I had somehow ended up with tickets to four shows on Bruce Spingsteen’s River Tour in 1981. I think I originally bought one for Wembley Arena and then found out that Piccadilly Records were running a trip to the Birmingham Show so bought two tickets for that. Then the Newcastle and Manchester shows were added so as I have already explained I got tickets for those two as well.
Then the tour was postponed and when it was rearranged the Newcastle show was the first UK show and the Birmingham one was the last. I ended up selling my Wembley ticket as if I recall correctly it clashed with one of my exams when the date was rearranged. Although the Birmingham wasn’t as intimate as the two others I attended I’m glad I went because he played Jungleland for the only time in any of the shows that I saw!
Set list:
Set One
The Ties That Bind
Prove It All Night
Out in the Street
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Follow That Dream
Johnny Bye-Bye
Jackson Cage
Trapped
Two Hearts
The Promised Land
The River
This Land Is Your Land
Who’ll Stop the Rain
Badlands
Thunder Road
Set Two
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Cadillac Ranch
Sherry Darling
Hungry Heart
Jole Blon
Fire
I Wanna Marry You
Racing in the Street
Ramrod
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
E
Jungleland
Born to Run
Detroit Medley
Rockin’ All Over the World
Far as I can recollect, there were two shows in the NEC. I was at the second one and I thought it was brilliant, perhaps because we were a few rows from the front of the stage. Also being indoors made the show very intimate. Over the years I attended many of Bruce’s shows in Dublin, Belfast and Kilkenny, as well as seeing him in New York and Tampa. Nobody does a show better than the BOSS.
Thanks Bruce.