unconquered and unfamiliar territory when the tour kicked off in Hamburg on April 7, 1981.

Many of us have eye-opening experiences the first time we visit other countries. Viewed through the lens of a new culture, that which we call home can look quite different. Based on quotes and comments made by Bruce at the time and thereafter, Europe ‘81 catalyzed an already evolving perspective on the country and culture that shaped him.

At his first show in Paris, Springsteen altered the familiar introduction to “This Land Is Your Land” and spoke not of Woody Guthrie, but of Elvis Presley, telling a condensed version of the “jump the fence at Graceland” tale before reflecting on the last time he saw Presley in concert. There, he didn’t play his “rocking stuff,” but instead songs like “How Great Thou Art” and “American Trilogy.”

“In the end,” Springsteen told the French audience, “it seemed like the songs that were closest to him and that he sang with the most heart [were] about the land that he grew up in and…the God that he believed in, who I guess he hoped would save his soul. This is a song about freedom, [about not] having to die when you’re old in some factory or…in some big million-dollar house with a whole lot of nothing pumping through your veins.”

The next show, again in Paris, an introduction to one of Bruce’s most personal songs, “Independence Day,” also evolved, as he spoke of reading Howard Zinn’s The People’s History of the United States and gaining insight into “how things got to be the way they are today and how you end up a victim without even knowing it.” Seemingly inspired by his own comments the night before, Springsteen opened that second Paris show with a new interpretation of Elvis’ “Follow That Dream.”

Nine weeks later on June 5, 1981, Bruce and the band took the stage for the final night of a six-show stand in London forever changed by the experience of the tour. It’s a triumphant performance that summons up everything which had justifiably earned Bruce his reputation up to that point along with a sense of realtime awakening and fresh perspective fostered on the stages and streets of Europe.

The night gets off to a cracking start with “Born to Run” straight into “Prove It All Night,” the latter notable for the kind of heightened vocal (listen to Springsteen reach for a higher register in the second verse and chorus) that usually signals a special show. The invitation of “Out In The Street” is met with the full support of the crowd and then we downshift to the aforementioned “Follow That Dream.”

Springsteen’s “Follow That Dream” completely re-imagines Presley’s song of the same name (written by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman), transforming the King’s lightweight ditty into a stark, meditative hymn. Bruce blends new lyrics with lines from Presley’s cut, interpolating strains of Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” along the way to create a striking new original.

The London performance captures all of the song’s evocative power and reinforces how Springsteen’s Europe ‘81 performances show early signs of where his songwriting would go next with Nebraska and the demos for Born in the U.S.A., for which he would cut “Follow That Dream.” Its chant-like quality also echoes the Devils and Dust tour’s set-closing cover of Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream.”

Three songs later, after a stirring “Darkness On the Edge of Town” and “Independence Day,” Bruce’s reflections on Elvis’ final days and the “whole lot of nothing pumping through your veins” from the first Paris show have spawned a new song in its own right, “Johnny Bye Bye.”

Like “Follow That Dream,” Springsteen’s eulogy to the King is a pastiche of musical sources, combining lyrics from Chuck Berry’s “Bye Bye Johnny” with music and several lines from his own Darkness outtake “Come On (Let’s Go Tonight)” (later released on The Promise box set) and recently penned words. “Johnny Bye Bye” would eventually be recorded with an revamped melody and a faster tempo for Born in the U.S.A. (where it was issued as the B-side to “I’m On Fire”), but the original live arrangement bears poignancy and solemnity not retained in the later version.

The new songs are but two highlights in a stalwart first set that also features superb covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and “I Fought The Law,” the latter almost certainly a tip of the cap to The Clash, who so memorably covered the song made famous by the Bobby Fuller Four (and written by Sonny Curtis) two years earlier.

