Due to the cancelled flight from Düsseldorf on Thursday, I had to change my plans regarding getting a low number and doing the roll calls. Oliver and I arrived to Landvetter Airport together (for the first time ever) on Friday evening on the night before the show. As I was going to have a guest staying with me during the week I urgently had to head home to haul the Z-bed from the basement and to dump my backpack.
Later Oliver and I met in the city centre to attend a fan meeting hosted by my good friends Ann-Sofie and Jennifer. On our way we grabbed something to eat and by a whim Oliver asked the couple sitting next to us if they wanted free tickets to the concerts tomorrow. He had in mind that Donna from BruceFunds desperately wanted to place some donated tickets with local fans. Of course they wanted free tickets and their best did friend too! They were as happy as clams and we got to feel like saints when handing the tickets over.
Showday: The first of three concerts in my hometown, Gothenburg! Although I knew it’s never a good idea to expect too much, I woke up quite excited. The date has a special meaning in my heart. 7 years ago, by happy coincidences, I made my first acquaintance with Oliver outside of Ullevi going to a Springsteen concert.
7 years ago we also met a few other people and that day we made a picture that Oliver wanted to recreate, so we summoned the people involved. See the results below. I think we are all well preserved, don’t you? 😅
This was a day of meeting old and new friends. For example. I ran into Jonas and Carola from Sweden, who I met in the queue in 2016. Turns out Carola had met Stevie outside the hotel and got his signature on her arm and had now turned it into a tattoo. As we were talking a man from a Swedish newspaper came to interview them. I also ran into some people that knew about me from reading this blog. That made me very proud.
What about the concert? Bruce sounded a bit hoarse during show and especially when he dived into the opener, which was The Ties That Bind (just like in Düsseldorf). Two welcome surprises were Lucky Town and Land of Hope And Dreams, which had also been soundchecked together with Racing in the Street and Better Days. The atmosphere onstage was at times loose and goofy and there were even a couple of screw-ups. The new “dance routine” during Glory Days remained.
The person producing the Swedish subtitles certainly didn’t have an easy job last night. Bruce deviated from the original manuscript quite much during his speech, which made it look like a bit of a joke.
We were standing a little bit back on the right side of the stage and it was a lot of room for me to jump around and dance. We had decided to do roll calls for the second show, so when Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out started we made our way towards the back of the venue and snuck out and got a number for the next show. We were able to return and see the last song from far behind.
📸 Head pic: Markus Esselmark (used by permission)
📸: @ pita_oli and @ AnnaLind1
Setlist:
- “The Ties That Bind”
- “No Surrender”
- “Ghosts”
- “Prove It All Night”
- “Letter To You”
- “The Promised Land”
- “Out in the Street”
- “Lucky Town”
- “Kitty’s Back”
- “Nightshift”
- “Mary’s Place”
- “My Hometown”
- “The River”
- “Last Man Standing”
- “Backstreets”
- “Because the Night”
- “She’s the One”
- “Wrecking Ball”
- “The Rising”
- “Badlands”
- “Land of Hope and Dreams”
- “Thunder Road”
- “Born in the U.S.A.”
- “Born to Run”
- “Bobby Jean”
- “Glory Days”
- “Dancing in the Dark”
- “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
- “I’ ll see you in my dreams”
Stray Bullet 
I was going to say hello to Anna at the end of the show but now I know why you’d gone.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Meet me in the front row today!
LikeLike