1981-07-06 Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ

Scheduled: 20:00 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

"Detroit Medley" features the debut of Mitch Ryder's "Sock It To Me, Baby!", as well as "Sweet Soul Music" and "Shake". "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" includes a snippet of "Sweet Soul Music" during the band introductions.

06.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´´Independence Day´´
´´I remember when I was 16, I used to, I lived in this house, it was on, like, a main street in town and I had a bedroom that was out over the back, over the backyard….and I remember at 6am I used to lay in bed in the winter and I´d hear my old man getting up downstairs in the
kitchen, then I´d hear him out in the backyard, pulling up the hood of the car, trying to get it started so that he could go to work….and….I didn´t think too much about what my parents´ life was like at that time….I was always interested in, in other things….but I used to watch my old man get home at night and sit in the kitchen….and we´d only, we´d only end up talking to each other like 11 or 12 at night after I´d been out too late and he´d been sitting in the kitchen too long….and….I used to think…..that he…..that he lost the power to imagine and to dream that his life could be different than the way he was living….but…..´cause I was full of ideas and I, ´bout what I was gonna do and what things were gonna be like for me….but for all the time that I, that I lived with him, and he used to sit in that kitchen every night by himself and not talk to anybody, sit with the lights out…..and I remember when I was growing up, for all the 18 years that I was home, I never, I never once asked him what he was thinking about…..and…..and later I realised that what he was doing every night was he was sitting there dreaming….but what happened to him was he lost, he didn´t have the strength any more or the way or the power to begin to make any of the things that he was dreaming about real….so….but that´s what the world does to you, I guess, I saw it take it out of him and now I go back and sometimes I see some of my old friends and I remember people that were, like, you know, when we were, like, 18 or 19, that were, that were real strong and real….and real heart and good inside that….that lost it somewhere along the way ….and that´s the hardest thing you gotta hold on to, I guess….so don´t lose it…..´´

06.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´´Johnny Bye Bye´´
´´I remember when I was….nine years old, my mother had on the Ed Sullivan Show, it was the first night that Elvis was on….and….I can always see myself sitting, we lived in one side of this real small house and I remembe sitting on the carpet in front of the T.V, watching, and I remember I was nine and I said ´I gotta go, I gotta go get a guitar´ and my mother went out and we rented this guitar and I had guitar lessons but I didn´t learn because my hands were too small and I quit when I was nine years old, and I started again when I was 13 but, uh…. but…. and I remember following him, you know, throughout his whole, his whole career and I went to see him in Philadelphia….just before he, just before he died and I remember feeling, feeling disappointed because he didn´t play, I guess, the old songs like I thought they were gonna sound…..the stuff that he sang real good was, he sang this song ´American Trilogy´ and this song ´How Great Thou Art´….but uh….this is, this is a song I wrote for him, I guess ….´cause he, he deserved a lot better than what he got…..´´

06.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, middle of ´´Rosalita´´
´´Alright, ladies and gentlemen….(?)…..we got to the far left of the stage….how can I say it? ….they throw around words like ´genius´….they throw around words like ´master of his trade´….they throw around words like (?) ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, to the far left of the stage, Mr. Tony (?)….thank you and now on the piano, Professor Roy Bittan….now on the guitar, we have a man that brought you such great hits as ´I Don´t Wanna Go Home,´ ´Sweeter Than Honey,´ ´This Time It´s for Real,´ ´Some Things Just Don´t Change, ´ I´m talking about Miami Steve Van Zandt on the guitar….on the bass we have Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the drums, from South Orange, New Jersey, the Mighty Max Weinberg….on the organ, the only human being ever known that made it out of Flemington, from Flemington, New Jersey, Danny Federici….and last but not least….I don´t have to tell you who you´re gonna meet now….I don´t even have to say his name…..but let me say that around home we like to call him ´The greatest living human being on the planet´….(?) we just call him the king of the world….the master of the universe….the emperor of all things….the prince of the city, 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, is it a bird? (crowd: ´No´) is it a plane? (crowd: ´No´) is it, is it, is it, is it…..Spotlight on the Big Man….´´

06.07.81 East Rutherford, NJ, intro to ´´I Don´t Wanna Go Home´´
´´Here´s a song Steve wrote, he´s gonna sing it with me….´´

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi