With a little less media focus than on Friday, after the catharsis of the opening session, Sunday’s was an ideal night… for other catharsis. This one, without the blessed ‘vip’ folklore and opening the repertoire a bit to other songs. Session, again, overwhelming and generous, the second and last in the olympic stadiumthat Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band they toasted, once again forcing the idea of punctuality (the ‘troupe’ entered the scene at 8:55 p.m.) and with the ritual greeting: “Hello, Barcelona, us esteem, Catalonia! & rdquor;.
cool environment in Montjuic thanks to the beneficial water that the artist brought to the city during the afternoon. Let’s see, who else? He bossgod of rain and bearer of good news, determined to make our lives a little happier and to gratify long-suffering ‘connaisseurs’: there was that unusual opening with ‘My love will not let you down’, 1982 vintage piece, featured in the ‘Tracks’ rarity box set. From there, to that ‘No surrender’ that for a long time has sounded more guitar-like than in the original version, a corrective generally applied to the vintage of ‘Born in the USA’.
Sparks in the Fender
The welcome stage followed more or less the order of Friday (we scored a painful victim, ‘Candy’s room’), exalting spirits at the blow of ‘Prove it all night’ and ‘The promised land’. A Springsteen with a slightly punished voice compared to Fridayalthough well assisted by the choral mass, and ready to recall his youthful adventures with that ‘Kitty’s back’ with views of the Greenwich Village of the 70s. bruce guitaristand that theme reserved for us a gentleman only in his surly way, climbing towards the highest frets of the weathered Fender Telecaster.
We also refer a lot to rock’n’roll about the Boss, normal, but other ingredients float on this tour, in particular soul, which grows with the packaging of the brass section and the choral texture. ‘Nightshift’, by Commodores, reinforced that letter, and ‘Mary’s place’, platform for a game with the public in which Springsteen inherits the way of doing the African-American ‘entertainers’.
Spree at the expense of ‘Johnny 99’
The second nights of Bruce in a city are usually propitious field for ‘deep cuts’, little obvious subjects of his catalogue. And there the surprises came by way of a furious ‘Trapped’, his powerful adaptation of Jimmy Cliff, and the penitentiary ‘Johnny 99’, an incursion into the acoustic ‘Nebraska’ (82), here in full force, with full electricity and with joyful drift to the ‘marching band’ of New Orleans. Already in the encores, another surprise was brought by the rock and roll singer ‘Ramrod’. Fewer ‘setlist’ changes, it must be said, than in other doubles from the past in Barcelona.
Bruce rock, Bruce soul and Bruce troubadour, one day enchanted by the country art of Hank Williams. Some vestige of it leaked into ‘Last man standing’, the song in which he tells how unsettling it is to realize that many friends from his youth (like those from his boyhood band The Castiles) have already crossed the threshold of the last resting place.
On the thunder highway
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They paved the way to the ‘climax‘ the expected numbers: a ‘Because the night’ with Nils Lofgren’s feverish solo, the Bo Diddley tom tom in ‘She’s the one’, the release of ‘The rising’… The Invocation of the Bad Lands and the Thunder Highway, with Jake Clemons paying homage to Uncle Clarence note for note (with the daring packaging of the horn section).
Duel of titans between two ‘blockbusters’ albums such as ‘Born to run’ (1975) and ‘Born in the USA’ (1984), with their title songs in contention, and ‘Glory days’ (this time, without famous showgirls), ‘Bobby Jean’, ‘Dancing in the dark’ and ‘Tenth avenue freeze-out’ (Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici on screens), setting the pace until the final fade, this time breaking the guidelines followed during the tour and reaching the two hours and 59 minutes of concert, with 29 songs total. And with Tom Hanks joining the celebration from the production area. Party and merriment at the Estadiin contrast to the mystique of Farewell theme, ‘I’ll see you in my dreams’with the Boss alone with the guitar, a reminder that this tour challenges us both through the party and through transcendence.
