1981-07-19 Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Last night of five at the Spectrum opens with "Thunder Road" and includes "For You" (last played March 2) and "I Fought The Law". The second set includes only the third "Growin' Up of 1981, featuring the spaceman story, last played some six months prior in South Bend, IN. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" includes a snippet of "Sweet Soul Music" during the band introductions. "Detroit Medley" includes "I Hear A Train", "You Can't Sit Down", "Sweet Soul Music", and "Shake".

19.07.81 Philadelphia, PA, intro to ´Independence Day´
´´I used to….watch my old man every night…..sitting in the kitchen….and….I remember I used to think….I used to count his life like it was over already….and….and then I used to get mad when he…..when he´d count me….like I didn´t know what I was doing or like I hadn´t started nothing yet….and all the while we lived together, we were always short-changing each other all the time….and we never realised until it was…..too late down the road….and I wouldn´t give him, I remember when I was growing up, I wouldn´t, I wouldn´t allow him the same hopes and dreams….that I used to get mad at him for denying me…..people who live together, I guess, they take each other for granted a lot….I know that´s what happened (?)…. so if you´ve got folks at home, which, I guess, everybody does, you should….just try and, try and give ´em an even break, you know….”

19.07.81 Philadelphia, PA, intro to ´For You´
´´Thanks….this is for all the veterans out there….it´s ´For You´….´´

19.07.81 Philadelphia, PA, end of ´You Can Look´
´´Hey Steve, went downtown, middle of the night…..looked to my left, looked to my right…. walked down the street, didn’t get too far, saw in a shop window, a gold guitar….(?) breaking glass, heard the cops after my ass….(?) a burglar alarm, judge says ´Three months, boy, in a state farm….´´

19.07.81 Philadelphia, PA, intro to ´Sandy´
´´This is for all the folks from…..the Shore that are here tonight….”

19.07.81 Philadelphia, PA, middle of ´Growin´Up´
´´There we were….it was me and the Big Man and Steve….it was a summer night, matter of fact it was just like tonight….except it was raining….and it was a little cooler….we were out on this backroad….in Big Man´s old Buick….and the thing starts overheating….steam starts pouring out of the hood…..I got no water, ain´t got nothing…..Steve´s telling him to get the thing fixed all the time, he never listens….and we get stuck…..now, there´s no streetlights, there´s no moon, it was dark…..it´s scary too….we hear all these spooky sounds coming out of the woods (cheers) sounded like the Wolfman or something out there (crowd howls) no, it sounds more like Frankenstein (cheers) sounds more like lions out there (crowd roars) so we had to decide who´s gonna get out of the car and hitchhike to the gas-station…..now, this is an easy decision, I´ll tell you why….you see, I ain´t gonna get out of the car….because I´m the Boss !….now….the Big Man, he ain´t getting out of the car ´cause he´s a lot bigger than Steve…..so just as we were (?) Steve out through the window….all of a sudden a light come above us just like in that movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it came crashing down ….holy smokes ! we looked up and there it was…..painted candy apple red, Hooker headers on the side, this gigantic (?) flying saucer that said on the side ´Little Melvin and the Invaders - we play weddings, parties and bar mitzvahs´….so….so the guy sticks his head out, a little green man, says ´Hey, any of you guys (?) any of guys know the way to the New Jersey Turnpike ?´….now, folks…..we don´t tell just anybody how to get to the New Jersey Turnpike….if you don´t know, you shouldn´t be there !….gonna make a deal with you, jack ….he said ´I´ll give you guys one wish, one wish a piece if you tell me how to get there´….so we gave him the directions and he sped off…..(?)….but just as he was going off into the distance, we looked down the road and way out there in the middle of the highway we see something…..we see something start to appear…..and since we had these instruments, we figured we might as well start a band….”

19.07.81 Philadelphia, PA, middle of ´Rosalita´
´´Ladies and gentlemen….I´d like to now….do my favorite part of the show….here´s the band introductions….I´d like to begin….(?) this side of the stage….a man who plays the piano, graduated from high school out on Long Island, did many things, many things, a man of many accomplishments, when he plays the keys, grown men fall to their knees….good girls go bad and the bad girls….get worse, I´m talking about Professor Roy Bittan on the piano…. now next up we´ve got this man on the guitar, he´s the master of soul, he´s the poet of rock and roll, he 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´, ´Trapped Again´, ´Daddy´s Coming Home´, I´m talking about the great Miami Steve Van Zandt…..(?)….next we got a man who came here tonight, drove by himself all the way from Neptune, New Jersey, that´s right, I´m talking about, on the bass guitar, the handsome, debonair (?) Mr.Garry W. Tallent on the bass….on the drums, we´ve got a fellow all the way from South Orange, I´m talking about the Mighty Max Weinberg…..now on the organ….from Flemington, New Jersey….how many folks here from Flemington tonight ? (some cheers) how´d you get here ?….I wanna introduce you to a man, the most experienced member of the band, the only member of the band with red hair, I´m talking about, on the organ and on the accordion, two time winner of the Ted Mack Amateur Hour (?) I´m talking about Phantom Dan Federici on the organ….and now last but not least….I know….uh, this is the toughest part because words (?) always fail me at this moment, I can´t say nothing about this guy, everybody already knows he´s the king of the world, he´s the master of the universe….he´s the 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….the man is a proud minister of soul, the Chairman of (?) and moral majority in America, I´m talking about, gimme a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) what´s that spell ? (crowd : ´Clarence !´) Spotlight on the Big Man !….´´

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation