Video: Giants Stadium 28 July 2008

Courtesy of NJ.com:

Out in the Street

Bruce Springsteen performs Out in the Street

No Surrender

Bruce Springsteen performs No Surrender

Radio Nowhere

Bruce Springsteen performs Radio Nowhere

Back in the USA

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are back home and started Sunday nigh the final leg of the Magic tour with the first of three shows at New Jersey's Giants Stadium. No big surprises for the first show, with a set list pretty similar to the last shows in Europe, a mix of hits, vintage stuff and a few songs off Magic. The show opened with "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" and featured some cool versions of "Summertime Blues", "Spirit in the Night", "Atlantic City"and "Jungeland", plus welcomed returns: "I'll Work for your Love" and "Adam Raised a Cain".

"Rosalita" was the final encore of a show that lasted well over 3 hours.

See complete set list.

The European Grand Finale

Expectations were high for the final round of shows in Europe, those 4 gigs in Spain. San Sebastián was the first one, on July 15th, and lived up to those expectations. It was a truly excellent performance with many highlights, including the opening song, "Tunnel of Love", plus "Growin' Up", "Sandy" and a memorable "Incident on 57th Street", the best we have ever witnessed. The final guitar solo was just plain perfect. Patti Scialfa's presence on these last four shows made Bruce do a few songs that feature more of Patti's voice and perhaps softened a bit the set list (we're thinking of "Tougher than the rest", "Brilliant Disguise", "Cover Me"...).

Madrid and the first night in Barcelona were clearly shows for the masses. Despite a few rarities, Bruce definitely went into "greatest hits"-mode, skipping songs that had been standards on the Magic tour (was this the Magic tour any longer?) like "Gypsy Biker", "Magic" and even (heresy!) "She's the One" which was missing every night after San Sebastián. More and more songs from Born in the U.S.A. were featured instead.

Madrid had "Cover Me", "Bobby Jean", "Cadillac Ranch", "Trapped" and very inspired versions of "Jungleland" and "Summertime Blues". First night in Barcelona featured "The River", "Glory Days", "Janey Don't You Lose Heart", "Bobby Jean", "Waitin' on a Sunny Day", "Hungry Heart", "Brilliant Disguise" and just a couple of the so-called "rarities": "Backstreets" and "Jungleland". The crowds were really enthusiastic every night, chanting, doing waves, singing along and having the time of their life enjoying the 3-hour energy delivery from Bruce and the E Street Band. Come encore time, lots of family members went onstage, including Garry's daughter and Springsteen's children Evan and Jessica, plus assorted friends.

The final night in Barcelona things changed a bit. 15 songs were changed from the previous night, and the show opened with a very strong "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" that put everyone on their feet. The show featured a mix of hits and vintage stuff, with "Light of Day", "Spirit in the Night", "Summertime Blues", the tour debut of "I'm Going Down", a great "This Hard Land" followed by the powerful duo comprised of "Youngstown" and "Murder Incorporated", and a fantastic 7-song encore that included "Thunder Road", "Detroit Medley", a tremendous "Rosalita" and a 10-minute delirious "Twist and Shout". A great 3-hour show, but not the one colossal night most fans were expecting for a tour closer.

Later, looking at the set list fans found out what was missing. Bruce directly skipped the great duo of "Because the Night / She's the One" which was supposed to follow "The Promised Land". And a bit later, in the "rarity" spot after "Mary's Place", his set list said "Drive All Night / Racing in the Street", which were, unfortunately, both skipped to go straight into "The Rising". It was good, coulda been better, no doubt. Perhaps the 'funny' signs asking for all kinds of stuff made for the weird setlist changes, perhaps it was the enthusiastic chants after "Mary's Place" that made Bruce think it was not the right moment for a song like "Drive all Night". We'll never know, and probably 90% of the audience wouldn't care at all for a song they probably have never heard about.


See complete set list from San Sebastián

See complete set list from Madrid

See complete set list from Barcelona July 19th

See complete set list from Barcelona July 20th

Top Photo: copyright 2008 Belén Teruel


Barcelona 20-07-2008 video: Willem



Twist and Shout, Barcelona ,20-7. from Willem on Vimeo.

Barcelona 19-07-2008 video: Willem

American Land,Barcelona , 19-7. from Willem on Vimeo.

San Sebastian.

A magnificent show in a magnificent city with a magnificent audience. What else? A very inspired Bruce Springsteen, delivering the goods, which included a superb "Incident on 57th Street", a very rockin' "Summertime Blues", "Growin' Up", "Sandy", "Twist and Shout", "Tougher than the rest" sung with Patti (in her first appearance in Europe this year) and a great opening track: "Tunnel of Love". Next is Madrid and then the European grand finale in Barcelona.

See complete set list.

Bruce Springsteen arrives in San Sebastián

Bruce Springsteen has arrived today in San Sebastián. Several sources thought he attended Saturday's Tom Waits show in the city, but this never happened. Bruce's van ran through near the theatre where Waits was to play, some fans caught the moment and thought Bruce was coming to see Waits. He was, in fact, on the way to the airport to pick up his familu.

In the picture, Bruce arriving to his hotel, July 12th.

Photo: Iñigo Oyarzabal .

New photo galleries: Oslo, Milano & Goteborg

Check out the new photo galleries:

Oslo 8.07.2008 by René Van Diemen. See gallery.

Milano 25.06.2008 by Paolo di Pietro. See gallery.

Goteborg 4.07.2008 by Fernando Goy. See gallery.

Goteborg 5.07.2008 by Pierre Verhoeven. See gallery.

Milano 25.06.2008 (II) by Jordi Torné. See gallery.

Helsinki

Bruce Springsteen has performed today in Helsinki, in his last show before coming down to Spain for the final four shows in Europe. At Helsinki's Olympiastadion there's been a 31-song set, the longest of the tour so far.

And what a great night of rock'n'roll, with a magnificent repertoire that includes "Summertime Blues", "Point Blank", "Youngstown", Sandy", "Rosalita" or a totally unexpected Summer performance of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". The set has closed once again with "Twist and Shout", the 8th encore of the night.

See complete set list.

See official video of the first 3 songs.

Photo: Oslo 7.6.2008 copyright René Van Diemen

Oslo

As the tour keeps going on, Bruce keeps shaking up the set lists night after night, debuting new songs and performing many rarities and material from all of his albums. The two shows in Oslo (both in the 3 hour-plus mark) featured two 30-song sets. Night #1 had "Cover Me" (tour debut) plus "Racing in the Street", "Two Hearts", "Seven Nights to Rock" and "The River", in a show that included 6 songs off Born in the U.S.A.

Night #2 saw the tour debut of the full band version of "If I Should Fall Behind" in a very intense show full of great rock songs: "From Small Things", "Roulette", "You Can Look", "Night", "Adam Raised a Cain", "Murder Incorporated" or the final encore with "Twist & Shout". This has been the longest show so far, with 3 hours and ten minutes. "Born in the USA" was added to the set, performed to great effect right after "The Rising".



See complete set list Oslo 8.05.2009

See complete set list Oslo 7.05.2009

Drive all Night

Goteborg 5 July 2008:

Second night in Goteborg

The second night in Goteborg has followed the rule of Night#2 in the same city, with lots of set list changes and rarities. It's been a 3 hour-show, with 28 songs and 17 changes from the first night. A radically different set list with the tour debut of the rarely performed "Drive all Night", in its first performance with The E Street Band since The River tour in 1981.

What is puzzling about these two shows, despite the great songs performed, is how only 4 songs off Magic have been included each night, something that never before occured at a Springsteen show when he was presenting a new album. Tonight, even "Radio Nowhere" has been left off. Instead, the crowd had the pleasure of listening to "Roulette", "Summertime Blues", "Backstreets", "Night", "Janey Don't You Lose Heart", "Bobby Jean" and the long, final encore of "Twist and Shout".

See complete set list.

Goteborg videos

GP-TV in Sweden offers in its website the chance to see some videos from Bruce's 4th of July concert:

"Born in the U.S.A."
"Sandy"
"Out in the Street"
"Radio Nowhere"

4th of July in Goteborg

Springsteen has opened his 4th of July show in Goteborg, Sweden, with the full band electric version of the classic "Born in the U.S.A.". Of course, other 4th of July-related songs have been included too, such as "Sandy" and the rarely performed "Independence Day".

The Swedish fans have also been treated with "Be True", "Cadillac Ranch" or "This Hard Land" (and the original set list also had "Drive All Night", which had been soundchecked in the afternoon!)

Part of the show has been broadcast live on Sirius Radio. The live broadcast has included the following songs: "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", "Atlantic City", "Because the Night", "Cadillac Ranch", "Independence Day", "Seven Nights to Rock", "Born to Run", "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", "Dancing in the Dark" and "American Land".

See complete set list.

E Street Radio to broadcast tonight's show in Goteborg

Sirius Radio has announced that his E Street Radio channel will broadcast today portions of the Goteborg show. The host will be Dave Marsh and there'll be a selection of songs live from tonight's show.

You can get a 3-day free trial on "E Street Radio" at the Sirius website

Bruce Springsteen releases Magic Tour EP

"Magic Tour Highlights" is the title of the brand new 4-song live EP, to be published on July 15th exclusively through iTunes and Amazon.

This will be a digital download of both audio and video of 4 songs recorded during Springsteen's U.S. Spring tour. There won't be a physical disc.

The four songs feature duets with other artists, including "Sandy" with Danny Federici, recorded in Indianapolis the night Danny made his last appearance with Springsteen and the E Street Band.

All the benefits from the sale of this digital EP go straight to the The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund, as all artists, performers, record company and music publishers have donated their royalties. These are the four songs that will be included in the EP:

1. Always a Friend with Alejandro Escovedo (April 14, Houston)
2.The Ghost of Tom Joad with Tom Morello (April 7, Anaheim)
3.Turn! Turn! Turn! with Roger McGuinn (April 23, Orlando)
4. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) with Danny Federici (March 20, Indianapolis)

You can get the EP at the iTunes store or via Amazon for $2,99. The sound has been mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Thom Zimny edited the videos.

Goodbye to Madam Marie

Madam Marie, Asbury Park's famous fortune teller, passed away last Friday June 27th, at age 93. Her booth at the Asbury Park boardwalk was a landmark in Springsteen history. She is the fortune teller Springsteen mentioned in 1973 in his song "Sandy":

"The cops finally busted Madam Marie, for telling fortunes better than they do"

Bruce Springsteen has published a condolence note in his official web site:

Back in the day when I was a fixture on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, I'd often stop and talk to Madam Marie as she sat on her folding chair outside the Temple of Knowledge.

I'd sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach and watch as she led the day trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future. She always told me mine looked pretty good -- she was right. The world has lost enough mystery as it is -- we need our fortunetellers. We send our condolences out to her family who've carried on her tradition. Over here on E Street, we will miss her.
--Bruce Springsteen