Gothenburg 28th July 2012 - show 52

Couldn't find another interesting fact about Gothenburg in particular so here's a couple of Swedish ones instead.

Sweden has the highest number of McDonald restaurants, per capita, in Europe.

A popular souvenir is the road sign for moose-crossing. Every year a huge number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads.

The obvious headline tonight was the tour premier of Jungleland but taking the two Gothenburg nights together the other big news was, as I touched on yesterday, the enthusiasm of the Swedish crowds.  Our Bruce buddies who were there said the atmosphere was amazing.  Definitely a place to go on a future tour if you get chance.

More from Backstreets set list review page here


In most cases, reporting on a Bruce Springsteen concert is a rewarding experience. You get the oppportunity to share a great live experience with a fan community, describing the night's performance and particular highlights. Only in very few cases — if ever — you know you have been witnessing something that can't be described in words. Then, the job gets a bit trickier. Ullevi tonight was one of those nights.


After Bruce and the band delivered a solid show yesterday, aimed to please a record-breaking 66,000-plus audience, hopes were high for a second show to be just as good but very different, as with the two-night stand in Bergen earlier this week. Well, we did get a different show: 19 songs not played the night before, and several tour premieres... and we got a lot more...

With all the kerfuffle over Jungleland I didn't really get to grips with the full set until a day or so after the gig.  I was surprised that both nights were a similar time - somehow I thought night 2 was a lot longer.

If you read yesterday's post you will know that another of my top five songs was played tonight -Where The Bands Are. That alone would have made my night but Frankie would have been a big bonus. I have to say I never had a problem with Jungleland either way.  For me he had to play the song again sometime.  It was just a question of when.

Here's the full set for both Gothenburg nights.

The European leg of the tour just gets better and better

There are actually a couple of songs I don't like so much in night 2 but on such an amazing night it's just nit picking.

	Gothenberg 27/07/12 Time 8.32 to 12.16	Gothenburg 28/07/12 Time 8.48 to 12.25
1	Promised Land (32)	Who’ll Stop The Rain (4)
2	Prove It All Night (16)	Ties That Bind (12)
3	Cover Me (2)	Out In The Street (25)
4	Something In The Night (4)	Downbound Train (6)
5	My Love Will Not Let You Down (5)	I’m Goin’ Down (3)
6	We Take Care Of Our Own (51)	My Lucky Day (2)
7	Wrecking Ball (51)	Lost In The Flood (1)
8	Death To My Home Town (51)	We Take Care Of Our Own (52)
9	My City Of Ruins (51)	Wrecking Ball (52)
10	Spirit In The Night (28)	Death To My Hometown (52)
11	Girls In Their Summer Clothes (1)	My City Of Ruins (52)
12	Jack Of All Trades (45)	It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City (2)
13	Youngstown (12)	Frankie (1)
14	Murder Inc (10)	The River (26)
15	Johnny 99 (17)	Because The Night (21)
16	Working On The Highway (23)	Lonesome Day (18)
17	Darlington County (11)	Hungry Heart (15)
18	Shackled And Drawn (35)	Shackled And Drawn (36)
19	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (51)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (52)
20	Drive All Night (1)	Where The Bands Are (1)
21	The Rising (49)	Backstreets (7)
22	Radio Nowhere (7)	Badlands (45)
23	Badlands (44)	Land Of Hope And Dreams (36)
24	We Are Alive (45)	Thunder Road (28)
25	Born In The USA (27)	Born In The USA (28)
26	Born To Run (51)	Born To Run (52)
27	Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (8)	Ramrod (4)
28	Seven Nights To Rock (16)	Dancing In The Dark (52)
29	Dancing In The Dark (51)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (51)
30	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (50)	Jungleland (1)
31	Twist And Shout (14)	Twist And Shout (15)
32
33

Gothenburg 27th July 2012 - show 51

The largest shopping mall in Europe is ‘Nordstan’ in Gothenburg.

Way back in the early days of our fandom I found a site (not Badlands as far as I remember) advertising a trip to Sweden to see Bruce. The blurb said that the Swedish people adored Bruce and there was no place quite like Sweden when it comes to a Springsteen show.

The Backstreets  review seems to confirm this.

While Bruce may be something like the king of rock 'n' roll in Norway, he is simply God in Sweden

I was really tempted at the time (not sure that Mike was though) but we didn't go... and although I've never forgotten that advert we never even considered a Swedish trip on this tour.  Well what a missed opportunity! I knew it was a big mistake when I heard Bruce had soundchecked Drive All Night and Where The Bands Are. Both these songs would feature somewhere in my top five.

As it turned out Where The Bands Are didn't appear in the set and the big story of Gothenburg night 1 was  Drive All Night.  I'm gutted to have missed it but the video on brucespringsteen.net  is amazing and almost makes up for not being there - no it doesn't - who am I trying to kid!  Fabulous video anyway but dare I say it - I like the MSG 2009 ending better - no that's not sour grapes!

Stan Goldstein says 

Some fans had wondered if Bruce Springsteen would play "Drive All Night" again.

The song ... having been played at only five E Street Band shows since 1981.

It was at today's venue, the Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden, on July 5, 2008 where "Drive All Night" was played for the first time in more than 27 years at an E Street Band show (Bruce did perform it several times on his sole Devils & Dust Tour in 2005).

The songs features a haunting sax solo by Clarence Clemons, and since the Big Man's death last year, this song, along with "Jungleland" were ones some fans wondered if they would be heard again...

So here's the full set list.


A good set for me.  Nothing there I don't like and it would have been great to hear Girls In Their Summer Clothes again.

	Bergen 24/07/12 Time 7.55 to 11.20	Gothenburg 27/07/12 Time 8.32 to 12.16
1	Long Walk Home (1)	Promised Land (32)
2	We Take Care Of Our Own (50)	Prove It All Night (16)
3	My Lucky Day (1)	Cover Me (2)
4	Out In The Street (24)	Something In The Night (4)
5	Wrecking Ball (50)	My Love Will Not Let You Down (5)
6	Death To My Hometown (50)	We Take Care Of Our Own (51)
7	My City Of Ruins (50)	Wrecking Ball (51)
8	The E Street Shuffle (13)	Death To My Home Town (51)
9	Red Headed Woman (1)	My City Of Ruins (51)
10	Proud Mary (1)	Spirit In The Night (28)
11	Fire (2)	Girls In Their Summer Clothes (1)
12	This Depression (2)	Jack Of All Trades (45)
13	Youngstown (11)	Youngstown (12)
14	Murder Inc (9)	Murder Inc (10)
15	Johnny 99 (16)	Johnny 99 (17)
16	Working On The Highway (22)	Working On The Highway (23)
17	Shackled And Drawn (34)	Darlington County (11)
18	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (50)	Shackled And Drawn (35)
19	You’ve Got It (1)	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (51)
20	Racing In The Street (7)	Drive All Night (1)
21	The Rising (48)	The Rising (49)
22	Radio Nowhere (6)	Radio Nowhere (7)
23	Badlands (43)	Badlands (44)
24	We Are Alive (44)	We Are Alive (45)
25	Born In The USA (26)	Born In The USA (27)
26	Born To Run (50)	Born To Run (51)
27	Rosalita (7)	Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (8)
28	Seven Nights To Rock (15)	Seven Nights To Rock (16)
29	Dancing In The Dark (50)	Dancing In The Dark (51)
30	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (49)	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (50)
31	American Land (7)	Twist And Shout (14)
32
33

And here's the 2008 version