1988-07-03 Stockholms Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden

Scheduled: 17:30 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

34-song set, and one of the best shows of the tour. "Downbound Train" makes its tour debut. Due to the time constraints of the radio broadcast "All That Heaven Will Allow" and "Spare Parts" have shorter introductory stories than the first leg of the tour. On the other hand the "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" intro story is expanded almost into a song of it's own ("Don't You Touch That Thing"). The solo acoustic "Born To Run" goes without the usual spoken intro. "Adam Raised A Cain" includes "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm A Man" in the outro. "Cover Me" includes "Gimme Shelter" in the outro. "Dancing In The Dark" includes "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and "Lookin' For A Love" in the outro. Jon Landau guests on guitar during "Bobby Jean". "Roulette" makes its European debut and "Quarter To Three" makes its only tour appearance and first performance since 1981.

Jon Landau (Guest)

Intro to "Tunnel Of Love"
"Hello Stockholm….hello U.S.A…hello world!…are you ready to ride?"

Intro to "All That Heaven Will Allow"
´´So is this what summer in Stockholm´s like ? (cheers)….this is nice, man….we´ve got sun out here today…all the girls got their summer clothes on…..yeah….hey, Richie, sing it for, uh, sing it for everybody on the beach back in New Jersey, alright….come on, man…..this is ´Happy Fourth of July´ for everybody back home…..say ´Hi´ to ´em (crowd : ´Hi!´)….”

Intro to "Spare Parts"
´´Det är en sång om en kvinna…..(?) något nytt i sitt liv…..this is a song about a woman trying to understand the value of her own individual existence….put away her past and find something new and beautiful in her life now….”

Intro to "Chimes of Freedom"
´´Oh….yeah, a little bit now….earlier today Amnesty International announced a worldwide tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights….the Declaration of Human Rights is a document that was signed by every government in the world 40 years ago, recognising the existence of certain inalienable human rights for everyone regardless of your race, your color, your sex, your religion, your political opinion or the type of government that you´re living under….I, I was glad to be asked to participate and I´m proud to join Sting and Peter Gabriel….Youssou N´Dour, Tracy Chapman in a tour that´s gonna begin in early September and is gonna run for about six weeks….so I´d like to dedicate this next song to the people of Amnesty International and their idea and so when we come to your town, come on out, support the tour, support human rights for everyone now and let freedom ring…..”

Intro to "You Can Look"
´´Yeah, it starts when you´re a little bitty baby….your mama sees you crawling across that floor….heading for that TV-set and she says ´Now….don´t touch that, Son….you can look at it but you can´t touch it….oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….yeah, you can look but you can´t touch that thing´….I remember my mama taking me over to my aunt´s house….and my aunt used to always fix her hair up real….real high on Sundays and she used to hate for me touch her hair….she´d say ´Son, don´t you touch that thing….oh, oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….you can look but you can´t touch that thing´ ….then I remember in high school I took out my first girlfriend….I took her to a movie….took her out to dinner….took her to a nice dark place where we could park….and she kind of looked over to me and smiled….and I looked back at her and started whispering sweet things in her ear like ´You know you´re the only one for me, baby…there is no other´ and I got my hand on her knee….and I got my hand on her thigh and just as I was about to, uh….she said ´Oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….oh, you can look but you can´t touch that thing….oh, oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….oh, oh, Son, don´t you touch that thing….yeah, you can look but you can´t touch that thing´…. ”

Intro to "I´m a Coward"
´´Is there anybody alive out there tonight ? (cheers)….is there anybody that can feel the living, breathing spirit in their souls out there tonight ? (cheers)….that´s good because….I´ve got a question….I´d like to ask you…..are there any brave, heroic, rough, tough Stockholm men in the audience tonight ? (cheers)….well, I’ve known men that would swim rivers, that would climb mountains….that would wrestle with the beasts of the jungle but there was one thing that they was afraid of….one thing scared them to death and made them run home like little babies to their mommies….do you want to know what that one thing was ?….I´m gonna tell you….what I´m talking about´s L-U-V, I’m talking about love….love ! love scared them to death, when they got next to love, when they found that woman, when they found that thing that they loved, they ran home like little babies to their mommies, they got so frightened…now, are there any rough, tough, sexy Swedish women in the audience tonight ? (cheers)….come on let me hear you girls (cheers)…are the girls out there tonight ? (cheers) ….because I’m talking to you too….I’ve known women that when they got next to love, they ran home….back to their loneliness and their isolation….now, I’m not down here tonight just pointing a finger, I´ve got a confession that I´ve got to make and I want to tell each and every one of you tonight that I have sinned !….and that I´m a brave man if I don´t say so myself…. but that what I´ve got to confess to is….that I´m a coward when it comes to love….”

Intro to "Sweet Soul Music"
´´I said it´s alright….I said it´s alright….I said it´s alright….I said, I said, I said….I said I think you´re getting a little tired on me….oh yeah….I can tell like you know when the energy level starts to drop, the crowd´s dragging their ass a little bit, you know….oh, I think you´re getting a little tired on me here….are you sure ?….are you sure ?….are you sure ?….then I have a question I wanna ask you…..”

