07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´Atlantic City´
´´Back where I live….they legalised….gambling to try and help the economy in this one beach town….and now they got….gangs fighting for control of the casinos….and uh….these big golden gambling palaces (?) about a block in from the slums….this is called ´Atlantic City´…”
07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´The River´
´´Oh yeah….this is a song, when I was….growing up….my old man used to come home from work every day….he´d walk right in the backdoor and he´d sit down at the table….and my mother´d bring him his dinner and he´d sit there all night long….and he wouldn´t really talk very much….he sat there for, uh….about 18 years, as long as I was in the house, I´ll never know what he was thinking about….he never said anything about it….but he used to wait for me and my sister to come in….and uh….he´d lock up the frontdoor so we used to have to come in around the side….and he´d always wait, I´d stand out in the driveway and I´d pull my collar up over my hair so he couldn´t tell how long it was….it was longer then, it´s shorter now (chuckles)…..but uh, he used to hate it…..I´d pull my collar up and he´d let me get through the kitchen and then he let me get through the livingroom and just as I was about to get my foot on the bottom step, he´d, I hear….´Bruuce´….and he´d be calling me to come back and I´d have to come back and I´d sit down with him and we´d sit there and we´d stare at each other…..but uh, some nights if you were coming in too late, you were better off waiting till the morning , till he´d had a chance to sleep a little bit and uh, so I used to keep this sleeping bag stashed on the outside of these woods….and sometimes I´d sleep on somebody´s porch or in somebody´s car….you know….and now when I go home, them places are….are more like…they´re more like my home to me than my own house was….but I guess that´s the way it is when you´re growing up…..anyway…..this is a song ´cause, uh, everybody needs some place to go on those nights when they can´t go home…..”
**07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´Glory Days´ **
"Now…this is a song about getting old….yeah….I´m getting old, man….oh yeah, oh yeah, I gotta sit down, I gotta rest a minute….all this jumping around, man, when you get old, makes you tired….yeah, I´m, uh….I´m 35 now….who´s, anybody else 35, anybody older than that out there?…..few of you guys….now, Roy, he just had his birthday last week, he´s 36….now, he´s done, man, that´s it, once you´re 36, you´re over the hill, you´re finished….when you´re 35, you still got a chance to live a little bit….I still got four or five months of my life ahead of me still….well, now, the Big Man, he´s older than, uh….he´s older than, uh….how old are those trees out there, no….but he always, somehow he always maintains his youthful beauty ….he gets handsomer all the time….yeah, he just had a, him and his wife, they just had a little Big Man….and he´s handsome too, man….he´s got a real little saxophone….anyway….man, this is a song about…. Father time….time´s winged chariot….and how in the …it ain´t nothing but glory days….."
07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´The Promised Land´
´´Thanks….oh, some of you guys I´ve been seeing….in the front row in every show we´ve done here in England (chuckles) and…..I wanna do this song for youse, alright (chuckles)….”
07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´My Hometown´
´´Thanks….this is our….this is the last show of our….European tour today….and uh….I guess, uh…I´d like to thank youse….and if any of you folks were at the London shows (cheers) some of you, yeah…..I´d like to thank you for making….your hometown our hometown…..”
07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´I´m on Fire´
´´I remember my dad sitting the kitchen….thinking about everything we wasn´t ever gonna have…he´d get me sitting there at night with him….till he´d get me thinking like that too….I´d be laying up in bed….feeling like if something didn´t happen…I remember feeling like I was just gonna….like if something didn´t happen….feeling like I just….like I just wanted to….like I´d just….”
07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´Racing in the Street´
´´It was like right around the end of the summer….when it was still, still be really hot in the daytime….but at night sometimes it´d really cool off…I remember I, I had this old, had this old Camaro that I´d bought for 500 dollars….and it was convertible and when you got the top down, it wouldn´t go back up again (chuckles) so if it rained….it just rained….but I used to take it out around 11, 12 at night, I put on a couple of t-shirts and a sweatshirt and my leather jacket and lock up the house….and I´d go driving down along the coast….and there used to be this place where, it was out on the edge of town, was like a junkyard, I guess, where we used to meet on the weekends….people from town´d bring down all the stuff they didn´t want no more and leave it out to rust out, rust out in the rain….but it was a place where we´d get together and sit around and talk….and that was the first place that I met her and uh….we started going out and it´s like….you know how it is when you first start going out with somebody, like everything they do is wonderful (chuckles) they think you´re great, you know (chuckles)….you know, laughing at each other´s stupid jokes….and it was like that for a while, you know, and then, uh….something happened, I don´t know what pulls people apart but it got to where she didn´t wanna talk much any more, wanted to stay in at night….
and she started to hiding, she´d be hiding the keys to my car so I couldn´t take it out at night (chuckles)…. and uh, I don´t know what happened, it was like….I know that once….she understood that when I took out the car….and when I won…..that it was the only time when I got to feeling like….something was happening to me….like I wasn´t just sitting around wasting away….I wasn´t just sitting around turning into nothing….and to have just one thing, one thing in your whole life that you can do….that makes you feel proud of yourself….that´s not too much for anybody to ask ….that´s not much….I don´t think….”
07.07.85 Leeds, England, middle of ´Rosalita´
´´Ladies and gentlemen…children of all ages….boys and girls….and all you English people out there….I´d like to introduce the members of the E Street Band….on th the piano…a man that gave up a scholarship to Oxford University to join the European tour with the E Street Band….you may be familiar with his study of the lost tribes of Hoboken, his theory of promiscuity, a man who gave up higher education for rock´n´roll dedication…the smartest man in the entertainment industry, ´Professor´ Roy Bittan on the piano….(?)….on the vocals, an alumni of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Miss Patti Scialfa ….on the drums, the man who puts the heat in the beat, ´the Mighty´ Max Weinberg….on the organ, the mysterious, charismatic, ´Phantom´ Dan Federici….on the bass, the man that brings you the thunder from down under, that puts the bass in your face, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the guitar, Nils Lofgren….and last but not least…..the man that´s known around the world as the king of the world….the master of the universe….the emperor of everything….but these titles do not do him justice, in this corner weighing 265 pounds, the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world….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…”
07.07.85 Leeds, England, intro to ´Follow That Dream´
´´Thanks, thank you….this is a song….was, uh….was an old Elvis Presley movie song….I always liked it and I guess the first thing I remember when I was a kid was I´d come downstairs in the morning and my mother would always have the radio on while we were eating breakfast before we went to school….and I can remember, I guess I was nine years old ….a Sunday night when Elvis came on the Ed Sullivan Show….you know….and it always stayed with me….in 1975 we were in Memphis on the ´Born to Run´-tour….I was but a young lad at the time (chuckles)….but it was late, it was around 3.30 in the morning and me and my guitar player Steve….we called up a taxi cab to come and take us out to Elvis´ house ….and the cab came and drove us out to Graceland and we got out, I remember the night was real quiet and we looked through those two gates with the guitar players on ´em and I could see a light on in the second floor window….and I said ´Steve, man, I gotta, I gotta try´ and I jump up over the wall and I got down on the other side and I started running up the driveway towards the frontdoor…I don´t know what I was planning on saying or doing….but uh, just as I got there and started to knock and a guard came out of the woods and asked me what I wanted….I said ´Gee, is Elvis home ?´….he said ´No, no, Elvis isn´t here right now´, he was pretty nice, he was talking to me like he´d expected me or something (chuckles) and ´No, he´s gone away´ and I told him that I was a guitar player too, that I had my own band and that we played in Memphis that night….and I told him, I remember I told him that I had my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek (chuckles) I really did once (chuckles) but uh, I don´t know, nothing worked, you know (chuckles) so he took me by the arm and he put me back out on the street….and Steve said ´Did you meet him ? did you meet him ?´ ´No´ (chuckles) but uh….it wasn´t too long after that that a friend of mine called me and told me that he´d died….and it was hard to understand how somebody….whose music had come in and taken away so many people´s loneliness, made you feel like you were a part of something and whose music gave, I know when I was young, it gave such a….such a reason to live, made me feel a promise of life….could´ve died so tragically…and uh, I guess you gotta be careful, it´s easy to let the best of yourself slip away….I´d like to, I´d like to do this song for youse tonight, wishing youse all the longest life with the best of everything….”
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi