The River Tour

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The third leg of the tour, during April through June 1981 (and pushed back three weeks from the original schedule, due to Springsteen's exhaustion from the first two legs), represented Springsteen's first real foray into Western Europe, and his first appearances there at all since his very short venture there following the release of  Born to Run  in 1975. In total 34 shows were played, including six nights at London's Wembley Arena. Ten countries were visited: West Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

The final leg was billed as a "homecoming tour", visiting U.S. cities that had been special in Springsteen's career for multiple night stands, beginning with six nights that opened his native New Jersey's Meadowlands Arena. After 34 shows in just 10 cities, this leg concluded on September 13 and 14 at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum.

  • 1 Broadcasts and Recordings
  • 2 Personnel
  • 4 Postponed dates

Broadcasts and Recordings [ ]

Of all Springsteen's tours, The River Tour is perhaps the least known in retrospect to people who were not there. For many years, unlike tours before and since, there was little official audio or video documentation of it — no live radio broadcasts, no live album, no music videos made from concert footage, and no DVD releases. The  Live/1975-85  box set had thirteen selections from the tour, but they formed little thematic pattern. Shows from the tour were of course bootlegged, but otherwise they are mostly lost to time.

Partial video of the November 5, 1980 show in Tempe was released as part of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection , and audio of the missing songs was released through the Bruce Springsteen Archives as a free download on December 24, 2015.

Several shows have since been released as part of the Bruce Springsteen Archives:

Nassau Coliseum, New York 1980 , released March 25, 2015 and re-mixed and re-released on July 5, 2019.

Wembley Arena, June 5, 1981 , released August 3, 2018.

Nassau Coliseum, New York 12/29/80 , released July 5, 2019.

Brendan Byrne Arena, July 9, 1981 released May 1, 2020.

Nassau Coliseum, Dec 28, 1980 , released December 3, 2021

London, June 4, 1981 , released June 3, 2022

Personnel [ ]

  • Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica
  • Roy Bittan  – piano, background vocals
  • Clarence Clemons  – saxophone, percussion, background vocals
  • Danny Federici  – organ, glockenspiel, background vocals
  • Garry Tallent  – bass guitar
  • Steven Van Zandt  – guitars, background vocals
  • Max Weinberg  – drums

Postponed dates [ ]

  • 1 Born In The U.S.A. Tour
  • 2 Cindy Mizelle
  • 3 The E Street Horns

Bruce Springsteen lyrics -- Bruce Springsteen shows -- Bruce Springsteen records

Bruce springsteen database main page.

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Ultimate Classic Rock

When Bruce Springsteen Began His First Major European Tour

By 1981,  Bruce Springsteen had spent very little time outside the United States – despite having been a major rock star for six years. That changed on April 7, 1981, when he brought The River tour to Europe at the Congress Centrum in Hamburg.

Springsteen and the E Street Band had only been overseas once before, supporting Born to Run with four shows – two in London, with Stockholm and Amsterdam in between – over a one-week spell in November 1975. This time was a full two-month stretch, with multiple dates in several major cities.

But there was a snag. They were originally supposed to begin with 12 shows in the U.K. starting on March 17. But the grueling North American leg, which began in October 1980 and ran virtually nonstop through March, took its toll on Springsteen. As it was, two dates in February (Indianapolis and Lexington, Ky.) had to be postponed and rescheduled for the end of the leg due to Springsteen's exhaustion. In order to give him more time to recuperate, the U.K. nights were rescheduled.

Dave Marsh's Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005 said that it took a while for the reserved West German audience to give the band the reaction it was used to in the States. They didn't get to their feet. in fact, until the last song of the first set: "Badlands," which was introduced by pianist Roy Bittan playing Ennio Morricone's theme from Once Upon a Time in the West . They continued through the second set and the encores, which closed out with a cover of John Fogerty 's "Rockin' All Over the World."

But the highlight, according to Marsh, came two weeks later at the Palau Municipal Deportes in Barcelona. Six years earlier, the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco ended his fascist 40-year reign and the oppression of the region of Catalonia. Springsteen was the first American rocker to play Barcelona.

Marsh recalled what he saw: "You could smell freedom busting loose in the air, the yearning the Barcelonans had for what Americans took for granted, [to] feel the desire out there to win something I'd have a hard time defining because I never spent my life being denied it. ... [N]o crowd I've ever been around has proved it all night the way that that one in 1981 did. Not in Barcelona, and not anywhere else. ... It wasn't freedom, it was liberation."

Springsteen and the E Street Band continued through Europe, making up the postponed dates in England and Scotland between May 11 and June 8. They returned to the U.S. to play an anti-nuclear benefit at the Hollywood Bowl a week later. In July, they began another two-and-a-half month tour of the U.S., beginning with the first-ever events at the Brendan Byrne Arena in E. Rutherford, N.J.    

See Buce Springsteen Among the Top 100 Live Albums

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springsteen tour 1981

Concert review: Did Bruce Springsteen deliver a classic show at Mohegan Sun? You bet.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — I have seen the future of peptic ulcer disease and its name is Bruce Springsteen.

Not to make light of the medical ailment that sidelined the 74-year-old rocker for six months starting back in September, but Springsteen’s twice-rescheduled concert played Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena was clearly done by a man who wasn’t hurting from a bellyache.

Quite simply, Springsteen looked great, sounded even greater and was working on all cylinders.

And keeping up with The Boss all night was his “heart-stopping, pants-dropping, earth-shocking, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, floor-(expletive), history-making, legendary” E Street Band.

More: At a Clark concert 50 years ago, Bruce Springsteen heralded things to come

Measuring 17 members strong (18 if you count Springsteen), the E Street Band is a rock 'n' roll juggernaut, featuring three killer guitarists (Springsteen, Little Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren), bassist Garry W. Tallent, drummer “Mighty” Max Weinberg, keyboardist “Professor” Roy Bittan, keyboardist/accordionist Charlie Giordano and violinist Soozie Tyrell, as well as a five-piece horn section led by Jake Clemons, along with trumpeters Curt Ramm and Barry Danielian, saxophonist Eddie Manion and trombonist Ozzie Melendez; four backup singers — Curtis King Jr., Michelle Moore, Lisa Lowell and Ada Dyer — and percussionist Anthony Almonte.

Springsteen’s performance Friday night at Mohegan Sun was joyous, triumphant, spirited and, in many ways, inspirational and life-affirming. This was not a man on his last leg or ready to throw in the towel on the live concert circuit just yet. This was a man in the prime of his life and at the top of his game. Maybe Springsteen didn’t perform one of his signature marathons of the past, but two hours and 47 minutes, with 27 gems, isn’t shabby either.

Springsteen was rolling nothing but sevens with the set opener “Roll of the Dice,” the same song he opened with the last time he played the Connecticut casino on May 18, 2014.

“We’re back,” Springsteen roared at the crowd before singing a single word. “I don’t care if you lost your money or you won your winnings. Tonight we’re going to make you the luckiest people in the world.”

And Springsteen wasn’t kidding.                   

Wearing a buttoned-up, striped gray vest, a gray, long-sleeved shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a polka-dot black tie (later revealed tucked in his shirt), gray dungarees and leather working boots, Springsteen was dressed more like a card dealer from the casino than a rock star.

But the audience soon found out that Springsteen held all the cards and the cards were stacked in his favor.

And while Springsteen stared at his own mortality straight in its eyes in several numbers — and there were a few moments that he looked a little weak at the knees — Springsteen is still the best ticket rock 'n' roll has to offer.

True, Springsteen’s recent guest-starring stint on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” opposite Larry David showed The Boss has a career in situation comedy if his music career ever peters out. I can see it now, a reboot of “The Odd Couple” with Springsteen as messy Oscar and Steven Van Zandt as fussy clean freak Felix; or better yet, “Who’s The Boss,” with Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfa (a no-show Friday night), taking over the Tony Danza and Judith Light roles.

Then again, sitcom TV has to wait because Springsteen shows no signs of slowing down on the live rock front quite yet.

Strengthening the theme that the audience could thank its lucky stars for being there Friday night, Springsteen delivered the tour debut of the underrated gem “Lucky Town,” which featured The Boss wailing on trusty, beat-up Fender Telecaster.

The gritty precursor to “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” “Seeds” started subtle and rough around the edges before erupting into a riveting, band-driven barn-burner.

“The Promised Land” featured a harmonica-playing Springsteen huffing and puffing his belief that there has to be something better out there. Surveying the crowd, Springsteen tossed his mouth harp to one lucky fan in the pit.

In full rock 'n' roll preacher mode, Springsteen cried out, "Can you feel the spirit?" before breaking into the evening's undisputed highlight, "Spirits in the Night."

As he poured out his guts and magically transported himself back to the "Greasy Lake" of his youth, Springsteen initially treated fans sitting behind the stage the best view of the performance, while later taking a playful breather with saxophonist Clemons, first with the two sitting in front of Weinberg’s drum-riser and later with Springsteen stretched out on the floor, singing the lyrics while resting his back on Clemons.

Ten songs in, Springsteen talked about the mission at hand that he shares that night with the E Street Band.

“We’re here tonight to bring the joyous power of rock ‘n’ roll into your life. We’re here to bring some (expletive) fun. We are here to wake you up and shake you up and then take you up to higher ground,” Springsteen said. “We need you to take us where we want to go tonight. Because we plan on sending you home with your feet hurting, your hands hurting, your sexual organs stimulated. It comes with the price of admission.”

Perched in front of the stage, Springsteen explained that the powerful rock ‘n’ roll sermon “My City of Ruins” is “a story about yesterday. It’s a story about tonight and, hopefully, a story about tomorrow. It’s about hellos and goodbyes and the things that leaves us and the things that remains with us.”

During the band's “roll call,” Springsteen asked, “Are we missing anyone tonight?”

At first, the faithful in the audience knew Bruce was addressing E Street Band organist/accordionist Danny Federici and the band’s beloved saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died in 2008 and 2011, respectively.  

Then Springsteen embraced the spirits of the loved ones that audience members have lost, while offering solace with these inspirational words, “I don’t know where we go when all of this is over, but I know what remains. The only thing I can guarantee tonight is that if you’re here and we’re here, together, they’re here with us.,”

Talk about cover me. Springsteen performed arguably his best cover in his musical repertoire, Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped,” while the E Street Choir led by Curtis King Jr. channeled the voices and spirits of the soul/R&B greats Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson did during the cover of the Commodores’ “Nightshift.”

Springsteen stood tall and proud and mostly on his own on the poignant guitar ballad “Last Man Standing,” his loving ode to the greatest adventure of his young life, his first real rock ‘n’ roll band. Here, Springsteen reminisced how he was recruited to join his first band, The Castiles, when he was 15 by his sister’s then-boyfriend George Theiss, and how in 2018, Theiss, the only surviving member of the group beside Springsteen, died, hence making Springsteen the subject of the song’s title.

The Boss carried this heavy theme over to “Backstreets,” rattling off the physical mementos he inherited from his old bandmate, including his old records and a faded snapshot, then concluding, “And the rest, the rest, I’m going to carry right here,” as he pats his heart.

By the time Springsteen played the tour debut of “I’m on Fire” in the midway of the set, Springsteen seemed to be stating the obvious.

After inviting the crowd to come on up for “The Rising,” Springsteen ended his main set with the one-two punch of “Badlands” and “Thunder Road.”

And if that wasn’t enough to please the crowd, the roof was raised once again during the timeless rock anthem “Born to Run,” which kicked off the first encore.

Although the Three Stooges-inspired hijinks of late were toned down a bit (a lot of mugging to the camera but no face poking or nose twirling), the always show-stopping "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" was an absolute delight.

After a double shot from “Born in the U.S.A.” (“Bobby Jean” and “Dancing in the Dark”), the first encore ended with the perfect tail-end blowout, “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out."

Springsteen closed out the night with a second encore, a solo acoustic rendition of “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”

Not if we see you first.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Concert review: Did Bruce Springsteen deliver a classic show at Mohegan Sun? You bet.

Bruce Springsteen on stage at Mohegan Sun Friday night.

Opinion The ‘spine-tingling’ live music moments that live in readers’ memories

In his March 25 essay, “ Take it from me: See your music heroes before it’s too late ,” Post columnist Marc Thiessen chronicled his passion for concertgoing. We asked readers to share their most indelible live-music memories. Hundreds of them wrote in with tales of serendipity, transcendence and lifelong dreams fulfilled.

I paid for one concert. I got two.

I went to see Prince at the Worcester Centrum some years ago. After the show, we went to a local hotel to have a drink in the bar while traffic cleared out. As we were sipping our drinks, we heard a bit of a hubbub, we heard a guitar, and we stepped out of our corner booth to see: Prince and the Revolution onstage in the hotel bar. Prince felt that the concert had been sloppy and his band needed a rehearsal. And there we were, dozens of us, grooving to Prince at a hotel bar. It was the most glorious night I will ever see.

Julia Figueras , Rochester, N.Y.

Fans in perfect harmony

Back before Ed Sheeran was a megastar, I got to see him in concert at Hollywood’s intimate Hotel Cafe. Standing two feet from the stage, I chatted with a couple of superfans who’d literally flown in to L.A. just for the show.

Eventually, Ed took the stage — it was just him, his guitar and his looping machine — and started his performance. When he got to the song “Lego House,” my new superfan friends were singing along, but in perfect harmony with Ed. As they were literally right in front of him, Ed heard them singing and called them up onstage to help him sing the song. They happily obliged, and Ed finished the song with his “backup singers” sharing the mic with him.

Ed was clearly enjoying the moment, but these women were literally having the time of their lives. To see that kind of spontaneous joy happen onstage was, as Marc Thiessen described in his essay , truly “spine-tingling.”

Jeff Axelrod , Zhangjiagang, China

Swooning to Sinatra

My dad learned to speak English in Cuba listening to two things on the radio: Yankees games and Frank Sinatra. When we came to this country, while my friends had rock at home, I had big band music. To this day, Frank Sinatra is my favorite.

In college I took a trip to New York City. I did all the great jazz bars, and I lucked out and got one ticket at the Uris Theatre to see Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald … and my idol, Frank Sinatra. I found myself sitting one row behind this strange, baldheaded guy in a huge sable coat and big — I mean really big — glasses: Elton John. He was eating the concert up.

We all saw Frank knock a woman out. Frank was singing the Beatles tune “Something,” one of the all-time classics. He was 57 or so then, and the audience was full of bobby-soxers from his Columbia Records days. In those days, it was not uncommon for those young ladies to stand through an entire performance and faint when “Ol’ Blue Eyes” started crooning.

So Sinatra hits the line “Something in the way she mooooves … ” and, as he gets to the last word, he spins to the audience, locks in on one of the women, enraptured as she must have been 30 years earlier, and points to her. Bam! She dropped like a rock. Her friends caught her and eased her down into her seat, fanned her for a moment so she could get a little air, then returned their attention to the reason they were in attendance.

Alex Castellanos , Key Largo, Fla.

Her last chance

My wife and I have been married for over 45 years. She’s been a huge Rod Stewart fan since her teenage years, and we always went to his live shows when living (for most of our lives) in the D.C. area. However, my wife has battled recurring bouts of cancer the past nine years, and her last surgery left her permanently partially paralyzed and wheelchair-bound.

Before that last surgery, and some seven years ago, I actually won two tickets to see her beloved “Rod.” Unfortunately, my wife was still feeling the effects of chemo and turned them down. Believing this might be the last time in her lifetime to see him, I kept urging her to attend the show, but she just wasn’t up to it.

Fast-forward seven years, and although my wife is cancer-free, she’s paralyzed. I see that the 79-year-old Stewart is on tour and scheduled to appear in our retirement hometown of Tampa, and this time, I don’t give my wife the choice: I just buy the unbelievably expensive tickets and surprise her. I wheel her into the theater, we sit in the handicapped area, and we could not believe how great of a two-plus-hour show Stewart put on. He sang all the hits, he had a fantastic band, and his energy level and voice were those of a 40-year-old! Stewart always had that distinctive gravely voice, and it serves him well as he approaches 80. That was most likely our last Stewart concert … but you never know. It was great to see how happy he made my wife.

Don Katzen , Tampa, Fla.

‘Like rock-and-roll church’

Bruce Springsteen. Dec. 15, 1978. Winterland Ballroom. San Francisco. I went because one of my younger brothers had been talking so much about Springsteen. I was a jazz snob and went only because it was a last chance to step foot inside the legendary Winterland arena; it was to close forever later that month.

Three songs in, I was hooked. It was like rock-and-roll church: promise, hope and salvation delivered with such conviction that even today I feel the magic. Many Springsteen shows later, there is still nothing like Winterland in ’78.

Felix Contreras , Silver Spring, Md.

A near-death experience

One of my husband’s favorite bands was Yes. My husband was an accomplished bass player himself. Yes was coming to D.C. at the Warner Theatre on July 15, 2014, so I got us tickets. What my husband didn’t know was I got us front-row seats and backstage passes to meet the band. He sat right in front of Chris Squire the entire show. The next year, Squire died in Phoenix. My husband was so grateful I got those tickets.

Brenda Lawhorn , Florence, S.C.

A dude in the nude

A guy, completely naked, with a circle of people around him, dancing to “Space/Fire on theMountain” at a Grateful Dead show at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia in the early ’80s.

