1985-06-04 St. James' Park, Newcastle, England

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

The first ever performances in England of "Born In The U.S.A.", "Johnny 99", "Atlantic City", "Working On The Highway", "Glory Days", "My Hometown", "Cover Me", "Dancing In The Dark", "Downbound Train", "I'm On Fire", "Pink Cadillac", "Bobby Jean", and "Do You Love Me".

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´Johnny 99´´
´´Hello…nice to be back in England (chuckles)….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´Atlantic City´´
´´About 50 miles south of where I grew up, they brought in, uh….legalised gambling to try and bring their city back to life….now there´s big gold casinos….a block in from, from the projects….here´s ´Atlantic City´….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´The River´´
´´Thanks….I remember when I was growing up….my old man used to sit in the kitchen every night, he´d come home from work, go right to the kitchen, my mother´d come in and fix him his dinner and he wouldn´t move from the seat all night long, he´d just sit there….and he´d have all the lights out, he wouldn´t like any of us turning the lights on downstairs at night, he´d sit there smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer….and, uh, I remember my mother´d be in the livingroom watching television and she´d have like on, uh, those curlers, pink curlers, like all the ladies used to wear and slippers with big flowers on the toes, you know (chuckles)(?) and my old man used to lock up the frontdoor so he´d always know what time me and my sister was coming in, we used to have to come in around the kitchen….and if you were gonna come in too late, sometimes you were better off staying out, waiting for him to have a chance to sleep a little bit and coming in in the morning….so I used to keep this sleeping bag stashed kind of under somebody´s porch and sometimes if I was really late, I´d pull it out and I´d sleep on a friend of mine´s porch or sleep in somebody´s car….and now sometimes when I go home, them places seem more like my home than my house did to me when I was growing up and, uh, this song is everybody needs some place to go on those nights when they can´t go home….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´Glory Days´´
´´Now, this is a song about….old times….(?) it´s like this nostalgic, it´s sentimental….the older I get the more sentimental I get….I was sentimental when I was young too (chuckles) but this is like when you go out on a Friday night to a bar or something, there´s always somebody that comes up to you who you kind of recognise….´Bruce, Bruce, remember me? ….remember me? high school! back in high school? remember the guy, the guy that dumped the pizza pie on your shirt in study hall? yeah, that´s me! that was me, yeah, how you doing, great to see you´….and they´re always telling you what a great time you had in high school and stuff….like I remember like I hated high school when I was there….couldn´t stand no high school!….didn´t like no high school!….I´m still glad like I don´t have to do no more homework and stuff, I´m 35 (chuckles) it´s still fun when 8 o´clock comes around and I don´t have to look at ´em books….in high school I was only interested in two things, one was playing the guitar….and the other one was….you know, that one, that one….now, of the two, the guitar was the only one I became good at!….that´s why the show is so long - ´cause the other thing happens so fast all the time! (chuckles)….but I´m still looking for some volunteers ….who wanna practise, practise, practise, oh! no, I can´t, I´m married now, I can´t, no more volunteers, no more volunteers (chuckles) alright, you ready, Big Man?…anyway, in the end it ain´t nothing but glory days….and all things must pass….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´My Hometown´´
´´This is a song, I guess I wrote, uh….I was living in California for a while and, uh….I was thinking back to the town I grew up in….I remember when I was 17, 18, I couldn´t wait till I got out of there, I used to get on the bus every weekend and go to New York City, go up to the Village….you could breathe a little freer up there than you could where I lived in the late 60´s….and, uh, I was sure that when I got out of there, I´d never miss the place, I´d never wanna go back, I wouldn´t miss my folks, I got a chance to go on the road when I was 19 and for a long time I didn´t miss anything, I never missed my parents or wondered what my friends were doing….as I got older, I started to come back home, I´d get in my car and I´d drive back down the streets I grew up on, I caught up with some of my old friends to see what their lives had turned out like and I watched the town that they still lived in fall, fall apart around ´em….and I guess this is a song about belonging someplace….no matter where you go or what you become or what happens to you, it´s always in your blood….so this is from my hometown to your hometown…..´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´I´m on Fire´´
´´I remember my dad…always sitting around thinking about all the things he wasn´t ever gonna have….day after day….till he´d get you thinking that way too….and I remember standing down on the corner….watching the girls in the cars go by….coming home, laying in bed….staring at the ceiling….and feel….feeling like someday I was just gonna….like someday I was just gonna….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´Pink Cadillac´´
´´Well, alright….wait a minute now….I´m still thinking….now, this is a song about the conflict…..between worldly things and spiritual health….between desires of the flesh…. sexual desire….and spiritual ecstasy…oh yeah….it´s about temptation….who out there hasn´t been tempted? I gotta have it, I want it….but where did all this conflict begin?….well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden….now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia….but its actual location - and you´re gonna be reading about this in the newspapers any day - was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike….now, in the Garden of Eden, there were none of the accoutrements of modern living….you couldn´t go home and crawl up in a nice, soft, little bed, put your head on a little pillow and put the little Pop-Tarts in the toaster and watch tv…. you couldn’t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger, no Sir!….man, in the Garden of Eden there wasn´t no sin….and there wasn´t no sex either…..man lived in a state of innocence….now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in ….but to make a long story short….over here you´ve got the kingdom (chuckles) and over there you´ve got devious sexual practises….over here you´ve got the pearly gates….and over there you´ve got the pink Cadillac….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, middle of ´´Rosalita´´
´´Alright….ladies and gentlemen…. children of all ages….all you English people out there…. any Scottish people out there? (cheering) alright (chuckles) on the piano, Professor Roy Bittan….on the vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa….on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg….on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici….on the bass guitar, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the guitar, the incredible Mr.Nils Lofgren….and on the saxophone….weighing in at 265 pounds….the handsomest man….the biggest man you´ve ever seen, Clarence Big Man Clemons….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´Born to Run´´
´´Thanks….I´d like to just take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to the show tonight, thank you very much….yes, oh….it´s been a while since we played at the Town Hall? City Hall?….oh….I also….I´d like to thank all of youse for supporting the band over the years when we haven´t been able to get over here that much….we appreciate it so….uh, here´s to you….´´

04.06.85 Newcastle, England, intro to ´´Ramrod´´
´´Now we begin….´´

Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi

Born in the U.S.A. Tour hits the old St. James Park Twice

Greetings Facebonkers. It's anniversary season for those of a Springsteen disposition. Most of his UK shows have taken place at various points in the four-month period from April to July. This week we've been marking his 1981 stand at Wembley Arena, his 1985 gigs in Slane and Newcastle and his concerts in Glasgow, Coventry and Wembley four years ago. Today I'm going to focus on Bruce's two 1985 concerts at the old St James' Park football stadium, home of Newcastle FC. Conveniently, they took place just three days after the humongous megagig at Slane Castle in Ireland that I told you about four days ago, so I'll pick up where I left off.

On 2nd June 1985, the sunny morning after the Slane event, we dragged our aching and sunburnt bodies out of bed only a few hours after we'd climbed into them, counted our limbs to check they were all still there, climbed into our hired minibus and spent the day travelling slowly down the east coast to the ferry port at Rosslare, in time to catch the evening crossing to Fishguard in South Wales. After that 172-mile journey, we drove another 250 miles through the night (I still remember the lights of the huge Port Talbot steelworks as we passed it on the M4) in the direction of London, arriving at Dan's place around breakfast time on 3rd June. Once we'd got our heads down for a few hours, we drove a further 280 miles to Newcastle (actually our drivers Dave and Jeff did that, while we sat behind them apologising for not being able to drive), finally arriving at the B&B that would be our home for the next three nights. Back in 1981, some of our gang had seen Bruce play a single night at Newcastle City Hall, which had a capacity of 2000. Now he was playing two shows in the city for a combined crowd that was 40 times bigger.

The Newcastle concerts were Bruce's first in the UK for four years. Consequently they got more media coverage than his three London shows a month later. Since ending his 1981 tour at Birmingham NEC, he'd released "Nebraska", a stark solo acoustic album that only appealed to his hardcore fans, and "Born In The USA", a rock album that struck a chord with everyman and his dog, topped the charts, sold in millions and made sure that he returned as an all-conquering rock hero, a fact that long-term diehards in the 25-35 age bracket found hard to accept. We viewed the Johnny-come-lately new fans (who would likely move on to the next superstar in a year or two) with suspicion. Some of them only knew "BITUSA" and others probably thought "Born To Run" was written by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and a New Jersey was something granny gave them for Christmas. As a result, Bruce's music received wider exposure, which was no bad thing, but the intimacy of his earlier shows was missing. Crowd-pleasing rockers took precedence over the romantic epics from his first few albums and a great deal of his slower, quieter, introspective material. A necessary adjustment for a mass audience in big outdoor venues. Nevertheless, it was what it was, an unrepeatable career peak that the old guard were temporarily sharing with hordes of youngsters wearing sweatbands and wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, even if they'd been no further than the Isle of Wight. Despite our reservations, there was never any question of us boycotting the gigs in protest at the new normal. Bruce's live reputation was still second to none and while seeing him in a football stadium was not ideal, it was preferable to waiting 14 years until he played indoors with the E Street Band again.

