1984-08-20 Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

Tour debut and first known Springsteen performance of "Drift Away". Tour premiere for "Two Hearts", one of only five performances in 1984. "Glory Days" includes two bars of "Out Of Limits" and "Backstreets" includes an extended intro and a short "Sad Eyes". "Growin' Up" features the bear story. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" includes Roy playing a snippet of "Hail To The Chief" during the band introductions. Final show of the New Jersey stand and one of the best shows of the tour. Source concert for the fantastic "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" used on the Live/1975-85 box. Furthermore, Little Steven guests on "Two Hearts" and "Drift Away" and The Miami Horns guest on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Drift Away", "Detroit Medley" (including "Travelin' Band") and "Twist And Shout - Do You Love Me".

The Miami Horns (Guests)
Steven Van Zandt (Guest)

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Highway Patrolman´
´´Thank you, this is uh….this is a song about, uh….I guess, family….and uh….and duty….and how sometimes…it´s hard to know what the right thing to do is with the ones that you love…”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´I´m Goin´Down´
´´Oh yeah, this song is….it´s kind of about the rise and fall of relationships….you know how when you first meet somebody, you know, you, every place you go, you´re holding hands with ´em and like you´re kissing ´em all the time….and you know you´ll be sitting home and you´re going out to the movies, you´ll say ´Honey, what do you wanna see ?´ and she´ll say ´Oh honey, I don´t care, anything you wanna see´….and….you know, whatever they wear or whatever they look like, ´Oh, you look so beautiful tonight´….and like ´Gee, I don´t know if I wanna go out tonight or stay home ?´ ´Well, honey, it don´t matter to me just as long as I´m with you´….you know, and then about six months later, it´s ´Oh, I wanna see ´Kramer vs. Kramer´ ´No, I wanna see ´The Road Warrior´´, you know (chuckles) and ´Do you have to go out wearing that shirt tonight now ?´….´Why can´t we go out tonight ?´….and finally it ends up with just kind of one long, cold, hard stare…..”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Glory days´
‘‘Now this is, this is a song….about old times….and how in this life all things must pass…. but….now, the older you get, the more old times you’ve got…..and you’re always bumping into somebody that wants to tell you about it….now….when we used to ride on the bus …. after the show….I used to get all of the band together….and we’d all sit on the bus….and see, I had a captive audience…..and like….I’d start saying …. ´Yeah, guys, you remember the time when we drove in a station wagon and we met those girls on the way to the show in Detroit and you remember the….what a great time we had when, when, when…..oh, wake up, wake up, wake up’…. they’d always be falling asleep on me…..but anyway, I saw this ´Twilight Zone´ the other night, I was up late…..and it was about this actor….who, like, he kept remembering what a great time he had when he was young and he was wishing he could go back and then all of a sudden…..I get it in a minute …..(plays a bit of ‘Outer Limits’) …. now, all of sudden he stepped into the Twilight Zone, you see….. and he went back …..and everybody was treating him real nasty and then he came back into his own time and he was a lot happier….but I always meet people who tell me what a great time I had in high school and ‘Didn’t we have all that fun ?’….like I’ve said, personally….I had a horrible time in high school…..I hated high school….when fall comes around, I’m still glad I don’t have to go to high school…..but anyway, I was out in this bar….the other night and, and……”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´My Hometown´
´´Thank you, this is uh….I guess everybody at some point in their lives….kind of ends up with a….with a love-hate-relationship with the town they grew up in…where they, where they grew up….it´s uh, I know when I was….when I was just growing up, I used to fight with that a lot, wanted to….kind of wanted to separate myself from who I was and where I´d been and uh….in the end I guess it´s….to admit that you´re a part of something means you´re responsible for what happens to that, to that thing….and uh, well, this is our place, this is our town and this is our state, it´s our country….and I guess we all, we all share the shame and the glory of the best and the worst of it….”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´No Surrender´
´´Thank you, oh (chuckles) yeah….oh, yeah, this is….this is a song about….I guess….I´ve always considered myself…pretty lucky because I found something that I like to do when I was real young….something I dreamed about a whole lot and a lot of my dream came true…. so this is about trying to find something you can hold on to and holding on to it….and about, I guess, the….value of a good friendship….this is for Little Steven….”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´
”Now….as you should know by now, this is a song…..about the conflict…..between worldly things….and spiritual health…..between……desires of the flesh….. and spiritual ecstasy ….. between the mansion on the hill and the mansion in the sky, between the cynics and the sceptics and the true believers, now, what I wanna know….is how many of you out there tonight think that….if you should, and I hope this doesn´t happen, if you should die during the show due to the excitement….how many of you think that you´re gonna die and go to heaven ? (cheers)….now, how many of you out there think that if you should pass away during the final moments of tonight´s performance that….due to cardiac arrest or some other terminal illness, that it´s possible that you might take the down elevator ? (cheers)….that´s more crowd that usual….well, now, me personally, I have no fear because I know that I´m gonna go to heaven….my mother told me so….now, of course I´ll miss the band but I´ll get used to it….you see, ´cause in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth and the Lord sat back and said ‘This is good’…..on the First day, He was hot and He created air-conditioning and the Lord sat back and said ‘This is good’….on the Second day, He grew hungry and He created the cheeseburger and the Lord sat back and said ‘This is good’….on the Third day, He grew bored and He created rock and roll and the Lord sat back and said ‘This is good’…..on the Fourth day….He created (someone : ´Bruuce !´) thank you for the compliment but that´s not the way it works, alright….on the Fourth day, He was gonna take his baby for a ride and He created the pink Cadillac….and for the rest of those days He just drove on and the Lord sat back and said ´This is wild’….”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Growin´Up´