Harry Freed , Philadelphia

A priceless splurge

Bob Marley with his acoustic guitar and a spotlight on a bare stage at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh singing “Redemption Song” a little more than a week before he died in 1981. I was a young lawyer whose client had just paid her. I used the money to buy the ticket, and the performance was the best that I ever saw. It broke my heart that he died soon after; I didn’t know that he was even sick with cancer. The song was a blessing to me.

Charlene Newkirk , Pittsburgh

Storming the Beatles

The Beatles, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, August 1966. “Revolver” had just come out — er, “dropped.” The crowd was so electrified that people knocked down the snow fences around the field and stormed the stage. I was caught up in the wave. And there they were, live, right up on the stage in front of me. Smiling, playing and thanking us ! It was more than the music; it was the magic. For one brief shining musical moment, never to appear ever again.

George DeBolt , Pittsburgh

Unexpected guest stars

The National Symphony Orchestra was playing Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” at the Wolf Trap concert venue. Late in the third movement, “The Pines of the Janiculum,” the composer calls for a recording of a nightingale to be played over the orchestra’s quiet strings. On this magical evening, the taped nightingale song inspired the songbirds of Vienna, Va., to raise their own voices and join in the music. As dusk fell, the concert hall was surrounded with live birdsong. This was in the late-1980s.

Laura Bligh , Vienna, Va.

A beer with das band

Berlin seeing my favorite band, Cage the Elephant, in a small grungy club that held about 300 people as one of the first shows of their Social Cues tour. I was right at the stage, and Brad Shultz shared his beer with me, and his brother Matt, the frontman, sang part of “Tokyo Smoke” right into my phone while he was down on the floor in front of me. Most memorable concert moment ever!

Rhonda Van Cleve , Tucson

I’ve seen him 48 times but never forgot the first.

The moment most burned into my memory involved an artist I saw on a whim on July 9, 1978. He and his band were broadcast on July 7 on my favorite local station. I was driving with a high school friend named Sherry, and I recall saying, “This guy sounds pretty good. You want to drive to San Diego on Sunday and see him?” She agreed, so Sunday afternoon, we made the 100-mile drive to the San Diego Sports Arena, bought tickets at the door for $5.75 each and settled in to our upper-view seats. It’s a rather small arena, so even up in the cheap seats, we had a good view.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band hit the stage with no opening act but played with an urgency and passion I’d never seen from a performer or band before. Grabbing his microphone with a long, long cable, he jumped off the stage into the crowd. While the band played, he worked his way across the floor of the arena, occasionally stopping to trade choruses with random fans. The whole time, he never missed a beat, interacting and singing with the fans along the way.

I’d never seen anything like this. My other musical heroes performed from high up, above all the mortals in the crowd. But this guy broke that wall. He wasn’t speaking down to us — he was one of us. My jaw hit the floor. I was watching someone who understood living in uncertain times and trying to sort out who you are and what you aspire to be. Last week, I saw my 48th Springsteen concert in that same arena in San Diego.

Jon Trask , Garden Grove, Calif.

Two daughters. Two shows.

I will never forget sitting with my teen daughter at the Rolling Stones in the mid-1980s. Seeing their energy and hearing their music in person is a memory we talk about often. Then, in 2023, another daughter and I saw Adele in concert, satisfying a wish from first hearing her music.

Susan Bescher , Des Moines

Tattoos, tables and Tahoe

I am a huge Chris Isaak fan — I’ve seen him on average once a year since 1994. I even have his guitar tattooed on my arm. In the late ’90s, I saw one of his performances in a Lake Tahoe showroom. He enjoys doing crowd work, and his mom was in attendance, sitting in the banquette behind my table. After he said hello and introduced her to the audience, the ladies at the next table over asked him to pose for a picture. Chris proceeded to climb up and stand on my table (with his guitar!) and sing to me as part of posing for the picture. I felt so special!

I said hello to him the next year in Seattle — he recognized me and lamented that the venue didn’t have any tables to sing to me from. Such a gentleman, and absolutely priceless memories.

Jenn Alvin , Portland, Ore.

An origin story

Many years ago, my wife and I went to see Kenny Rogers at the Westbury Music Fair in New York during his 1989 Christmas tour. His opening act was a young solo artist who sang, played the guitar and wore a cowboy hat. He serenaded the audience with a number of songs, but the one I remember was a cover of the Don McLean song “Vincent.” It was simply amazing, and I remember it to this day. Tender and sweet. His voice rang clear and heartfelt. I turned to my wife and said, “Wow. This guy is awesome. I think he’s gonna make it.” Turns out I was right: Garth Brooks did pretty well!

