and then it was midsummer. the best midsummer ever. dancing, wine, music, swiming in lakes, more wine, food, dear dear friends, lauging and singing in two in the morning, springsteen slides across the dance floor with B.
mum had her birthday and love her and my family
picnic with my sister
the best sunday with K. movies, sunbathing, tea

now workworkwork and writing again. But I'm scared. what if I have lost the words and come empty as a bottle of an alcoholic to London and the writing classes. i feel all the words and stories inside of me but I have a hard time getting them on paper. 

tomorrow seven hours of word, five on saturday and ten on sunday. yeah and I have had all week already.

first my wild wacky long review of Springsteen two weeks ago (dear lord time flies and damn I want more Bruce)

Wednesday:
Me and a friend got to the quew at midday and was nr 83, his girlfriend came later and we had the best tent around. It looked like a campsite with plenty of tents and small barbecues and no rain that night. But loads of Bruce music and young kids drinking and singing until the early morning. So not much sleep I'm afraid. But we made my "NYCS Pretty Please"-sign for the first night.

Thursday
The quew was a bit kaos and it started to rain at about ten in the morning and contiued to do so all day and into the night. We had to stand in line from 2 until they let us in at 5.30. But when we got in we ended up at the first row at the left catwalk or whatever you call it. And the rain became even heavier and it just poored down. I had so many layers of cloathing that I didn't feel cold or wet just until that last hour. We stood beside two very nice britts (hello if you are greasers) and we basicly talked about how cold it was until Bruce came on. Or Nils as a matter of a fact.

Nils came in with his accordian and played this traditional Swedish summer song which felt like a lea as the temperature sank down to about six degrees C. But as the show started we didn't feel the rain anymore. Bruce had his mind on getting this audience to dance and boy did he succeed. Who stopped the rain was wonderful, so perfect. Then Badlands, My Lucky Day and Prove it all night which was so great and got us all screaming and jumping like maniacs. Then Out in the streets which was a bit of a surprise for me but I love it so i didn't protest or anything. I loved Seeds, Johnny 99 (Jay does this one so great, love the last bit) and Ghost of tom Joad in a row. Such a blues approach to it.

We danced non stop, especially when he played Raise Your Hand, Going Down (always a favorite of mine), Cadillac Ranch and Because The Night in a row. He played wild thing for two italians that stood close to me and damn did they scream and jump, but didn't quite fell for that cover. A bit stiff. The Wrestler was wonderful to hear and I am really happy that he played it, it was such a great atmosphere at the stadium at that song, it was really intense. Kingdom of days was boring. I love Lonsome Day and The Rising so it was great to hear them the first night but wished that he had skipped those or at least The Rising and played Mary' Place instead on the other nights. Born To Run is Born To Run, he can't fail there.

I loved Hard Times, how everyone was upfront and sang their hearts out. Such a soulful gospel. The whole last part of the show was really intense and a tight set where everyone was at their feet. Which Bruce wasn't when he jumped out on the scene and forgot about the rain so he slipped and fell on his ass. It looked scary so Nils just ran to him but Bruce lay still and got up himself and made a thing about it. "I broke my ass" The ass is broken" Loved to hear Glory Days when he pointed out his broken ass again but Twist and Shout was short and not as good as it use to be. But Stevie thought the broken ass thing was hilarous so he tried to help Bruce and lead him which Bruce just pushed away And then DITD which was a hit of course and then straight home, being so tired.

And I stood upfront so he came over to us several times. I got hold of his hand and he hold it for a few seconds and I'm still high on it. It just felt like he connected and really wanted to see us and I love that about him. He sure looks good upclose. But he didn't take my sign (no surprise but made me motivated to make him take it next night)

Friday
This day was special because I had my best friend with me and she had never seen Bruce before. But damn it was even colder that the Thursday show. But we came at about 12.30 and they day proceeded very quickly. When we got in at 5.30 we ended up at the second row a bit to the left of the left catwalk. And as we sat there waitig we were talking about how I would catch his attention with my NYCS sign and then I had an idea. Annika wrote "How's your ass" on her sign and I wrote "Ass Looks Fine!" on mine. It was completely my idea.

