Bruce Springsteen in Barcelona: to resist is to win

It is him, and his mere presence at the altar moves mountains of this secular religion of those who, seeing the band leave, one by one, bellowed "Bruce!"

when night had not yet reigned.

And the liturgies are forms and Bruce Springsteen, this Friday before 55,800 people, in a packed Olympic Stadium, did not stray from the script: black shirt, wristbands of the same color, jeans and sculpted hair.

He greeted with his traditional “Hello Barcelona, ​​hello Catalunya!”

and the concert started with

.

Shouting, albeit restrained, to greet the return of the boss, whose voice rose among the prevailing din as the sound technicians adjusted the controls.

woke up the arms of the crowd, with an undisguised desire to pay homage to a star who had not shined in the city since 2016. First guitar solo in

, first detail with the crowd when subtitled on the three screens in Catalan

and the first harmonica attack in

to give way to the first collective outburst with

.

In a little less than half an hour, the schedule, modeled on that of the North American tour, put this representative of a generation of rockers into orbit that he has personified and who in Barcelona received the support of his audience, as granny as they were eager to tell him with gestures what Gómez de la Serna said in his greguerías: “Love is born from the sudden desire to make the fleeting eternal”.

Audience attending the Bruce Springsteen concert. Albert Garcia

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Huge stage, three screens, lots of lights and a huge band, E Street, with backing vocals and horns, which broke loose with an impressive version of

, a prelude to

's pinch of soul , after which the audience sang “! ooooee!”

of complete satisfaction.

No more spectacle than Springsteen himself with his clear image of a sensitive big man, a former nobody cultivated by life and now a paradigm of a masculinity without toxic connotations despite his obviousness.

Balancing the scene, a band as proven as it is solvent, in which Jake Clemons stood out —the applause went to the late Clarence— and a Steve Van Zant whose pirate appearance evokes more the hooligan character from the Lilyhammer series than

of

.

With

, barely heard on tour and rehearsed in the afternoon, with the audience queuing up and applauding her as if she were already at the concert, the venue was filled with digital fireflies in a most beautiful scene.

Success, something that Springsteen has turned into a routine, since everyone sees in it something that they would like for themselves, whatever it is.

Watch out there @MichelleObama giving it her all #GloryDays @springsteen #EStreetBand https://t.co/hddx4roRkM pic.twitter.com/fOkyddnwgs

— All This Exists (@allthisexists) April 28, 2023

The tenacity is the same, that force that leads him to express his voice at the age of 73, a voice that despite being eroded, at least tonight reminds us of a rock that despite the ravages of the sea stands as polished as it is proud, making of its indentations a sample of the life elapsed.

It's him, capable of opening a piticlin restaurant at midnight like he did the day before with his friends and yet seem like one of us.

In the same way, despite being a gentleman on stage, he does not behave as such without squeaking, accompanied by a repertoire with many looks at when being young was simple biology.

And there was

, 50 years on its score and the audience smiling as if the piece took them back to when age didn't count.

, work song of the black dockers, already put the stadium in drunken and folk spree mode and entered the slope towards the end.

The three giant screens of the Bruce Springsteen concert. ALBERT GEA (REUTERS)

Springsteen begins his new European tour in Barcelona, ​​a 'tour' that will end in Monza (Italy) on July 25.Albert Garcia

The Boss and the E Street Band will repeat their concert at the Estadi Olímpic on Sunday, when the musician will relive the idyll he has with the city.Albert Garcia

This new tour is, so far, the last chance to see Springsteen with the band: Bruce's last great 'rock and roll' concert.

ALBERT GEA (REUTERS)

The singer Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, in a moment of the concert on Friday. Pau Venteo (Europa Press)

At 73 years old, Springsteen continues to perform live, as the vast majority of reports on his most recent recitals point out, who coincide in applauding the three hours of music and sweat of this 'rock and roll' icon.Albert Garcia

Michelle Obama (3rd from right), Patti Scialfa (2nd from right) and Kate Capshaw, wife of Steven Spielberg, sing and dance to the song 'Glory Days' with Bruce Springsteen (2nd from left) and Steven Van Zandt .Alfonso Gomis Duyos @todoestoexiste

The American musician arrived in Barcelona on Wednesday and, speaking to his fans as he left his hotel, said: "Barcelona is the best, always."

Emilio Morenatti (APN)

Environment at the Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona during the concert.Albert Garcia

Bruce Springsteen at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.

albert garcia

The price of tickets for the concert in Barcelona has ranged between 65 and 400 euros. Emilio Morenatti (APN)

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band begin their new European tour at the Estadi Olímpic in Barcelona, ​​marking their return to the Catalan capital after seven years, when they did so at the Camp Nou on The River tour.Albert Garcia

And it was the perfect culmination for a triumphant concert, one more of the Boss: among others, generational hymns, such as

(premiered on this tour, which he had not played),

or

(Patti Scialfa, Michelle Obama and Kate Capshaw, wife of Steven Spielberg doing choirs on stage) closed a night whose memory traveled home with each attendee, to be cradled for time and memory.

It ended with

and more on Sunday, while cosmopolitan Barcelona continues to remember Pepe Isbert and Springsteen to Mr. Marshall.

The life that gives surprises.

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