Dan Pechtol , Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

The making of a legend

My musical tastes differ from Marc Thiessen’s, but I completely agree with the philosophy of concertgoing. I have always remembered seeing Joan Sutherland singing “Lucia di Lammermoor” in Cleveland when the Metropolitan Opera was on tour in spring 1961. I was 15, and my aunt took me to see “La Stupenda” featuring Sutherland’s spectacular leading-role debut with the Met. I still see her gliding down an enormous staircase during “The Mad Scene.” She stopped the show right there. The applause was, well, stupendous. She became a legend. And I was hooked on opera forever. If it touches your heart, then follow your heart, and see your beloved performers live onstage as often as you can!

Jan Childress , McLean, Va.

His voice was ‘raw’ and ‘forever’

The best was Tony Bennett at the cavernous Winspear Opera House, April 26, 2018, in Dallas. It began with the minor spectacle of the chandelier disappearing into the ceiling and then the lights went out. Then, Tony and his daughter. His final song, he told us, was special. Then, he put his mic down on the piano his daughter was at and sang, raw, just him with no backup music and no electronic reinforcement. Just his own voice in the immensely quiet hall gently floating up to us in the ozone seating section. Whoa! That’s forever.

Stanley Olivarez , Santa Fe, N.M.

Ella, the queen

In another life, I had my 15 minutes of fame as a smooth jazz D.J. at a radio station in Orlando. So many incredible artists — Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., Dave Brubeck (we share the same birthday), Al Jarreau, Joni Mitchell — players who could really play and singers who could really sing. I was privileged to introduce a great many of them onstage or at least meet them backstage. Though I regret not meeting Miles Davis before he died, I did meet and shake the hand of Ella Fitzgerald. I’m telling you, it was like meeting the Queen of England — only without all the Order of the British Empire bowing nonsense. She performed her entire set singing from a wheelchair, but so what? The standing ovation she received was loud, sustained, enthusiastic and unforgettable.

Ed Pasha , Arlington, Va.

It’s more than live music. It’s community.

I saw 34 concerts in 2023. I’m a Duran Duran superfan and follow them around on tour. My parents started taking me to live shows when I was 7. I won tickets to see the Bee Gees when I was 9 because I stuffed the raffle box at a local store without my mom knowing it.

I go alone, and I go with friends. I make friends at every show I go to.

See the bands you love. The communal experience is fabulous.

Jolie Lindley , Las Vegas

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springsteen tour 1981

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Bruce Springsteen Setlist at Palais des Sports, Lyon, France

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  • Follow That Dream ( Elvis Presley  cover) Play Video
  • Prove It All Night Play Video
  • Out in the Street Play Video
  • The Ties That Bind Play Video
  • Darkness on the Edge of Town Play Video
  • Independence Day Play Video
  • Who'll Stop the Rain ( Creedence Clearwater Revival  cover) Play Video
  • Two Hearts Play Video
  • The Promised Land Play Video
  • This Land Is Your Land ( Woody Guthrie  cover) Play Video
  • The River ( with "Once Upon a Time in the West" outro ) Play Video
  • Badlands Play Video
  • Thunder Road Play Video
  • Cadillac Ranch Play Video
  • Sherry Darling Play Video
  • Hungry Heart Play Video
  • Because the Night ( Patti Smith Group  cover) Play Video
  • You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) Play Video
  • Wreck on the Highway Play Video
  • Racing in the Street Play Video
  • Backstreets Play Video
  • Ramrod Play Video
  • Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Play Video
  • Born to Run Play Video
  • Detroit Medley Play Video
  • Rockin' All Over the World ( John Fogerty  cover) Play Video

Edits and Comments

19 activities (last edit by alert23 , 17 Jan 2020, 13:50 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

  • Cadillac Ranch
  • Hungry Heart
  • Independence Day
  • Out in the Street
  • Sherry Darling
  • The Ties That Bind
  • Wreck on the Highway
  • You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
  • Darkness on the Edge of Town
  • Prove It All Night
  • Racing in the Street
  • The Promised Land
  • Because the Night by Patti Smith Group
  • Follow That Dream by Elvis Presley
  • Rockin' All Over the World by John Fogerty
  • This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
  • Who'll Stop the Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • Backstreets
  • Born to Run
  • Thunder Road
  • Detroit Medley
  • Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Complete Album stats

Bruce Springsteen setlists

Bruce Springsteen

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Bruce springsteen gig timeline.

