Milano

Longest show of the tour so far, with three hours in lenght, the debut of "Twist and Shout", plus an assorted amount of rarities, from the opening "Summertime Blues" to "None But The Brave", "Candy's Room", "Racing in the Street" or "Rosalita".

See complete set list.

Hamburg & Antwerp

After the sensational concert in Amsterdam, it seemed unlikely it could go even better. Well, it actually went better, night after night. Hamburg got a other hell of a set list, and a great performance too, and a good dose of rarities. "Something in the Night" was done, plus the 2nd ever performance of "Held up without a gun" (previously performed at Nassau Coliseum in NYC, 12/31/1980) and the debut of "Hungry Heart", that Bruce started acoustically and then the full band joined. Other Hamburg highlights include "Sherry Darling'", "Incident on 57th Street" and "Seven Nights to Rock", which opened the encore and was followed by a great "Rosalita".

Things continued to be interesting the next night in Antwerp. This show was originally planned to happen in a big stadium in Brussels. Thank God the Belgian fans didn't buy as many tickets as predicted, and this forced the show to move indoors. This made quite a difference, in the energy level, the intimacy, the crowd's feedback, and Bruce's mood. He came onstage with black bands in his arms while Max was pounding the drums. After the initial spoken introduction Bruce started a frenetic version of "So Young and In Love" that really set the tone for the night. Pure energy. "Radio Nowhere" followed, and then a great "The Ties That Bind", with lots of guitars and the great sax solo from the Big Man. The energy level never dropped for a second for the rest of the night. Add to this a great set list a

nd lots of surprises. Except for the songs off Magic, plus "The Rising" and "Mary's Place", all the material was vintage 70's stuff. Just one song from the 80's: "Glory Days". Bruce revisited his whole career, thus we got a really uptempo, jubilant "Spirit in the Night" that reminded us so much of the Hammersmith'75 video, a really well performed "Trapped", with a great blue spotlight on Bruce that made him look like on The River tour, a nicely done "Sandy" (upon request, he showed the sign) which Bruce introduced saying "thanks for all the condolences for Danny", and laughling "The E Street Band is always ready... most of the time!".

This was followed by a very hot attempt at "Prove it All Night", with smokin' guitar solos from both Steven and Bruce, a very intense call and response. At the end of the song Bruce picked up a sing that red "Steve Forever". Then announced "we're gonna play one that we haven't played in a long time" and asked the videocrew to focus on a huge sign that was holding behind Max and read "Thundercrack". This is the first time he ever played the song in Europe, and it was right perfect, a pure musical joy. Bruce looked real happy tonight, giving the impression that he was enjoying it all tremendously. "Because the Night" came next and featured
the usual out-of-this-world solo from Nils. What can we say? At this point of the show there were no more superlatives left. We were in awe. Such a show. In Europe. In Belgium. In the middle of a huge stadium tour and Bruce delivers such an intense and wonderful show like only those in small arenas in the US last Spring.

After a strong "Mary's Place" (even this one sound great at this show), Bruce jokingly started washing the floor that he watered so much! Next were these words "Yesterday I was in a square and two girls asked for this", and started a very fun version of "Fire", which was widely sung along. "Point Blank" (another sign request) was next, and it was simply stunning. Perfect sounding, perfectly performed, you could hear every note from the Garry's beautiful bass lines, like a hear beating.

After "Badlands" and a short break, Bruce & band come back onstage and we got a very familiar drum pounding and "ah... one, ah, two, ah, one, two, three, four". And "I'm a Rocker" begins letting the fans in shock. Very very strong, Bruce really into it, moving around the stage and in front of the audience like crazy. People singing along to this great piece of rock that rarely shows at his concerts. It was a tour premiere, followed by "Born to Run" and then "Thunder Road", really well played. Then "Glory Days" which put everyone on his feet even in the most distant seats and then "American Land". At one point during the encores Bruce took another sign from the audience that read "The Bada Bing Team is Here" and got quite a big laugh from Steven. The sign thing is now out of proportion. There are literally dozens and dozens of signs, and Bruce picks many of them and, as we know, decides to play of them.