Middle of "Light of Day"
´´….and last but not least….kick it, boys….we got the one, the only, the incredible, the unmistakable, the undeniable, the inexplicable, the unbelievable Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

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The Tunnel of Love Is Open To Everyone

Tracing Bruce Springsteen’s career arc from cult artist to superstar, theater to arena headliner, there’s a case to be made that a series of radio broadcasts on the 1978 Darkness On the Edge of Town tour played a significant role. The five home-recorded, fan-traded and oft-bootlegged concerts from The Roxy, The Agora, The Capitol Theater, The Fox and Winterland captured and ultimately spread the magic of Bruce and the E Street Band’s live show, and seemingly converted thousands to fill arenas two years later on the River tour.

Despite that rich history, there were no live broadcasts from the River tour, the Born in the U.S.A. tour or the U.S. leg of the Tunnel of Love tour. Which is why in 1988, after ten years of radio silence, the announcement that a portion of Springsteen’s July 3rd show in Stockholm would be broadcast live via satellite to the U.S. and the world was huge news for fans.

Like many among us, I tuned in that Fourth of July weekend and heard a potent 90-minute first set that wrapped with Bruce announcing plans to join the Amnesty International tour before wrapping the broadcast portion with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes Of Freedom” (later released on the EP of the same name). It was the first of hundreds of listens to follow.

Conveniently apportioned to fill a 90-minute cassette tape, the Stockholm broadcast joined the five ‘78 b-casts as the most played live Springsteen recordings most of us had. There was just one problem: as great as those 14 songs were, 20 other songs were played in Stockholm after the satellite feed came down, and short of a crummy audience tape, few of us have had a chance to hear the full show, until now.

Happily, this complete, multi-track recording validates what we all presumed: the Stockholm show was one of the best on the Tunnel tour, offering a passionate, hyper-focused first-set and–freed from the pressure of a global listening audience–a rollicking, playful second set and encore. Looking for a sign of Springsteen’s mood after the transmission ended? How about the inclusion of Gary U.S. Bonds’ ultimate party track “Quarter to Three” for the first time since 1981.

Fondness for the familiar first set is richly deserved. It starts with Bruce inviting the audience in the stadium and at home to come aboard with a wonderful “Tunnel of Love,” now followed by a horn-blasting “Boom Boom’ (with its unabashed sentiment of “I need you right now” replacing “Be True,” performed in this slot for most of the US leg). The brazen John Lee Hooker cover forms a bond of emancipation with what follows, “Adam Raised a Cain,” again propelled by the five-piece Horns of Love. Bruce hadn’t toured with a horn section since ‘77 and their presence is a critical component in the distinct sound and theatrics of ‘88 shows.

Because the broadcast was limited to 90 minutes, the first set showcased key Tunnel tracks, including a majestic “Tougher Than the Rest,” “Spare Parts,” “Brilliant Disguise” and “All That Heaven Will Allow.” Bruce also featured two killer non-album tracks: “Roulette,” unforgivably left off The River, but resuscitated to sound an alarm on the Tunnel tour; and “Seeds,” another take on the plight of working-class Americans and this time they’re pissed.

Perhaps the surprise highlight of the first set is “Born in the U.S.A.” Separated from its namesake tour and attendant misinterpretations, the song’s deep-seated anger is rekindled. Listen to Bruce’s shrieks of angst before Max’s drum crescendo, echoed later his own impassioned guitar solo. The story has grown more personal, too, as Springsteen adds new flashback lyrics after the final verse: “I just want your arms around me/I see the fire from the sky/I need your arms around me.” A stunning performance.

Set two is a totally different animal, but no less satisfying. I have often wondered how a seemingly long-forgotten song returns to the set, and there is no better example of this than the sudden reappearance of the instrumental “Paradise By the ‘C’” which opens the second set, after premiering four nights earlier in Rotterdam. What prompted its resurrection, after going unplayed since the Darkness tour? Sure, it suits the horns, but then again, there was no horn section in ‘78.

Regardless, it is a welcome showcase for Clarence and the Horns of Love, and sets the tone for a highly entertaining second set that milks the expanded band lineup and staging dynamics for all they are worth on songs like “You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)” (which begins with a long, bit of musical teasing and showmanship often referred to as “Don’t You Touch That Thing”), “I’m A Coward” (Springsteen’s comic rewrite of Gino Washington’s ‘60s original) and a chock full o’ horns encore sequence of “Sweet Soul Music,” “Raise Your Hand,” the aforementioned “Quarter to Three,” and the inevitable last song for a show this joyous, “Twist and Shout.”

There are a few serious moments in the back half, among them the fine ‘88 arrangement of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?” into “She’s the One,” the first “Downbound Train” of the tour, and an unflinchingly earnest reading of Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Interestingly, Stockholm ‘88 has a connection to Springsteen on Broadway in that the solo acoustic version of “Born to Run” that Bruce is currently performing was first played in that arrangement on the Tunnel tour, a fine take of which is captured here.

Stockholm ‘88 has always been a fan-favorite because of the simulcast. Now restored to full length and remixed from the master tapes, it rightly joins Springsteen’s other legendary radio broadcasts as one of the best concert recordings of his career and a great representation of the Tunnel of Love tour’s European edition.

^{By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net.}

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