Story 1985-06-05 Newcastle, England
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05.06.85 Newcastle, England, 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…..”

05.06.85 Newcastle, England, 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 ?….”

05.06.85 Newcastle, England, 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…..”

05.06.85 Newcastle, England, 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….”

05.06.85 Newcastle, England, 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….”

05.06.85 Newcastle, England, 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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