The second set provides a showcase for uptempo River songs, plus the underplayed “I Wanna Marry You” (replete with its “Here She Comes” intro) and a rich “Point Blank” which highlights the interplay of Roy Bittan’s piano and Danny Federici’s organ. Bootleg favorites “Because The Night” and “Fire” are perfectly rendered crowd pleasers. If that wasn’t enough, Springsteen debuts his ardent arrangement of the traditional Cajun song “Jolé Blon,” having recently played on and produced Gary U.S. Bonds’ version from the 1981 comeback album, Dedication. Riding infectious lead vocals, “Jolé Blon” is one of Springsteen’s most charming and perhaps underrated covers.

Springsteen is in complete command as a spot-on “Ramrod” leads into “Rosalita” where Jon Altschiller’s mix neatly positions the audience response with the band introductions, including the always appealing “Spotlight On The Big Man” vamp. Kudos as well to Bruce for putting a UK spin on Rosie’s signature declaration: “This is his last chance, for his daughter to get down, ‘cause the record company, Honey, just gave me the big pounds.”

High-spirits carry over to the encore via an impeccable “I’m A Rocker,” while “Jungleland” provides the show its epic denouement. From there, one last nod to the King with brief, earnest cover of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and finally “Detroit Medley,” augmented by welcome sprints through “Shake” and “Sweet Soul Music.”

Somewhere near the end of the “Medley,” the multi-track recording of Wembley runs out and a fan recording fills in the rest of the song. It seems fitting that this outstanding performance wraps in the hands of a fan, someone who undoubtedly waited those six long years for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to come home to Europe.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

THE MEN WHO COULD

Latest First Friday archive release features Springsteen's triumphant June 5, 1981 London finale

In 1981, six years since his last visit, London was ready for Bruce Springsteen. "Hungry Heart" was a hit, and demand for tickets to his forthcoming U.K. tour outstripped supply by a ratio of three-to-one. Yet Springsteen was approaching his appearances in the capital with trepidation. After his over-hyped debut at Hammersmith Odeon in 1975, there was unfinished business to settle. Memories of that trip haunted him for a long time; in the interim, despite little media exposure, no concerts, and only two albums, his U.K. audience had grown considerably.

Springsteen was not the only one being cautious. As if testing the water, the tour came together gradually. Three shows, scheduled for March and April, were announced before Christmas 1980. Extra dates were added weekly throughout January. In March, four days before it was due to begin, the tour was postponed until May and June because Springsteen was exhausted after completing his U.S. dates. A month after this E Street reshuffle, four more shows were added, making a final total of 16 — his longest U.K. tour with the E Street Band to date.

Following 17 shows in mainland Europe, Springsteen began his U.K. tour on May 11 and gradually worked his way towards London. There, he would play six nights at the 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena. The moment of truth was approaching, but beneath the nerves lay a commitment and determination that would see him through. In his autobiography, Bruce wrote, "We were not the naïve beach bums who stepped out of a British Airways 747 half a decade back. I knew I had a hell of a band and if we couldn't do the job, show me the men who could."

He needn't have worried. On May 29 he was greeted by an ecstatic crowd, and his performance inspired a string of superlatives in both the national press and the weekly music papers. "Any doubts he might have had about the London audience must have been dispelled the first time he held the microphone out and heard his words bellowed back at him without a moment's hesitation," reported Sounds. "This wasn't a concert, it was an event in rock music," said the Evening Standard, while the NME praised "an honourable and satisfying performance." Mission accomplished. With his fears allayed and his reputation reinforced, Springsteen could relax and enjoy the remaining Wembley gigs on May 30 and June 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Having seen three shows in the space of five days, I was hungry for a fourth. I was 23 and no stranger to live concerts, but these were unlike anything I'd seen before, setting the bar impossibly high. Succumbing to temptation, I jumped on a train. Arriving at Wembley on June 5 with nothing but faith and hope, I paid a scalper six times face value for a seat near the stage, walked in, and never looked back.

