When many big name American artists head over overseas for a European leg of a huge tour, they often spend a few weeks traipsing around the continent before moving on. Never content to do things the normal way, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band spent nearly 12 weeks hitting almost every major European city between a May 13th performance in Seville, Spain and tonight’s tour closer in Helsinki, Finland. The tour has been winning rave reviews from hardcores as The Boss has been dusting off multiple tour debuts at most stops including eight tonight as part of a massive 38-song performance that will go down as the longest Springsteen show of all-time.
[Photo by Jo Lopez for BruceSpringsteen.Net]
In a treat for those who entered Helsinki Olympic Stadium early this evening, Springsteen busted out his acoustic guitar and delivered a five-song unplugged set two hours before he usually goes on. The mini-set included tour debuts of I’ll Work For Your Love off 2007’s Magic, Leap of Faith off 1992’s Lucky Town and Blinded By The Light – the first song off Springsteen’s first album (Greetings From Asbury Park) which Manfred Mann’s Earth Band turned into a hit in 1976.
When the full band hit the stage a few hours later they did so with the tour debut of Rockin’ All Over The World by John Fogerty. While this was the E Street Band’s first take on the tune this tour, Springsteen had performed it with Fogerty last month at the Hard Rock Calling festival. Tonight’s main set included another Prove It All Night with the 1978 intro, Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? played by request and the tour debut of fan-favorite Back In Your Arms from the Tracks box set. There were still more surprises in store during the ten-song encore (!!!) as The Boss and his band tackled their pairing of Devil With The Blue Dress / Good Golly Miss Molly / CC Rider and Jenny, Jenny best known as “The Detroit Medley.” Bruce and the band also unveiled tour debuts of Steven Van Zandt’s 1976 gem I Don’t Wanna Go Home and Jackie Wilson’s Higher And Higher.
Acoustic Set: I’LL WORK FOR YOUR LOVE, LEAP OF FAITH, No Surrender, For You, BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
Electric Set: ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD, Night, Out In The Street, Loose Ends, We Take Care of Our Own, Prove It All Night (78 Intro), Wrecking Ball, Death To My Hometown, My City of Ruins, Does This Bus Stop @ 82nd Street? (request), Be True, Jack of All Trades, Downbound Train, Because The Night, Lonesome Day, Darlington County, Light Of Day (request), Shackled & Drawn, Waitin’ On a Sunny Day, BACK IN YOUR ARMS, The Rising, Badlands, Land of Hope & Dreams
Encore: We Are Alive,  Born In The USA, Born To Run, DETROIT MEDLEY, Glory Days, Dancing In The Dark, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, I DON’T WANNA GO HOME (request), HIGHER & HIGHER, Twist & Shout
[via Backstreets Forum]
By the time the night was over, Springsteen had delivered a total of 38 songs tying his own record for most songs performed at one show and finally bested the four hour mark. Since The Detroit Medley was perhaps the last remaining repertoire staple on the shelf, it’ll be interesting to see what The Boss pulls out of his bag of tricks for the next U.S. leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour which starts on August 14th in Boston.
One Response
Just to clarify, the actual show itself – “the electric set” above, plus encores – already exceeded 4 hours, clocking in at 4 hrs 6 mins. If we include the acoustic set, the total time played is in the region of 4 hrs 35 mins. I know – I was there. Quite a night!