  • Apr 19 1981 Centre sportif de l'Île de Vannes L'Île-Saint-Denis, France Add time Add time
  • Apr 21 1981 Palau dels Esports Barcelona, Spain Add time Add time
  • Apr 24 1981 Palais des Sports This Setlist Lyon, France Add time Add time
  • Apr 26 1981 Vorst Nationaal / Forest National Vorst / Forest, Belgium Add time Add time
  • Apr 28 1981 Ahoy Rotterdam, Netherlands Add time Add time

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Tour Update

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springsteen tour 1981

IMAGES

  1. Bruce Springsteen London 02/06/1981 Full Concert

    springsteen tour 1981

  2. Springsteen & E Street Band Made Euro Tour Debut This Day in 1981

    springsteen tour 1981

  3. Bruce Springsteen 1981 Frankfurt Tour Posters, Gig Posters, Band

    springsteen tour 1981

  4. Bruce Springsteen 1981 Photograph by Chris Walter

    springsteen tour 1981

  5. Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band

    springsteen tour 1981

  6. Bruce Springsteen, Oakland, 1981 (258-10)

    springsteen tour 1981

VIDEO

  1. Bruce Springsteen Live 1981 04 19 Paris France Palais des Sports de St Ouen

  2. Cadillac Ranch

  3. Bruce Springsteen Live 1981 04 18 Paris France Palais des Sports de St Ouen

  4. Bruce Springsteen

  5. One Step Up

  6. Turn It On (live @ Test Open Air Festival Loreley, August 29, 1981)

COMMENTS

  1. Bruce Springsteen's 1981 Concert & Tour History

    Bruce Springsteen's 1981 Concert History. Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originator of heartland rock, combining mainstream rock musical ...

  2. The River Tour

    The River Tour. (1980-81) Born in the U.S.A. Tour. (1984-85) The River Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1980 and 1981, beginning concurrently with the release of Springsteen's album The River .

  3. Bruce Springsteen Concert Map by year: 1981

    View the concert map Statistics of Bruce Springsteen in 1981! setlist.fm Add Setlist. Search Clear search text. follow. Setlists; Artists; Festivals; Venues; Statistics Stats; News; Forum; Show ... Bruce Springsteen 1992-1993 World Tour (106) Chicken Scratch Tour (35) Darkness (112) Devils & Dust (72) Forward (7) Greetings From Asbury Park, N ...

  4. The River Tour

    The River Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1980 and 1981, beginning concurrently with the release of Springsteen's album The River. The first leg of the tour took place in arenas in the United States, comprising 46 shows beginning on October 3, 1980 in Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan and lasting through the very end of the year ...

  5. Bruce Springsteen Tour Statistics: 1981

    View the statistics of songs played live by Bruce Springsteen. Have a look which song was played how often in 1981! setlist.fm Add Setlist. Search Clear search text. follow. Setlists; Artists ... Bruce Springsteen 1992-1993 World Tour (106) Chicken Scratch Tour (35) Darkness (112) Devils & Dust (72)

  6. Tour History

    Bruce Springsteen 1992-1993 World Tour. 4 shows • 3 ... 9 Jul 1981 Brendan Byrne Arena: 9 Jul 1981 London • UK ...

  7. Bruce Springsteen Concert Setlist at Birmingham International Arena

    Get the Bruce Springsteen Setlist of the concert at Birmingham International Arena, Birmingham, England on June 8, 1981 from the The River Tour and other Bruce Springsteen Setlists for free on setlist.fm! ... Bruce Springsteen Kicks Off 2024 Tour with Near-Three-Hour AZ Gig. Mar 20, 2024. Bruce Springsteen Joins John Mellencamp on "Pink Houses" ...

  8. Bruce Springsteen

    Audience recording from The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California on August 23, 1981. Transferred from Mike Millard's first-generation...

  9. 6-4-1981 Wembley Arena London, UK

    Moments from the TOUR. Listen to a live show. Wembley Arena 4 Jun 1981 London, UK. Buy Live Audio. Set List 27 Songs. Set List Lyrics. Prove It All Night Darkness on the Edge of Town 10 Songs ... The Essential Bruce Springsteen 42 Songs • 1970 ...

  10. Bruce Springsteen shows detailed setlist: August 1981

    05-Aug-1981 Largo,MD Capital Center,USA - Click on a title for additional details!! 01 Rocking all over the world 02 Out in the street 03 Prove it all night 04 Darkness on the edge of town 05 Factory 06 Independence day 07 Jackson cage 08 Trapped 09 Two hearts 10 The promised land 11 The river 12 This land is your land 13 Badlands 14 Thunder ...

