2024-06-22 Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Spain

Scheduled: 21:00 Local Start Time 21:09 / End Time 00:10

Info & Setlist | Venue

30-song set includes a guest appearance by Jay Weinberg on "Radio Nowhere" and the tour's second "Reason To Believe".

Jake R

Back from the show. There's no getting around that the setlist was something of a disappointment—just one song that hasn't been played already on this Spanish run, only 7 songs not played at the first Barcelona show (after 11 changes night to night between both Madrid shows), and at least a couple pretty dreadful selections (Sunny Day is really an embarrassment). Atlantic City, Reason To Believe, and Racing are all amazing choices of course and that made a big difference, but still something of a letdown even without knowing about the soundcheck (maybe prep for a Patti appearance that didn't happen?) With that out of the way, I'll say that the performance was CLEARLY stronger than night 1 in my book, with Bruce's voice in particular a night and day improvement. (People who gave me shit for criticizing his voice on Radio Nowhere last show should really compare the two performances—the difference is ENORMOUS.) Bruce seemed in a good mood and the band was really tight throughout, a well-oiled machine with no real fuck-ups to mention (actually I do think Bruce got slightly ahead of the band at one moment in Glory Days but that was tiny). One oddity is that Bruce played barely any lead guitar all night after the opener. Then there's the personal element—this was my first show of the tour in the pit (for a combination of cost and co-attendee reasons) and it really does make just such a huge difference. Not just the infinitely better sight of the stage but being among the most engaged—enthusiasm is contagious of course and it was a great experience. (Line getting in was pretty impressive—I arrived at 6 and was quite a ways back within the pit.) The crowd was excellent and intense and joyous (not sure about in the seats of course). That said, although there are definitely cultural differences (the jumping, the singing along to the melodies, a lot more shoulder-sitting in the encores), it seems to me the generalizations about European fans being better seem somewhat overstated to me. Really an amazing trip, first of all to Spain where I'd never been before but also for these four Bruce shows which I enjoyed immensely.

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation