1985-06-05 St. James' Park, Newcastle, England

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

Info & Setlist | Venue

European debuts of "Darlington County" and "Shut Out The Light".

Intro to "Shut Out the Light"
´´This is a song I was….it was in the late-70´s, I was driving….across country with a friend of mine….and we stopped in….in Phoenix, Arizona….and I went into this drugstore to find something to read….and I found this little paperback called ´Born on the Fourth of July´ by, by a fella named Ron Kovic….and it was a story about a….a Vietnam Veteran who went away, went to the war, came back…..and, and what he found….and we drove on to Los Angeles and I was staying in this little motel….I remember I was out and I was swimming in the pool and uh….I had the book with me on the table and there was a guy sitting in a wheelchair….and I walked over to him and sat down, he said ´I wrote that book´….and uh, this is a song about coming home, this is for Paul, if you´re out there…..”

Intro to "Glory Days"
´´(after the singlong) Alright, that´s good singing, everybody can join the band (chuckles)…. now, what I wanna know is….who´s over 30 years old out there today ? (not much response) ….who´s under 30 ? (cheers)….oh, I feel old now (chuckles) I´m about 30, 30, I´m up there, alright (chuckles) now, the Big Man, he´s 30, he´s 40, 40….but as you can see he has maintained his youthful beauty completely….he´s got all of it, man, some people, they never lose it (chuckles) oh, my back, my back, no, no (chuckles)…this is a song about….old times, nostalgia (chuckles)….it´s for everybody, if you got any kids or if you got your wife sitting by you out there….this is for you….where´s my hat ?….is my hat around here ?….”

Intro to "My Hometown"
´´Oh….man, I remember when I was growing up….I lived in this real small town….and I can remember I could never stand it there, it seemed like everybody….I was 17, everybody seemed so narrowminded….and so sure you had to do it this way….but uh….I think that for a long time it was real hard for me to get to the place where I felt like belonged anywhere…. got out on the road and it felt so good (chuckles) for such a long time….and uh….this is about, this is a song about belonging someplace….no matter where you go or what happens to you, the place that you were born and raised always stays in your blood….those people always stay there…. and it´s hard ´cause sometimes I go home and I drive back down the streets I grew up on….and I can watch my town falling apart….I see people that couldn´t find jobs, people that had to move, move South, they´d go South and they couldn´t find jobs down there….but anyway, this is from my hometown to your hometown…..”

Intro to "I´m on Fire"
´´I can remember….my old man sitting at the table at night waiting for me to come in….I can remember I´d slick my hair back so it´d look real short….get up on the porch….he´d let me get through the kitchen where he was sitting….and he´d let me get back to the bottom of the stairs till he´d call me to come back….I remember sitting there with him, I´d sit there in the dark….it was always like he was pissed off if I was….having too much fun or something (chuckles)….he just sat there….thinking about all the things he wasn´t gonna have….until he´d get me thinking like, like him….and I´d go and I´d lay up in bed….I´d stare at the ceiling…. and I remember feeling like….like someday I was just gonna….feeling like I just wanted to ….like I just wanted….”

Middle of "Rosalita"
´´Are you ready, band ?….are you ready, people ?….alright….ladies and gentlemen…. children of all ages….all you English people….all you Scottish people….it´s now time to introduce the band….on the piano, the smartest man in rock and roll….he gave up a scholarship at Yale and joined the European tour with the E Street Band….Professor Roy Bittan on the keyboards….on the vocals, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Miss Patti Scialfa….on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg….on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici….on the bass guitar with the thunder from down under, Mr.Garry W.Tallent…. and on the guitar, the one, the only, the incredible Mr.Nils Lofgren…..and now last but not least….do I have to say his name ?….do I have to say his name ?….gimme a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ?….what´s that spell ?….what´s that spell ?…Clarence Big Man Clemons on the saxophone….”

Intro to "Can´t Help Falling in Love With You"
´´Thanks….thank you….I´d like to just thank everybody for coming down to the shows we did here in Newcastle, thank you very much…..I know some of you folks traveled a pretty long distance and I want you to know we appreciate it….this was a….this is a song, I guess, in 1975 we were in the States on the Born to Run-tour….I guess I was about 26….and it was the first time we ever played Memphis….and it was after the show, we played this little auditorium and uh, we went back to the hotel and me and my guitar player, Steve, were sitting around (cheers)…..you know he´s got a good album that came out a little while ago called ´Voice of America´, by the way (chuckles) he sends his regards….we were sitting around and we wanted to get something to eat and called up a taxi, when the guy came, we said we wanted to eat someplace outside of town and he said ´I know some place right out by Elvis´ house´….so we said ´Wow, you know where Elvis lives ?´, he says ´Yeah, yeah´ so we said ´Well, take us there right now´….so it was about 3.30 in the morning and, and we pulled up in front of Graceland, I remember I got out and I stood in front of those gates that had the guitar players on ´em….and I seen a light, I looked in and I seen a light in a second-story window where I figured that Elvis must be up reading or something late at night (chuckles) so….anyway, I said ´Steve´, I said ´Steve, I gotta do it´ and I jumped up over the wall and I started to run up the driveway and the cab driver was saying ´No, man, don´t do that, they got big dogs over there and they will eat you´….I ran up the driveway and I got to the frontdoor which, uh, now, I guess I think was kind of a stupid thing to do ´cause I hate it when people do it at my house, you know (chuckles) it´s like somebody come by real late at night (chuckles) but anyway I was filled with the enthusiasm of youth and uh (chuckles) jumped up and I ran to the frontdoor and I knocked on the door and these two guards came out of the woods and they said ´What do you want ?´, I said ´Is Elvis home ?´ (chuckles) and they said, uh, ´No, no, he´s in Lake Tahoe´, I said ´Oh, well, you see, I play the guitar too and like I had my picture in Time and Newsweek´ and they go ´Yeah, yeah, sure, sure´ (chuckles) you know, but anyway they took me down, they were real nice and they put me back out on the street (chuckles) but uh, I don´t know….I always, for some reason when I come to England….I guess, the first time I ever got into England, I got into a cab and, and the guy, on the dashboard, had a picture of Elvis pasted on, I don´t know what I would´ve said to him if I´d´ve got in….but anyway….this is, uh, this is for you guys….”

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

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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.}

Links:

Sunderland miners thank Bruce Springsteen for strike donation ^(BBCNews)

Mike	I was stationed in London and had already caught a couple shows in the states. Took the train up to Newcastle with another Springsteen fan, hit the pubs and got hooked on Newcastle Brown Ale. We had pretty good seats for the show, all those Brits waving American flags singing born in the U.S.A. as awesome. Great show as always, we met a couple British girls and spent the night in Newcastle, thanks Bruce!
Bill	I was a first year student at Newcastle University studying chemistry that year. I remember very well , it was my last exam that particularly day, so all of us headed to St. James' Park straight after handing over our answer sheets. It was a 4 hour show….awesome as usual!!!!! I was very close to the pit dancing the whole evening away. Thanks Bruce!!!! I will never forget that wonderful evening. I still got the ticket!!!!
Neil	I also headed to that concert after finishing my last exam at the end of my first year at University - for me it was a four hour train journey from Aberdeen though, and we didn't get to the stadium till nearly 6.30pm, missing the first four songs or so in the process. Was totally blown away by how amazing that concert was and I became a Springsteen obsessive that summer, getting all the albums I didn't already have when I got home. Our train back to Aberdeen left at around 2.30am, so we spent the hours after the concert at a nightclub which had put on a Springsteen themed night. Plenty Newcastle Brown Ales from what I recall. I think I still have the tour t-shirts hidden away at the bad of a wardrobe - sadly they won't fit me any more…

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