A mobile recording truck was spotted outside the arena that night, and Point Blank fanzine soon reported that a four-track "Live at Wembley" EP was due for release later that year, but the plan was eventually scrapped. "There is to be no EP, although that show was recorded," confirmed Dave Marsh in subsequent correspondence with Point Blank editor Dan French, while Capital Radio DJ Roger Scott told him, "[Jon] Landau said it had been discussed, but it would probably not be happening because of lack of time for mixing the tracks." This proposed release would have enabled fans to obtain a high-quality audio souvenir, but instead the master tapes were consigned to the vaults.

Finally, 37 years down the road, thanks to the good folks at nugs.net, Bruce Springsteen's June 5 concert at Wembley Arena — the first official archive release from 1981 — is ready for the world.

There's perhaps no greater statement of intent than opening a concert with your most famous song. Thus, Bruce Springsteen began his final London gig with "Born to Run" and maintained an energy level that didn't subside until he and the E Street Band took their bows at the end. The notes I scribbled down afterward reveal that he began the first "serious" set at 8:10pm, broke for the regular intermission at 9:20pm, returned for the second "fun" set at 10pm, and didn't walk off for the final time after the last of several encores until 11:45pm.

The 31-song set reflects how the shows had evolved since the tour began in October. Even at almost three hours, it was considerably shorter than the marathon concerts Springsteen had played at the end of 1980. Most of the album material was drawn from Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River (excluding many of the significant ballads from sides three and four). Only three songs from Born to Run appeared, and with the exception of "Rosalita," nothing from his first two records. I was struck by how these powerful live performances surpassed their recorded counterparts, and fascinated by embellishments like the piano prelude to "Point Blank" and the "Here She Comes" intro to "I Wanna Marry You," its U.K. debut and first performance since February.

One-third of the set consisted of unreleased songs or covers. Throughout the tour, Springsteen had been under the spell of John Fogerty and Woody Guthrie, as demonstrated by the appearance of "Who'll Stop the Rain" and "This Land Is Your Land." Also included were "Fire" and "Because the Night" (familiar now but a revelation then), a rare appearance of "I Fought the Law," and the live debut of "Jole Blon," from Gary U.S. Bonds' Dedication album.

In Europe, the ghost of Elvis also exerted an influence. Springsteen unveiled three Presley-related songs on the tour and played them all on June 5. The first was a slowed-down, rewritten version of "Follow That Dream," the movie's title track. Second was "Johnny Bye Bye." Developed from the outtake "(Come On) Let's Go Tonight," it referenced Chuck Berry's "Bye Bye Johnny" and was slower and more elegiac than the version later released as a B-side. Lastly, he included "Can't Help Falling in Love" (its only U.K. appearance) in the encores, providing breathing space between the drama of "Jungleland" and a riotous, 11-minute, houselights-up "Detroit Medley." "Shake" and "Sweet Soul Music" augmented the usual four-pack and inspired the audience to stamp their feet so hard that the lighting rig above the stage began to bounce gently up and down on its moorings.

It was an undisputed rock 'n' roll masterclass. My memories include Clarence Clemons walking on wearing a bowler hat like a London city gent, and Bruce clambering over PA stacks to get close to the fans in the upper tiers. He also stood on the piano, did a knee-slide along the stage, talked about his dad before "Independence Day," danced with Obie during "Sherry Darling," and introduced the band during "Rosalita." Apologizing for the earlier postponement, he thanked everyone for their support in the years when he'd been conspicuous by his absence.

As I walked out into the night, I was hoping for a swift return engagement at the arena, but fate had other plans. As we would discover, the River tour was not the pinnacle of Springsteen's career. Three years later, Born in the U.S.A. made him a megastar, and when he eventually returned to north-west London in 1985, it was to play three nights at Wembley Stadium. Although he returned to Wembley Arena with other musicians in subsequent years, Springsteen has, to date, only played one other show there with the E Street Band. That makes their 1981 shows, and the final night in particular, even more significant.

^{By Mike Saunders via Backstreets.com.}

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