After 35 years burning down the road, my memory of the next two days is a little hazy. My time was spent wandering around town, queueing to get in, grabbing occasional food and drink, socialising with my fellow travellers, meeting other fans, attending post-gig Bruce parties and buying numerous local broadsheet newspapers, whose souvenir editions were packed with previews, reviews and photo spreads throughout Bruce's sojourn in Newcastle. The national press also got in on the act, with headlines like "Salute Bruce Springs-Tyne" and "Boss Of Tyneside". We felt it was our duty to boost circulation. Bruce's shows were a big deal for the rock scene in the northeast and for Newcastle in particular, which had in recent years hosted concerts by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, but was now the location for what the "Northern Echo" called "The Greatest Show On Earth".

Although the capacity of St James' Park (close to 40,000 each night) was undoubtedly huge, it was less than half the size of Slane. The shows took place in a stadium instead of a field, there were no dangerous slopes, no senseless drunks (thanks to a ban on alcohol), more crowd control, stands to sit in and no trespassers, all of which made the Newcastle concerts a considerably more comfortable experience and enabled us to concentrate on the show with no fear of being trampled underfoot. Reviews suggest that it rained on the second night but I don't recall that at all. Maybe my sunny disposition blocked it out.
The sets didn't change all that much on the 1985 European tour but we did get a handful of alternative choices over the two nights that weren't played at Slane, including "Racing In The Street", "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", "Because The Night", "Can't Help Falling In Love" and the rarely-played Vietnam-themed B-side "Shut Out The Light", which Bruce prefaced with his now-familiar story about how he met "Born On The Fourth Of July" author Ron Kovik. This selection was particularly special because it was dedicated to Paul Lucas, one of the travelling family of Springsteen fans I'd recently met and was standing close to at that moment. He'd spoken to Bruce before a soundcheck on 3rd June and given him a copy of the book "Dispatches" by Vietnam war correspondent Michael Herr, which described war from the soldier's point of view. His request for "Shut Out The Light" had been met with "maybe second night" and so it was. Paul's reaction could be heard on the bootleg tape that later circulated, together with that of multiple strangers who didn't have a clue who he was but cheered anyway. This fact was later noted in a review by pop magazine "No. 1". "Bruce dedicates a song 'to Paul, if you're out there'. 10,000 people cheer and wave. Are they ALL called Paul?"

The next day, our travelling band went their separate ways after a tiring week on the road. Some crossed to the European mainland to see more shows, while the rest of us went home to recuperate and prepare for the next UK gigs at Wembley Stadium and Leeds Roundhay Park in early July. Meanwhile, Bruce jetted off to Gothenburg for another two-night stand, having given $20,000 to the Northumberland and Durham Miner's Support Group.

Of the six shows Bruce played in the UK that year, the pair in Newcastle featured the lowest audience capacities at close to 40,000. This was roughly one third of the total number of people who saw him on his entire 16-date UK tour in 1981, which illustrates the massive increase in his pulling power in the mid-eighties. This level of popularity has never waned on this side of the ocean in terms of attendance at E Street Band gigs. In the 35 years that have elapsed since 1985, Bruce has only played 12 indoor concerts with his old cohorts in the UK. The remainder took place in stadiums and at festival sites, including Glastonbury, Isle Of Wight and Hard Rock Calling. It's interesting to speculate what course his performing career might have followed if Bruce had decided to release "Nebraska 2" in 1984 instead of "BITUSA". His visits may not have been so frequent and he certainly wouldn't have made that giant leap into stadiums. We would probably have seen him at the City Hall in 1985 instead of St James' Park. He finally did appear there again on the Tom Joad solo tour in 1996 but, as ever, that's another story.

Saunders over and out.

^{By Mike Saunders via Facebook.com.}

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Born in the U.S.A. Tour hits the old St. James Park Twice