If you arrive as early as two days before the show, as I did, it is a great opportunity to do the roll calls. You are early enough to get a decent number and it is also a chance to meet old and new friends. That is what I did together with my friends Ann-Sofie and Jennifer, who also generously let me crash in their hotel room. Oliver wasn’t schedueled to arrive until late Thursday (the day before the show), so I also had some time to kill. We got the numbers 245, 246 and 247 just before the first roll call on Thursday. There were then two more roll calls and on the show day we first met at 10:00 in the morning and then at 15:00 to stay until it was time to go in. Behind us in line were Marika and Jaana (?) from Finland, who I talked to and later they also looked out for me in the pit (thanks!).
In-between the roll calls we had time for some sight-seeing. We saw the Helsinki Cathedral, the harbour and we also went to see the Rendezvous photo exhibition by Riku Olkkonen, who has made amazing photos of Springsteen and the E Street Band over the years. The photos displayed were for sale and there was also a photo book that you could buy. Please click on the photo for more information on “This Hard Land Photography” and how to order.
As I checked in at the hotel where Oliver and I would stay I noticed that the lobby was infested with a large number of young football players. They were all taking part in a youth football tournament. I decided it would be better to refrain from passing the information on to Oliver who was on his way from Germany 😅. Later it turned out that the only grief they gave us, was them overcrowding the breakfast service in the morning.
We were let into the Helsinki Olympic Stadium just before 17:00 and I found a great spot in the third row a little right of the centre platform, then the waiting game started. Most people around me were sitting or even lying. The ground surface was pretty dirty so I preferred to stand. One and a half hours before the start of the show there was a sudden stage rush. I was on alert and could even get a somewhat better position. Later I heard that the trigger of the stage rush was a man who got up to push his portable stool slighly forward.
Already at around 19:50 the band entered the stage and the show kicked off with Lonesome Day followed by My Love Will Not Let You Down and Prove It All Night (no surprises there). Subsequently I was happy to welcome back Two Hearts, Ghosts and Letter To You to the setlist. Letter To You, again, with subtitles displayed on the screen. The Finnish audience then did a good job singing the first verse of Hungry Heart. Reason to Believe is a new favourite but I’m always afraid Bruce will wreck his voice when doing the call and response routine.
To sum it up, it was another good show. It felt like the crowd was a bit more awake than the one in Odense, but maybe that was just because I was up front. The drink regulation, not to let people bring bottles or cups with alcohol into the GA area (it had to be finished before entering or re-entering) reduced the normal stream of people going back-and-forth and also the number of drunk people and the littering. The thrill of the evening was to hear Youngstown and Long Walk Home (tour premiere). After the show I reunited with Oliver and two thirds of the “Retired Rock’ n’ Roll Tourists” aka the “Grumpy Old Men” (Dan and Dave.). When examining the printed setlist you see that Two Hearts and Darlington County were added and that we missed out on Land of Hope and Dreams in favour of Born in the USA (damn!).
Shortly before the Helsinki show started it was spontaneously decided that I’m going to the first show in Stockholm after all, but first I’m going back home to Gothenburg to do some laundry and to write this blogpost. On Monday morning I’ll be on the train to Stockholm. Oliver is joining me for the second show.
Setlist:
1. Lonesome Day
2. My Love Will Not Let You Down
3. Prove It All Night
4. Two Hearts
5. Ghosts
6. Letter To You
7. The Promised Land
8. Hungry Heart
9. Reason To Believe
10. Youngstown
11. Long Walk Home ** TOUR PREMIERE **
12. Working On The Highway
13. Darlington County
14. E Street Shuffle
15. Nightshift
16. My Hometown
17. The River
18. Last Man Standing
19. Backstreets
20. Because The Night
21. She’s The One
22. Wrecking Ball
23. The Rising
24. Badlands
25. Thunder Road
26. Born In The USA
27. Born To Run
28. Bobby Jean
29. Dancing In The Dark
30. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
31. Twist and Shout
32. I’ll See You In My Dreams
Stray Bullet 
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