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Nassau Coliseum
Uniondale, NY

NEW YEAR'S EVE
Dec. 31st - 1980-81

Of all Springsteen's tours, The River Tour is perhaps the least known in retrospect to people who were not there. Unlike those before and since, there is little official audio or video documentation of it — no live radio broadcasts, no live album, no music videos made from concert footage, no DVD releases. The Live/1975-85 box set had thirteen selections from the tour, but they form little thematic pattern. Shows from the tour were of course bootlegged, but otherwise they are mostly lost to time.
The tour also suffers by comparison to the legendary 1978 Tour before it and the monumental Born in the U.S.A. Tour after it. Perhaps its biggest legacy is the successful introduction of Springsteen's music and performance abilities across Western Europe. Two decades later, much of Europe would boast a bigger and more vociferous fan base for Springsteen than anywhere in America.

Set List from 12/31/80

  1. Night
  2. Prove It All Night
  3. Spirit In The Night
  4. Darkness On The
    Edge Of Town
  5. Independence Day
  6. Who'll Stop The Rain?
  7. This Land Is Your Land
  8. The Promised Land
  9. Out In The Street
  10. Racing In The Street
  11. The River
  12. Badlands
  13. Thunder Road
  14. Cadillac Ranch
  15. Sherry Darling
  16. Hungry Heart
  17. Merry Christmas Baby
  18. Fire
  19. Candy's Room
  20. Because The Night
  21. 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
  22. Rendezvous
  23. Fade Away
  24. The Price You Pay
  25. Wreck On The Highway
  26. Two Hearts
  27. Ramrod
  28. You Can Look
    (But You Better Not Touch)
  29. Held Up Without A Gun
  30. In The Midnight Hour
  31. Auld Lang Syne
  32. Rosalita
    (Come Out Tonight)
  33. Santa Claus Is
    Comin' To Town
  34. Jungleland
  35. Born To Run
  36. Detroit Medley
  37. Twist And Shout
  38. Raise Your Hand

Reviews on Tramps Like Us:

"Tramps Like Us is The GREATEST Bruce Springsteen Tribute Band In The LAND! I've witnessed them on several occasions and their performances are SECOND TO NONE!"
- Mike Appel
Former Springsteen
Producer & Manager

"If you're a big Bruce fan, you've probably seen tribute bands...and the BEST of them all is TRAMPS LIKE US"
- E Street Radio / SIRIUS XM

"Up close, Mark Salore doesn't look much like Bruce Springsteen. Except, perhaps, for the stud in his left ear and a wispy bit of beard. But an astonishing transformation takes place, though, when he gets onstage with his tribute band, Tramps Like Us. He punches out the opening riff to "Cadillac Ranch," the group kicks in behind him, the crowd erupts in war cries and air guitar riffs, and it suddenly seems as if Bruce and the E Street Band have commandeered the Vintage Bar in White Plains."
- by Peter Gerstenzang
- Writer - NY Times
- Rolling Stone Magazine

Most tribute bands boast that they look and act like the bands they cover, and there are more than a few Bruce Springsteen tribute bands that do just that. But for Tramps Like Us, paying tribute to the Boss and the "E" Street Band has nothing to do with appearances - it's all about the music. Luckily for modern-day Springsteen fans, Tramps Like Us captures some of that magic and energy in its own performances.
- By Jess Kamen
- Philadelphia Inquirer

"You would have to be completely allergic to Springsteen to not be won over by the rambunctious atmosphere. Even this reporter, usually impervious to the 'E' Street band's particular brand of magic, started humming along. Tramps Like Us brought Springsteen back to a human scale"
- Elizabeth Vicentelli
- NY Newsday

Tramps Like Us, who Bruce Springsteen's former producer and manager Mike Appel has called: "The GREATEST Bruce Springsteen Tribute Band In The LAND!" is set to re-create Bruce Springsteen's single longest concert of his career that was over 4 hours long and one of his most famous shows, that now lives in Springsteen folklore...
The New Year's Eve 1980-81 concert from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale NY, from The River Tour.
See actual videos from that concert below.

The River Tour Copy below taken from Wikipedia
Springsteen's performances on this tour were similar in nature to tours before, but extended in length. Thirty-song sets were often seen and shows ran up to four hours; it was during this tour that Springsteen's reputation for marathon performances really took hold.
The emotional tempor of the concerts was assessed differently depending upon the goer, with some having a party and others reporting that after a string of depressing songs they felt like slitting their wrists. Certainly The River had material to illustrate both viewpoints — on it Springsteen had acknowledged that "life had paradoxes, a lot of them, and you've got to live with them" — and the tour followed in kind. A key difference now was that where before Springsteen had relied upon old 1960s R&B and pop numbers for his concerts' uptempo, lighter moments, he now had written them himself: "Out in the Street" and "I'm a Rocker" and "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" and other River numbers would serve this role in this tour and in tours for years to come.
A couple of Springsteen concert traditions began during the tour. Near the end of the frat-rocker "Sherry Darling", Springsteen pulled a young female out of the front rows and danced with her on stage; this practice would become famous when he did it in the subsequent Born in the U.S.A. Tour during "Dancing in the Dark". And when playing his new (and first) Top 10 hit "Hungry Heart", Springsteen let the audience sing the first verse and chorus, a ritual that would be solidified on subsequent tours as well.
The most famous of the shows on the tour is probably the New Years Eve 1980 one at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York. With a set list 38 songs strong, it is one of the longest Springsteen shows of all time and also often regarded as one of the best.

About Tramps Like Us:"If you're a big Bruce fan, you've probably seen tribute bands...
and the BEST of them all is TRAMPS LIKE US"
- E Street Radio / SIRIUS XM

Tramps Like Us brings more than 2 decades of road-tested musicianship that have won this band the hard-earned distinction of the planet’s most revered Bruce Springsteen Tribute band. Rockers and ballads delivered with the raw intensity and swagger reminiscent of the Boss himself.

With a repertoire of more than 100 songs, Tramps Like Us has been dedicated to enjoying and sharing Bruce's music in a live setting. Unlike other "tribute" bands who attempt to impersonate or emulate their source in every respect, from looks to clothing to gestures, Tramps Like Us concentrates on the music itself. The group captures the Springsteen sound, and the true spirit and energy of the songs, as well as to delivering them with the passion and conviction of the Boss.

In keeping with the tradition of a typical Springsteen concert, Tramps prides itself on long and intense concerts, often playing 3.5 to 4 hour shows and at times without a break. Tramps has been able to cover up to 36 songs on any given night

"For almost 3 and a half hours, like a Springsteen concert from years ago, some of the Boss's best was delivered with raw energy and exceptional talent - The 3rd song of the evening was a version of Radio Nowhere that was so good if you closed your eyes you would have thought Bruce himself was in Phoenixville."
 - Phoenixville News
MORE ON TRAMPS LIKE US HERE

ACTUAL VIDEOS FROM
NEW YEAR'S EVE - December 31, 1980


Sherry Darlin' - 12/31/1980

Midnight Hour - 12/31/1980

Hungry Heart - 12/31/1980

Santa Claus Is Coming Town - 12/31/1980

Cadillac Ranch- 12/31/1980