Bruce Springsteen - 1980-11-05 - Tempe, AZ (SBD)

Bruce Springsteen

1980-11-05

Activity Center

Arizona State University

Tempe, AZ

Soundboard recording

192 kbps

Artwork Included

CD 1:

01. Born To Run

02. Prove It All Night

03. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

04. Darkness On The Edge Of Town

05. Independence Day

06. Factory

07. Jackson Cage

08. Two Hearts

09. The Promised Land *

10. Out In The Street

11. Racing In The Street

12. The River

13. Badlands

CD 2:

01. Thunder Road

02. Intro / No Money Down

03. Cadillac Ranch

04. Hungry Heart

05. Fire

06. Candy's Room

07. Sherry Darling

08. Intro / Here She Comes

09. I Wanna Marry You

10. The Ties That Bind

11. Stolen Car *

12. Wreck On The Highway

13. Point Blank

14. Intro

15. Crush On You

16. Ramrod

CD 3:

01. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)

02. Drive All Night

03. Backstreets *

04. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

05. I'm A Rocker

06. Jungleland

07. The Detroit Medley

Bonus Tracks:

08. Yellow Rose Of Texas - Reunion Aud., Dallas, TX - 11-08-1980

09. Fade Away - The Summit, Houston, TX - 11-15-1980

10. Walk Like A Man - The Centrum, Worcester, MA - 02-25-1988

* Mixed with another show to fill missing parts

Bruce Springsteen - 1980-11-05 - Tempe, AZ (SBD)

I've attended 9 Springsteen concerts, in 4 different decades (70s, 80s, 90s, & 2000's) with 2 different backing bands (the E-Streeters and those other guys he played with in the 1990s, whoever they were!). On top of that, I've seen Bruce twice in the same year 3 times - 1978, 1992 and 2003! The other 3 shows I attended were in 1984, 1984, and 1988. If that's not enough, I saw Bruce in a 5th decade, the 2010s, when he, along with Miami Steve, were special guests of Paul McCartney on September 15, 2017 at Madison Square Garden. They played I Saw her Standing There, and when the crowd wouldn't stop screaming when it was over, Macca did the only thing he could do - count them down into a 2nd rendition of the same song. Yep back to back versions of I Saw her Standing There featuring Sir Paul, Bruce and Miami Steve. Then last year,  I saw Springsteen in a 6th decade, on June 16, 2022 as he was once again a guest of Macca's. Bruce played Glory Days, with Macca on backing viocals, then the 2 of them dueted on the Beatles' tune, I Wanna Be Your Man Bruce also came back during the closing Abbey Road medley to add some guitar work! So, that's 11 dufferent times I've seen Springsteen take the stage.

This soundboard recording captures Springsteen during The River tour, in Tempe on Noovember 11, 1980, 43 years ago today. That tour is a study in contrasts, perhaps reflecting the nature of the album itself. The 2 record set was a mix of up tempo rockers such as Out In The Street and dark, haunting tunes such as the title track. Bruce described the album by saying "life had paradoxes, a lot of them, and you've got to live with them". His live performances also reflected this dichotomy. On the one hand, most shows had set lists over 30 songs long and often lasted 4 hours, cementing Bruce’s reputation for marathon performances. On the other hand, this tour is often forgotten when discussing Springsteen’s legacy, as it came in between the legendary 1978 Darkness Tour and the monumental Born In The USA run of shows. During the River tour, Bruce played to larger audiences than in the past, and even ventured to Europe where he began to build a new following. Yet, even as more people saw him live, the performances became less accessible to those without tickets, as the tour produced no live radio broadcasts, no live albums, and no concert videos or DVDs. On some nights during the River Tour, Bruce would pull a young lady out of the crowd and dance with her on stage, signaling it was party time. On other nights, such as this show, the day after Ronald Regan was elected, he took a more somber tone, announcing “I don't know what you guys think about what happened last night, but I think it's pretty frightening." It was one of the first times Springsteen ever publicly took a political stance.