30.05.81 London, England, intro to “Independence Day”
“This is…”Independence Day” (crowd cheers) I need, I need a little quiet for this song, thank you…(music starts)…I grew up in this, in this house where nobody ever talked to, talked to each other…it seemed, unless, unless it was real late at night…or unless there was a fight…and when I got to be about eighteen, I remember I was, I was dying to get out…and I finally did and I was sure that when I got away, I was never, was never ever gonna miss my folks or miss that town I grew up in…and for a long time I never did…but as I got older, I started to think back on the kind of life that…that, that my parents had to live and I was at this…I ate dinner over at my aunt’s house one night and she gave me this picture of my old man and my mom when, it was in 1946 and he was standing there looking straight into the camera with this suit on and…I remember I thought that he looked just like John Garfield in that picture…and I’d never seen him look that way growing up with him, he was always just sitting at the kitchen table at night, drinking too much or off…or off at work…and so I went out to California where my folks moved…and…and he was, he’d changed a lot in the years since he moved from, from New Jersey where we grew up…and I thought it took us thirty years to be able to…to tell each other that we, that we loved each other…that’s something you ought to be able to tell your…mother and father without it hurting too much, I guess (chuckles)(crowd cheers) ‘cause family, they just never go away…”
30.05.81 London, England, intro to “Johnny Bye Bye”
“This is, uh, in 1977 we played in Memphis, Tennesee, and…it was about three in the morning and we went down to the, to Graceland …and I jumped over the wall and tried to see Elvis…’cause there was a little light on in the house…but this is, uh, this is another song, this is about fathers and sons and this is about…not having to die…for nothing, I guess…”
30.05.81 London, England, middle of “Rosalita”
“On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) on the guitar…Miami Steve Van Zandt (crowd cheers) on the bass, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) and last but not least (crowd cheers) I’m talking about the king of the world now (crowd cheers) I’m talking about the master of the universe (crowd cheers) the emperor of all things (crowd cheers) the prince of the city (crowd cheers) the man is faster than a speeding bullet (crowd cheers) he’s more powerful than a roaring locomotive (crowd cheers) the guy can leap tall women, I mean tall buildings in a single bound (crowd cheers) is it a bird? (crowd: “No”) is it a plane? (crowd: “No”) is it the twister? (crowd: “No”) Spotlight on the Big Man, don’t he look great?…”
30.05.81 London, England, intro to “Born to Run”
“I’d like to, I’d like to thank everybody for coming down to the show, thank you very much (crowd cheers) and I’d like to apologize for us having to cancel out on you the first time, I’m so glad we got here, alright…”
Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi