Thursday 23 May 2013

Seeing Bruce Springsteen live in Italy...A religious experience!

It is the obvious and cheapest choice really for those of us living in Greece. The airfares are usually cheap (especially if you book in advance) for one thing. And there's also something about the Italian fans... I met and made friends not only through the internet, but also in person of Springsteen fans from many different countries but most of them are from Italy. We Greeks seem to connect a lot with the Italians. One could say "they are more passionate", but Scandinavian fans are also passionate and loyal too and that's why Bruce often plays gigs in cities in Sweden or Norway with a population that is roughly twice the capacity of the venue...and they are sold out! But the Italians are somehow different, at least for us Greeks! What's more, Bruce always makes the extra effort to speak quite a bit in Italian between songs when he plays there. Of course, his family, on the side of his mother is from Italy, but he himself does not speak the language.
Anyway, my Italian affair with Bruce started on a Sunday, the 19th of July 2009 in Rome where at least 60 Greeks were gathered in the pit for this "historic" concert


SETLIST:
01. Badlands
02. Out in the Street
03. No Surrender
04. She's the One
05. Working on a Dream
06. Seeds
07. Johnny 99
08. Atlantic City
09. Raise Your Hand
10. Hungry Heart
11. Pink Cadillac
12. I'm On Fire
13. Surprise, Surprise
14. Prove It All Night
15. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
16. The Promised Land
17. American Skin (41 Shots)
18. Lonesome Day
19. The Rising
20. Born to Run
ENCORE:
21. My City of Ruins
22. Thunder Road
23. You Can't Sit Down
24. Bobby Jean
25. Dancing in the Dark
26. Twist And Shout

My 2nd stop was two days later in Torino where I had the privilege to experience one of those rare occasions when Bruce plays "Drive All Night"



SETLIST:
01. Loose Ends
02. Badlands
03. Hungry Heart
04. Outlaw Pete
05. Working on the Highway
06. Working on a Dream
07. Murder Incorporated
08. Johnny 99
09. American Skin (41 Shots)
10. Raise Your Hand
11. Travelin' Band
12. Drive All Night
13. Two Hearts
14. My Love Will Not Let You Down
15. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
16. The Promised Land
17. My Hometown
18. Backstreets
19. Lonesome Day
20. The Rising
21. Born to Run
ENCORE:
22. Land of Hope and Dreams
23. American Land
24. Glory Days
25. Dancing in the Dark
26. Twist And Shout

And two days after that I was off to Udine, which was the last time I saw Clarence Clemons...



SETLIST:
01. Sherry Darling
02. Badlands
03. Hungry Heart
04. Outlaw Pete
05. Darlington County
06. Something In The Night
07. Working On A Dream
08. Murder Incorporated
09. Johnny 99
10. No Surrender
11. Raise Your Hand
12. Summertime Blues
13. Be True
14. Streets Of Fire
15. My Love Will Not Let You Down
16. Waitin On A Sunny Day
17. The Promised Land
18. American Skin (41 Shots)
19. Lonesome Day
20. The Rising
21. Born To Run
ENCORE:
22. Born In The USA
23. American Land
24. Bobby Jean
25. Dancing In The Dark
26. Twist And Shout

My next date with Bruce was 3 years after that (Well, 2 years, 10 months and 18 days later). The place was Florence and Clarence was no longer with us. About an hour before the concert started someone told us "You see how the wind is blowing? It's blowing towards us. And see what's in front of us? The stage! So if it rains, we'll be protected by it" Yeah, right, famous last words and all that...
I felt shivers down my spine when Ennio Morricone's intro music started playing from the speakers and when Bruce and the band came on stage, first asking "Firenze, siete pronti?" ("Florence, are you ready") and then blasting into "Badlands", it felt like not even one day had passed. These 2 years, 10 months and 18 days had been shrunk to 0 (zero, null).
And then, at the 3rd song the rain started. A rain that would last for the rest of the concert (that's 3 and a half hours to you) and then some as we were trying to get back to our hostel. But no one seem to mind. I didn't see anybody leave. And Bruce, although he could have stayed under cover, protected by the downpour, would come to the front to get wet with us. And right there at the front row, was a very good friend of mine who missed the chance to see Bruce when he came to Greece in 1988 because she was pregnant. 24 years later her wish came true!
In the pit there was also this little girl which is probably Bruce's youngest fan. And she was also in Rome 3 years before that!


SETLIST:
01. Badlands
02. No Surrender
03. We Take Care of Our Own
04. Wrecking Ball
05. Death to My Hometown
06. My City of Ruins
07. Spirit in the Night
08. Be True
09. Jack of All Trades
10. Trapped
11. Prove It All Night
12. Honky Tonk Women/Darlington County
13. Burning Love
14. Working on the Highway
15. Shackled and Drawn
16. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
17. Apollo Medley
18. The River
19. The Rising
20. Backstreets
21. Land of Hope and Dreams
ENCORE:
22. Rocky Ground
23. Born in the U.S.A.
24. Born to Run
25. Hungry Heart
26. Seven Nights to Rock
27. Dancing in the Dark
28. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
29. Twist And Shout
30. Who'll Stop The Rain

Within one day, we now had to move all the way up north to Trieste for the next concert. OK, so it was not as memorable as Firenze (how could it compare with THAT?) but it was special in its own way. It featured "Thunder Road" for instance and Bruce greeted the audience in Croatian when he got on stage ("Dobro vece Croatia. Kako ste?"). There were indeed lots of people in Trieste from nearby Croatia in the audience

SETLIST:
01. Badlands
02. No Surrender
03  We Take Care of Our Own
04. Wrecking Ball
05. Death to My Hometown
06. My City of Ruins
07. Spirit in the Night
08. Downbound Train
09. Jack of All Trades
10. Youngstown
11. Murder Incorporated
12. Johnny 99
13. Working on the Highway
14. Shackled and Drawn
15. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
16. Apollo Medley (The Way You Do The Things You Do/634-5789)
17. The River
18. Because the Night
19. The Rising
20. We Are Alive
21. Thunder Road
ENCORE:
22. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
23. Born in the U.S.A.
24. Born to Run
25. Bobby Jean
26. Hungry Heart
27. Seven Nights to Rock
28. Dancing in the Dark
29. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Bruce is returning to Italy tonight with a concert in a city square in Napoli. This should indeed be special and I wish I was there! But my schedule for this year features Padova on the 31st of May and Milano on the 3rd of June. He will also play in Roma in July.
See you on the road and also on this blog in June with a report from Padova and Milano!



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