  11. Brendan Byrne '81

    Brendan Byrne '81. Summer Tour '81 was a U.S. victory lap that marked Springsteen's triumphant return from Europe. It began with the christening of the new Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ. East Rutherford 7/9/81 is the final show of the six-night stand and catches Bruce and the band at a River tour performance peak.

  12. Bruce Springsteen

    It's been a little while since I uploaded a show, so here's one of the best shows of 1981!So, a little background behind this one. This is the most complete ...

  13. Bruce Springsteen

    Bruce SpringsteenAugust 23, 1981Sports ArenaLos Angeles, CA00:00:00 Summertimes Blues00:02:23 Prove It All Night [cut due to copyright]00:03:42 Tenth Aven...

  14. When Bruce Springsteen Began His First Major European Tour

    Bruce Springsteen took his tour in support of 'The River' to Europe with a concert on April 7, 1981 in Hamburg, West Germany. ... By 1981, Bruce Springsteen had spent very little time outside the ...

  15. Bruce Springsteen Setlist at Checkerdome, St. Louis

    Get the Bruce Springsteen Setlist of the concert at Checkerdome, St. Louis, MO, USA on January 28, 1981 from the The River Tour and other Bruce Springsteen Setlists for free on setlist.fm!

  16. Backstreets.com: Highway '81 Revisited, Part 1

    To fully understand the background behind Bruce Springsteen's 1981 U.K. tour, we need to go back to that world: to a time when his career was still on the rise; when fatherhood, marriage, and megastardom were distant dreams; when Patti Scialfa sang with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Nils Lofgren was a solo artist with past Neil Young ...

  17. Wembley '81

    The first official live recording from Europe '81 is a revelatory chapter in Springsteen's touring history. London provides a window into this extraordinary stretch of the River tour that saw Bruce exploring new musical directions through songs like "Follow That Dream" and "Johnny Bye Bye." On a crusade to convert first-time audiences across the continent, […]

  18. Bruce Springsteen London 02/06/1981 Full Concert

    Bruce Springsteen live at Wembley Arena London 02/06/1981 Full ConcertApologies, the recording may not sound the best but its a great gig!0:00 Prove it All N...

  19. 1981

    1981-01-20 - MAPLE LEAF GARDENS, TORONTO, ON ... It's perhaps more likely that "Mystery Train" was included in "Detroit Medley", just as Springsteen did earlier in the tour in New York. As usual, Roy plays the piano intro before "The River" and "Once Upon A Time In The West" as a bridge between that song and "Badlands".

  20. Bruce Springsteen 4 Backstage/After Show/All Ara Access

    Here are 4 Special Access Passes from the BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 1981 North American Tour. CINCINNATI, OH - ALL AREA ACCESS 'A' - September 14, 1981 CINCINNATI, OH - ALL AREA ACCESS 'B' - September 14, 1981 MOBILE, AL - AFTER SHOW ONLY - February 12, 1981 AMES, IA - AFTER SHOW ONLY - January 29, 1981. These are unused, in mint "like-new" condition ...

  21. Bruce Springsteen Setlist at San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego

    Get the Bruce Springsteen Setlist of the concert at San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, USA on September 2, 1981 from the The River Tour and other Bruce Springsteen Setlists for free on setlist.fm!

  22. Concert review: Did Bruce Springsteen deliver a classic show at ...

    More: At a Clark concert 50 years ago, Bruce Springsteen heralded things to come Measuring 17 members strong (18 if you count Springsteen), the E Street Band is a rock 'n' roll juggernaut ...

  23. Opinion

    Bruce Springsteen performs at the Coliseum in Los Angeles on Sept. 30, 1985, as part of his "Born In The U.S.A." album tour. (Lennox McLendon/AP)

  24. Bruce Springsteen Setlist at Wembley Arena, London

    Use this setlist for your event review and get all updates automatically! Get the Bruce Springsteen Setlist of the concert at Wembley Arena, London, England on May 29, 1981 from the The River Tour and other Bruce Springsteen Setlists for free on setlist.fm!

  25. Bruce Springsteen Setlist at Palais des Sports, Lyon

    Get the Bruce Springsteen Setlist of the concert at Palais des Sports, Lyon, France on April 24, 1981 from the The River Tour and other Bruce Springsteen Setlists for free on setlist.fm!