The show started with Nils coming on again with his accordian and this time we knew what was coming so we sang and waved our arms and he smiled at us with a huge grin. Then came Downbound Train which I also have wished to hear for so long (have heard it solo ut not with E-Street) so it was fantastic and then Badlands and a fantastic Lucky day and now Bruce looks over at us and sees the dutch woman with the flowers (remember the sunflowers last tour?) and we hold up our ass signs and he sees them and laughs. Candy's Room was something special, the whole crowd loved this. Outlaw Pete became better each night and Darlington County was just a big party. Seeds was not as fun the second time but can't get enough of Johnny 99. Then Yougstown which was a first and damn it was good, the best song together with LITF, love Nils solo in this one. Bruce had a geat mood all weekend but friday was better than Thursday as he ran around and blew in Clarence saxophone and looked like a child in a candy store most of the time. Good Lovin' was fun and much better than Wild Thing and Hungry Heart made everyone sing their heart out.

It was at the end of Hungery heart that he ran over to us (he had already made his sign colecting bit) especially and shouted to us (not in the mike) "give me my ass-signs!" And then made a thing about it as he showed it to the audience; first the "how's your ass" "I's good. It's good. A bit tense but alright" and then put my sign "Ass looks fine" for the camera. But as he did so the other side of the sign was visable on the screens so hundreds saw NYCS and thought they were gonna hear it. But he just wanted to talk about his ass.

Growin Up was perfect, heard it before but he really nailed it this time and then we thought that we ended up in Bruce Heaven when he held up the E-street Shuffle sign but Jay shook his head so they played Thunder Road instead. But we had already started celebrating so even though it was a beautiful version of Thunder Road, we had missed out on E-Street shuffle which is another avorite of mine. QOTSM was really fun to hear, he sang it with this perfect pop voise and flirted with the italian young girl (stop the kid thing Bruce, it's too cheesy) but the real highlight was Lost in the Flood. I had never dared to hope for this one. He held up a sign which read "How many shows must a man walk down before he hears Lost in The Flood" and Bruce even pointed out that is was a very rare song. Jay was forgiven all about Shuffle for his performance here was astonishing. The whole band was perfect here as they did it very intense and heavy. The whole crowd held their breath.

Radio Nowhere was fun, Jay did a great job again. Lonsome Day, The Rising and Born To Run, nothing new there. Hard Times was even better this time but when he started Tenth I really jumped with joy. I have never heard it before and it was another long time favorite. Just to see Bruce do his microphone thing was worth it and the crowd went crazy again. Land of Hopes and dreams he played each night and I adore hat song, especially the ending. But we knew the ending of the show but did get a surprise with Detroit Medley when he played A Land of a 1000 dances as well. Me and my best friend danced like crazy and hold eachother for warmth. Bruce jumped around and Stevie did a strane dance that I had never seen before during DITD where he held out his arms and just made them go up and down. Bruce shouted; "Everyone do the Stevie Dance" and Stevie walked around the stage instructing us on how it was done. So much fun, he looked a bit mad to be honest.

After the show we were so stiff because of the cold but it was the best show in my opinion. Great songs (Downbound train, darligton County, Youngstown, Growin, Queen, Lost in the flood, Tenth and Detroit especially stood out) and a band that was all over the place and a passionate crowd.

Sunday
As it was a sunny and a bit warmer day we made our way to the stadium a bit earlier which was very wise. We got number 480 when we came at 10 in the morning but it reached way over 1000 people in line at the afternoon. The soundcheck was promising and I had the biggest hopes for this evening. I had my usual NYCS sign but this time I wrote "Jay sounds mighty fine!" on the other side because I knew that Bruce like that and that Jay really did impress me.

The earlier nights we had been at the left side which was fun as Charlie clearly recognized me the secod night but now we wanted to change the view. We ended up by the rightside catwalk almost infront of Stevie. But the earlier nights was really good as everyone around us was really kind and didn't stand so close to you. But now it was very crowded and I had a gang of teenage girls screaming with their high-pitched voices as Bruce came on stage. And when he came over, they grabbed him so I just got a bit of Bruce touching or whatever. But Stevie was great and he did clearly like my Jay sign as did Soozie, Bruce, Roy, Jay and everyone that saw it but they didn't take it. But Jay must have seen it so it was succesful in that way.

The first bit of the show was very promising setlist-vise. It very much felt like a Stevie night with loads of early 80s stuff. But No Surrender was great as an opener (yes Nils did his accordian thing) and then Badlands (the best version at this visit) as usual but after that was Night. Which shut the teenage girls up as it was a bit older and not a "hit". That happened at every older or a bit odder song which made me laugh. They were very nice girls but when they shout in my ear and push my side they don't get any nice treatment.

