Bruce Springsteen’s legendary 1981 UK tour remains his longest ever in Britain. Read the story behind those 16 shows with Highway 81 Revisited, the new book from Springsteen writer and...
For Bruce Springsteen fans in the UK, 1981 was a very special year.
Six years after those now-legendary first British appearances at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned for their first full-scale UK tour. 16 shows across England and Scotland during May and June 1981.
It remains Bruce Springsteen’s longest-ever UK tour.
That remarkable run of concerts is the subject of Highway 81 Revisited: Bruce Springsteen’s Longest UK Tour, the first book by our great friend and longtime Badlands contributor Mike Saunders.
And if Bruce history is your thing, this one goes deep. 😎
The story of the 1981 Bruce Springsteen UK tour actually begins years before the E Street Band finally arrived. Following Springsteen’s two Hammersmith Odeon concerts in November 1975, UK fans faced a long wait to see him again.
In the meantime came Darkness on the Edge of Town and, in October 1980, The River. Bruce and the E Street Band embarked on the huge River Tour — but exactly when that tour would reach Britain was another matter.
There were five years of rumours, speculation, near-misses and close calls before the first three UK concerts were announced in December 1980.
Nine more dates were gradually added, but there was another twist to come.
The entire UK tour was rescheduled after Bruce suffered from exhaustion following the US leg of the tour. Four final dates were subsequently added, bringing the total to 16 concerts.
At last, in May 1981, Bruce was back!
The tour began at Newcastle City Hall on 11 May 1981 and finished almost a month later at Birmingham International Arena on 8 June.
Along the way, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played theatres and arenas across the country.
It was a very different proposition from the stadium-sized Springsteen shows UK audiences would become accustomed to in later decades.
In fact, the 1981 tour was the last time UK fans could see Bruce and the E Street Band entirely indoors, with the itinerary taking in provincial theatres as well as major city arenas.
For British Springsteen fans who were there, these shows have taken on almost mythical status.
And for those of us who weren't? Well, we'd quite like a time machine.
That’s where Highway 81 Revisited comes in.
Across 130 pages, Mike Saunders chronicles the whole extraordinary story — from the years of rumours and anticipation to the gradual announcement of the concerts, the postponement and, ultimately, the shows themselves.
Featuring full-colour and black-and-white illustrations alongside Mike’s meticulously researched account, the book documents a unique period in the history of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
It’s not simply a list of dates and venues, either. This is the story of how Springsteen’s longest UK tour came together and why those few weeks in 1981 still occupy such a special place in British Bruce history.
If you’ve been around Badlands for a while, there’s a good chance you’ll already know the name.
Mike Saunders is a freelance music writer, archivist, historian and keen amateur concert photographer and, most importantly, a great friend of Badlands.
He has written extensively about Bruce Springsteen’s career for our publications For True Rockers Only and The Ties That Bind, as well as contributing to Backstreets magazine and website.
Mike has also contributed to fan communities dedicated to Jersey Shore musicians including Point Blank, Follow That Dream, Jukebox and The Stevie Files, and has appeared on The E Street Café Podcast and Pulse Internet Radio.
In other words, when it comes to digging into the detail of Springsteen history, Mike knows his stuff.
We’re chuffed to be stocking Highway 81 Revisited: Bruce Springsteen’s Longest UK Tour and even more chuffed that we have a special edition for fellow Bruce fans.
Our copies come with a bookplate personally signed by author Mike Saunders and are available from Badlands for £15.99 plus postage.
Whether you actually saw Bruce Springsteen on the 1981 UK tour, discovered those shows through tapes and recordings years later, or simply love exploring the history of Bruce and the E Street Band, there’s an awful lot to enjoy here.
And if anyone reading this was lucky enough to be at one of those 16 shows, we’d love to hear your memories.
Were you there in ’81?
