Barcelona 22.06.2024 #SpringsteenTour2024

The start of SpringsteenTour2024!

This year we are doing fewer shows. Already when the concerts were announced we agreed on a couple of rules on to what shows to attend. The first rule was that if Springsteen was playing more than one show in the same city we would only see the second one, so we booked Barcelona2, Stockholm2 and London2 (Milan was an exception because…yeah…because of San Siro 🤷🏻‍♀️). We also wanted to avoid big fields in the middle of nowhere and we also wanted to see Springsteen in new cities. When the tickets had been purchased and all hotels and flights had been booked our tour plan looked like this: Marseille, Milan 1, Milan 2, Barcelona 2, Hannover, Odense, Helsinki, Stockholm 2 and London 2.

Since the Marseille concert was cruelly stolen, literally, right from under our noses and the two Milan dates also postponed, we had to wait for Barcelona 2 to kick off our #SpringsteenTour2024.

This is essentially a concert review, but this time the story starts with a little drama the night before leaving for Barcelona:

In Gothenburg there is an airport coach available if you want to be transported from the city to the airport (Landvetter). The coach departs from the bus station. To get to the bus station from where I live you need to cross a bridge. I normally catch a bus or a tram but this particular morning the first connection wasn’t until 5am and that’s when I wanted to catch the airport coach. When I considered my options, I ruled out getting a taxi (too expensive) and walking (too far) before deciding on the bike sharing company “Styr & Ställ”. By chance, on the evening before take-off, I found out that the bridge, which is a lifting bridge, was stuck in an open mode and no traffic could pass (not even bikes). Would it be fixed in time for my bike ride early next morning? To make things worse a sudden power outage made me even more nervous, since my phone only had 9% battery. The only thing I could do was to go to bed in the darkness and hope for the best.

Early next morning everything was miraculously ok again. The power was back on and the bridge was fixed. I pedalled over the bridge, caught my bus (and flight) and safely arrived in Barcelona.

Last year the admittance routine of Estadi Olímpic was chaotic, both Pista Delantera (Front of Stage) and Pista Trasera (normal GA) were in the same line, a line that stretched almost a whole lap around the arena and it took forever to get in. This year we climbed the mountain of Montjuïc well in time to avoid the turmoil only to find that they had shaped up their game. Admittance went smoothly and we found a great spot in the back of the pit.

At 9:12pm Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band entered the stage and opened the night’s entertainment with My Love Will Not Let You Down, enthusiastically accompanied by the voices of about 58.000 fans. “¿Com esteu?” (How are you? in Catalan), Springsteen hollered a couple of times and instantly had the whole crowd in his hands. Lonesome Day, Ghosts and Darlington County followed.

After Working on the Highway the stage went dark and when the lights were turned on again Max’s son Jay Weinberg was sitting at the drums ready to go all in on Radio Nowhere, a great unexpected addition to the show!

All in all it was a really good show. Springsteen’s voice was a bit strained at times, but the energy was high and he seemed to have a good time on stage, conducting the jumping, dancing, and singing of the crowd beyond midnight. The setlist seems a bit more open to changes even though the core songs are still there. The more than a half-hour-long encore serves a big chunk of the biggest hits and crowd pleasers, but I don’t mind. What I do mind is parents forcing small kids to pathetically beg for guitar picks or give away a toy trumpet in exchange for a harmonica.

The highlights for me were a fantastic rendition of Reason to Believe and of course Racing in the Street (this time together with Oliver 😊). We also met some old and new friends. Next show: Hannover