Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen's Newcastle debut, 11th May 1981.

by Bill Norman

I write this not long after the 32nd anniversary of what is often regarded as one of the great gigs of all time and certainly the best gig I have ever been to.

Bruce was well known but not the muscle-bound thug rock superstar of 'Born in the USA' three years later. Indeed he was still the wiry kid with something to prove in many ways.  His 5th album 'The River'  had been released some six months earlier to rave reviews.  Most Brucophiles reckoned it would have made a stunning single album.  It had quite a bit of filler, but hell, we would have accepted him singing Phil Collins songs at that point in time …

This was the first proper tour in the UK since 1975 - Newcastle upon Tyne was the opening gig.  Originally scheduled for 31st March it was rescheduled through illness for 11th May which, as it turned out , was significant for music in another way, being the day Bob Marley died.

Ticket scan from Jules Boynton

I thought "palpable sense of expectation” was just a phrase used by rock journalists when they ran out of inspiration but I really could feel the magic in the air as I entered Newcastle City Hall.





Highlights of the four hour show:

• 11th May was almost the 25th anniversary of 'Heartbreak Hotel' entering the UK charts (12th May 1956) which is appropriate as Bruce opened solo with an Elvis cover - 'Follow That Dream'.
• Two John Fogerty covers 'Who'll Stop the Rain?' and finishing with the audience singing along with the house lights up to, 'Rocking All Over the World'.
• Changing “lately there ain't been much work" to “no work on account of the economy" in 'The River' as a reaction to the deepening unemployment in the UK and in the North East in particular.
• The cover version of Ennio Morricone’s 'Once Upon a Time in The West' as a prelude to "Badlands" – he didn’t officially record it till nearly 30 years later and then won a Grammy.
• Electrifying silences for all the ballads and for which he thanked us at least three times!
• Bruce going out into the audience to sing – something I had never seen anyone do up that point.
• The audience singalong of 'Hungry Heart' and Bruce responding, “You're Hired!” 
• Turning average songs into something great live - especially 'Point Blank'.
• Finishing off part one with Thunder Road - singing the “maybe we ain’t that young anymore" line for the first time and starting part two with an astounding 'Cadillac Ranch'.
• The simply heartbreakingly beautiful, 'Racing in The Street' and 'Independence Day'.  There was a lot of throat swallowing for those two and that was just the blokes…
• A tremendous version of Woody Guthrie’s 'This Land Is Your Land' with an improvised new verse.
• The wonderful stories with Clarence - laughing and joking - especially the climbing the wall into Gracelands tale - how different to the perfunctory grunts of acknowledgement between them in later years as Bruce tried to outdo the Ramones for continuous music.  No , this was this was a show with pace.
• Doing the Mitch Ryder Detroit medley as heard on the 'No Nukes' album 

Photo by Colin Richardson

Photo by Colin Richardson

There were some omissions – 'She’s the One' and 'Jungleland' being the obvious two, but even their absence could not dim the glory of that night.

But you know, the other main star that night was Newcastle City Hall itself - a simply perfect find your feet gig for Springsteen - magnificent acoustics, a common sense approach to curfews.  The management let people enjoy themselves and at that time we still had audiences who knew how to sing and shout: "Brooooooooce!"

As a post script, 20 years later I found out that a work colleague I didn’t know at the time had been at the gig – I brought in some photos a friend had taken and lo and behold my colleague was on one …