Bruce Springsteen on support for UK miners: “It was just a good thing to do”
Bruce Springsteen has opened up for the first time about his generous support of British miners when he played Newcastle in the 1980s.
In 1985, Springsteen, following the success of Born In The USA, arrived in the UK for a series of huge shows, including at St James’ Park in Newcastle. The concert in the North East coincided with the miners’ strike, and as an act of solidarity with the community, Springsteen donated $20,000 to the Northumberland and Durham Miners’ Support Group.
Springsteen presented the cheque to two miners’ wives backstage at the show and refused to comment publicly on the donation.
After 40 years of silence following the goodwill gesture, Springsteen has finally explained it during the new BBC documentary, When Bruce Springsteen Came To Britain, which is set to air on May 31st, 2025.
In a new clip taken from the film, Springsteen shared: “My parents were working class people and I watched them struggle their whole lives.”
The singer-songwriter continued: “I’d been reading about it (the strike) in the newspapers and so it was just something that felt it would be a good thing to do. It wasn’t a big thing, it was just a good thing to do at the time.”
Juliana Heron was at the concert with her friend Anne Suddick and revealed that the latter received a tap on the shoulder asking her to “please come and meet Bruce Springsteen”.
“She was about half an hour and she comes back and she says, ‘You’ll never believe this’,” Heron recalled. “She just hands us this cheque and said, ‘Look’. I said, ‘That says $20,000’, and she said, ‘Yes, it’s for the Northumberland and Durham Miners’ Support Group’.”
Meanwhile, Sam Fender, a native to the area, previously said of the gesture on X in 2020: “This is why Springsteen is my biggest hero. He came to my town, saw our struggle and helped even though he’s from the other side of the Atlantic. My Godfather was at this show, he told me this when I was a kid, it started a fire in me.”
Springsteen is currently on the road across Europe and will return to the United Kingdom next month for two shows in Liverpool.
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