My Lucky day and the best Outlaw Pete, he really brought everyhing out from that one. It was long and sounded great. But Spirit in the night was the best thing at that point in the show. I love it and it was real Bruce-soul with him leaning agains the microphonestand and the girls didn't know what was going on. But me and my fellow Bruce nerds danced our asses off. Then he did the same as the nights beforee and had Seeds and Johnny 99 in a row with the best train ending. Bruce was really into it this night. Stevie and Soozie also seemed to be in a great mood as they laughed and sang together a lot. The best night for Jay as well, his spirit was fantastic.

Then instead of Tom Joad/Youngstown came the song that got the most screams from the crowd. A beautiful The River with the most perfect falsetto from Bruce at the end. I was a bit disapointed first (I've heard the river at least three times before) but he sang it which such feeling that you couldn't do anything but just enjoy it. The river started a great five songs in a row becuase after that came Mony Mony which made the crowd crazy. I loved it and Stevie seemed very happy. Trapped was next and that was just incredible, it was a request as was Mony and it was again perfect.

But you could see earlier that Stevie had spotted a sign that he liked and he did his best to make Bruce see it but later went down to the guy with the sign and shake his head. But now something was happening (and we guessed it was Fade away because we heard the soundcheck) and Bruce went down to the crowd and picked up a sign with Fade Away and Tougher than the Rest on the other sign. Stevie made a disaproving face to Tougher and Bruce laughed and then he said that that Stevie had nagged on about this and that they were now going to play his favorite song. Stevie looked so glad and when Bruce asked if he was going to play guitar Stevie said; "Just Sing." When Bruce then held his fantastic speach about begging and went down at his knees. I couldn't stop smiling and I felt tears coming into my eyes. The teenage girls didn't get it at all. Fade Away was perfect and made that third show into something really special. Just to see Stevies face and to hear Bruce say that he hoped all the boys better had learned a lesson. It felt like a genuine Bruce moment when he did somthing just right from his heart. Ok we had heard him rehearse the speach at soudcheck but it felt real.

After that he took out a sign made as a present with Surprise Surprise on it and it sounded great even to me that don't like the song that much. It was a sweet pop song and love Bruce's voice when he sings the new material. Then Waiting on a Sunny Day (Bruce comes p to us and removes the giant Backstreets sign that the girls has infront of our faces. They think he is going to play it but no) and a truly powerful Promise Land. I know that many people don't like Working on a Highway but I am childlishly in love with it, so that made me shake my Swedish but even more. It was better last year but I always love that song. Then the same lineup as last night with radio, lonsome, rising and BTR. Which first made me disappointed but it was such a e great energy that night so the crowd and the band just made it into something new.

I had the same feeling with the last songs, we had heard it before but the way they did it was incredible. Thunder Road got a lot of happy shouts and Jungleland. It was fantastic, better than in december 2007 in the Globe in Stockholm. Clarence hasn't been great this time but Sunday night and especially the jungleland solo, he nailed it. I closed my eyes and just let those notes come over me. Stevies solo at the end was also perfect but Soozie sounded awful in the begining as she did in 2007. Land of Hopes and Dreams and American Land was the best this night, they really felt emotional and Max's daughter came out to play as she did the first night. Ramroad isn't a personal favorite of mine but the crowd and Stevie went crazy so it quite fun.

I was again disapointed that they played Dancing and Twist and Shout but was again blown away. dancing was wild, the crowd just ate it up and we infront of Stevie started to do the Stevie dance (see friday) before he did which made him grin and Bruce instructing the other side to do the Stevie dance. Stevie sure did smile at me and my friends that started it. Twist and Shout was now as it should be, long and with loads of "a little bit louder now" and loads of Swedish people jumping around. Just as they started singing Bruce showed up a sign with "brake stadiums not asses" and nodded and smiled.



These were three great nights. I was a bit disapointed that he didn't play more unusual stuff at the last night but can I complane? We got so many great songs, a happy Bruce that ran around cracking jokes, givig Clarence a kiss just as he had led him onstage at the second show, Nils solos, Jay being better that I hoped, world premieres, Stevies favorite song and so much more. I met a lot of nice people, many many forigners. I have never seen so many non-swedes at a show before. Maybe I ran into some lakers, I don't know but almost everyone were friendly and very nice people. I thought it was fun that people come to Sweden to see Bruce. He did say that he felt the strong support from fans up here in the north and that was why he keeps coming back year after year. We have a 34 year love for Bruce now and I am happy that I have been apart of it for 7 years and 12 conserts now.