Seen in Antwerp, request signs for: Thundercrack, Rave On, Pretty Flamingo, Sandy, Rosie, Brothers Under the Bridges'83, Incident, Rickie Wants a Man of Her Own, Detroit Medley, Little Queenie, Viva Las Vegas, Murder Inc, Loose Ends, Lost in the Flood, Sweet Little Sixteen and Blinded By The Light.

The show lasted 2 hours and 39 minutes, but it will certainly last a lot longer in our memory.

See Hamburg's complete set list.
See Antwerp's complete set list.

fotos: Antwerp 23.06.2008, copyright 2008 Rene Van Diemen

Vídeo: "Spirit in the Night" Amsterdam 19.06.2008

Final "Magic" tour dates announced

Official press release from Shore Fire:

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND END 2007-08 RUN WITH ADDED US DATES IN AUGUST

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will wrap up their 2007-08 series of concerts with twelve US dates, seven of which are newly announced. By the last show in Milwaukee on August 30, Springsteen and the band will have performed 100 concerts for over two million fans.

Aug 15 Jacksonville, Fl Veterans Memorial Coliseum (onsale 6/28)
Aug 16 Charleston, SC Charleston Coliseum (onsale 6/27)
Aug 18 Richmond, VA Richmond Coliseum (onsale 6/27)
Aug 19 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium (onsale 6/21)
Aug 21 Nashville, TN Sommet Center (onsale 6/28)
Aug 23 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center (onsale 6/28)
Aug 24 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center (onsale 6/28)

New photo gallery: Amsterdam

copyright 2008 René van Diemen. See complete gallery.

There ain't no cure for the summertime Bruce!

Summer's here! And Bruce and the band celebrated it with a very long, 28-song set that featured 8 encores, including the tour debuts of the explosive Eddie Cochran song "Summertime Blues" (last played in 1981!), plus "Stand on it" and "Seven Nights to Rock".

Nearly three hours before, the show had begun with the rockin' "Out in the Street". The lucky dutch audience also got to hear "Spirit in the Night", "The River", "Backstreets" and the always powerful duo of "Because the Night" and "She's the One". See complete set list.

Meanwhile, a few hours earlier, the Kennedy Center in Washington held a memorial service for Tim Russert. The ceremony included a satellite connection with Europe, where Springsteen sang an acoustic "Thunder Road" from backstage at the Amsterdam Arena.

Watch the video:





Despite the bad quality, it is worth watching (and specially hearing) "Summertime Blues" from last night's show in Amsterdam:

Bruce Springsteen adds August concert in Pennsylvannia

Live Nation just announced a new show for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in August:

Aug.19, 2008 Hersheypark Stadium & Star Pavillion, Hershey Park, PA

Tickets will go on sale June 21st at 10am EDT (more info)

Düsseldorf

Tonight's show in Düsseldorf had an abrupt start: the sound went completely off during the first song ("Jackson Cage"). Just a few minutes later, the same incident would happen in the middle of "Radio Nowhere", which had to be stopped.

When the sound problems were over, the show went on without further disturbances and featured a very diverse set list, which included "Spirit in the Night", "Darlington County", "Trapped", "The River" or "Glory Days".

Again a very long show, with nearly three hours in length and the biggest amount of songs played at a show on this tour so far: 28!

Both "None But the Brave" and "Backstreets" were setlisted but not performed, finally substituted by "Working on the Highway" and "The River".

See complete set list.

Bruce Springsteen resumes European tour with a long show in Cardiff

After a two-week pause, Bruce Springsteen resumed his European tour with a very long show at Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, with 27 songs, many fan requests and nearly three hours of music.

"From Small Things" made its tour debut and opened the show, followed by "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out".

"Blinded by the light" was dedicated to Danny Federici and "Thunder Road" to Tim Russert.

See complete set list.

From E Street to Ireland

Bruce Springsteen’s Irish concerts have been highlights of recent tours – with Bruce regularly paying tribute to the dedication of Irish fans. Now a new book will track Bruce's connections, gigs and haunts in Ireland over two decades.