‘‘Well, there we were….it was a night….just like tonight….there was real coolness in the air ….it was a long long time ago….I’d just met Clarence….he was working in the bowling alley, I was working at the gas-station…..we had a combined bank account of 88 dollars and 50 cents….we had no direction in our lives ….we had no guidance….. we had no inspiration…. we were lost…..we needed some hope…..we needed some faith….we needed some close physical relationship with members of the opposite sex….it was then that Clarence mentioned that he´d met two girls who had a sense of availability about them….just the previous night and that he knew where they lived just on the outskirts of town….so we figured we´d forget about our problems and enjoy ourselves…..we were basically happy-go-lucky kind of guys ….and we got in Clarence´s Oldsmobile, we were feeling pretty good and we drove south on Route 9 …..down through Freehold….down through Lakewood….down through Toms River …down deep into the pines….and then the unthinkable happened….we had a flat….we were on this dark backroad…..we couldn´t decide whether to just roll the windows up and stay in the car till morning…..or go out and see if we had a flat….this being the days before I was Clarence´s employer, we decided that we’d choose to see who´d go check the trunk…..I won and then I went and checked the trunk….so…..there was nothing in there and Clarence said that he knew where there was a gas-station …. just ….on…..the other side…of those woods …. we started walking into the trees….there was spooky sounds coming from all over the place (cheers)….Clarence, like, do you believe in ghosts ? we don´t believe in ghosts, we believe in like Frankenstein and the Wolfman….this is Wolfman territory, I´m telling you, there´s uh, what about the Jersey Devil ? I´m telling you, man….I believe in the Jersey Devil….so we got …got walking….things were going pretty good….Clarence, not so close, man…..get off my back, don´t walk so close, it´s bad enough I can´t see where I´m going….you need a manicure, Clarence, I´m telling you…..you must´ve been to Flemington Furs lately or something….hi, Clarence…..whoooa!….oh, oh, Clarence !….oh, Clarence !…hey, Clarence ! ….where are you, buddy ?…..where are you, pal ? where are you, buddy ? oh, jeez, don´t scare me like that….oh Jesus….and….then something shot down out of the sky….the clouds pulled away from the moon…..and over in the clearing…..we saw the answer to our quest …. first I picked up the mikestand….and we stood there in the moonlight….and then…..when we touched…..”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, middle of ´Backstreets´
´´Until the end….I remember that we swore on it….and I remember how you promised….and you said that if you got out first, you´d help me….and if I got out first, I´d help you….and we swore on it….that it´d be forever….and forever and forever….and it´d last forever and forever….then you said it was nothing but a promise….how it wasn´t nothing but a promise ….”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Rosalita´
´´Oh, gimme a little volume, Jim….this is for all the kids from Red Bank out there….
(…) Ladies and gentlemen….we now come to the most exciting part of the show….this is a chance that I get to introduce my pals and my band members of the E Street Band….now, first….I would like to introduce….the newest member of the E Street Band….comes to you from South Jersey….Jim the dancing bear…..don’t worry, ladies and gentlemen, he’s completely docile….and next, to my far left …..a man who gave up a scholarship….to Harvard University where he was working on his PhD in unusual sexual practises to join this tour with the E Street Band….he´s the educated, he´s the dedicated, he´s the one, the only member of the band with a full high school diploma, Professor Roy Bittan…..next, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes….from Long Branch, New Jersey….lovely Miss Patti Scialfa….and then the man that puts the bass in your face with the thunder from down under, his mother was a Tallent, his father was a Tallent, Mr.Garry W.Tallent on the bss guitar….on the drums, we have the author of The Big Beat, the Mighty Max Weinberg….and next….do we have a next ?….next, a gentleman who´s celebrating….this week his 15th anniversary as a member of the E Street Band….let´s hear it from him, folks, and Dan, to show my appreciation, bring out the gifts´ roster…for 15 years of dedicated service, a portable hairdryer….and two tickets to tonight´s show….and next, we have….a man as sweet as life itself, he works the entire night without a net…..drumroll, please….the one, the only Nils Lofgren on the guitar (Nils says ´This is for you and the E Street Band´ and then does his stunt on a trampoline)….and next, ladies and gentlemen…. a man, who tonight we´re gonna put his name in for the nomination to be the next president of the United States….it´s time there was a Big Man in the White House and there´s just one thing I wanna know… who’s the man whose cool just grows and grows ? (crowd : ”Clarence!”)….who’s the man whose loop comes and goes ? (crowd: ”Clarence!”) …..who’s the man who´s the apple of my eye ? (crowd : ”Clarence !”)….who´s the man that though he’s the king of the world, he´s just a regular kinda guy ? (crowd: ”Clarence!”)….who’s the guy who´s everything that’s near and dear to me ? (crowd: ‘‘Clarence!”)….who’s owed me a 100 bucks since 1963 ? (crowd: ”Clarence!”)….that´s right, the Big Man, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone….”

20.08.84 Meadowlands, NJ, intro to ´Born to Run´
´´I´d like to…just take a second and I´d like to thank all you guys for coming down tonight…. I´d like to, I know a lot of you guys been here for more than one night (chuckles) almost everybody (chuckles)…and if you can when you go home, thank your friends for making this stay here such a great time for us….this was, uh, every night….and I´d like to thank, I´d like to thank all the people that run this building, I´ve, I play a lot of places like this and I wanna tell you that this is, this is really one of the best run and most beautiful buildings like this in the country….really is, I´d like to thank these boys down in front here for doing such a good job….and….well, this is….ready, guys ?….let freedom ring…..”

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

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