And the authors of 'Springsteen in Ireland' are appealing to fans for their help. “Bruce has talked many times about what a great welcome he gets here in Ireland” says one of the book’s authors, Greg Lewis. “And every time he tours the tickets sell out in record time. We're going to trace every connection between the E Street and Ireland, and Bruce's fans will be a major part of that. We’re looking for fans' stories, memories and pictures. We launched the appeal for stories on fan sites last week and the response has been phenomenal – from fans around Ireland and from across Europe and America”.

Springsteen first played in Ireland at Slane Castle in 1985 and has returned for sell-out shows in Belfast and Dublin. In September 2007, tickets for his show that December at the Odyssey Arena sold out in a record-breaking eight minutes, and he recently returned to play to 110,000 fans at three sell-out concerts at the RDS in Dublin.

Fans can contribute stories and pictures to the book by contacting Greg and co-author Moira Sharkey at: springsteeninireland@googlemail.com

New photo galleries: London and Manchester

Visit the new photo galleries, with photos from the shows in London and Manchester:

Manchester 28 may 2008
by Paolo di Pietro (see)

London 30 may 2008
by Fernando Goy (see)

London 31 may 2008
by Ferran Fort (see)

London 31 may 2008 (II)
by Fernando Goy (see)


photo: Manchester 28.05.2008 copyright Paolo di Pietro

Garry Tallent

Garry W. Tallent, E Street's bass player, has been interviewed recently by Bass Player magazine. During the interview he talks about his favourite bass players (James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius and Rick Danko -The Band-), his favourite songs ("Point Blank" and "Saint in the City"), his recordings with other artists and, here's the Bruce bit, his future plans with Springsteen:

"The tour with Bruce goes through the summer. We have another album’s worth of material recorded, but no word yet on a release or future tours".

Read the full interview at Bass Player.

Photo: Madrid 25.11.2007 copyright 2008 Enric Nonell/fotofotos.com

Farewell to Bo Diddley

The great Bo Diddley has left us at age 79. He was a pioneer and one of the true masters of rock'n'roll. You might be familiar with his rectangular guitar and his original beats in songs like "Hey Bo Diddley", "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover", "Diddy Wah Diddy" or "Who Do You Love?". His classic beat was imitated by Buddy Holly ("Not Fade Away"), The Rolling Stones and many others.

Bruce Springsteen has played his songs for many years, specially "Mona", which was used from 1976 to 1978 as an intro to a song Bruce couldn't have written without Bo's influence: "She's the One".

Also gone, on May 26th, was Thomas Tallent (at 60 ), Garry Tallent's brother (read an obituary here).



Video: Bo Diddley "Mona"



Video: Bruce Springsteen "Not Fade Away" (Passaic 1978)

Spain tickets on sale

If you're ticketless for the final shows in Spain, you have now a second chance. A very limited amount of tickets (all seats) will be on sale starting Friday June 6th at 10am (CET) thru Tick Tack Ticket in Spain.

Link: www.ticktackticket.com

Second show in London

Though 4 songs and 10 minutes shorter than the first night, the second London show was a blast, with an energetic show that featured two tour premieres and a big shake of the set list. Twelve songs were different to the previous night, and the show started with "Out in the Street", followed by "No Surrender", "Darkness on the edge of town" and "Gypsy Biker", before finally playing "Radio Nowhere". This gave a different feel to the show.

Then came the two songs dedicated to Danny Federici, with great stories from Bruce: "Sandy" and "Growin' Up", followed by the tour premieres of "Downbound Train" (with a great, extended instrumental ending) and "I'm on Fire", which had Bruce seated in a chair in the little stage right in front of the audience. "Backstreets" was one of the best moments of the night, with a really intense version of the song. A more uptempo version of "Girls in the Summer Clothes" (more similar now to the album version) opened the encores and was followed by a note-perfect "Jungleland". Clarence was inmense on this one. Bruce was up and running all of the night, having a lot of fun and constantly interacting with the audience (both in the front row, and in the rest of the stadium, via his singing to the cameras sometimes). The show clocked in at 2 hours and 35 minutes.

See complete set list.

photos: 2008 pointblank