The European part of the Magic Tour ended this last Sunday in Barcelona in front of sold-out Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona. 75,000 people filled the field and the rafters during what some are calling possibly the last E Street Band show in Europe. As I have advocated before on this page, I don't really subscribe to that theory, but there was no doubt a sense of wanting the most of it among the crowd. Bruce, of course, delivered the goods with another intense performance, which may not have been the longest on the tour or the one with most surprises, but according to those who were there, no one left unfulfilled.

That has probably been the case for most people who attended the shows in Europe over the last two months. I personally dare say that this was the best European tour with the E Street Band since the reunion in 1999 and maybe even further back than that. Bruce's contact with the audience seemed as close as when he was standing on people's tables back in the club days. The stage had even been modified to enable Bruce to get closer to people. Much of the show saw him offering his legs and entire body to those lucky and determined enough to stand near the three podiums extruding from the stage. This stood in sharp contrast to the December shows in Europe where the audience contact seemed strangely absent.

Another huge difference between then and now was of course the length of the shows. At their longest they were almost a full hour longer than in the fall. More songs and longer versions became the rule. And also very unlike the fall, the predictability vanished. Gone was the standard setlist. Instead audiences experienced hour-long stretches where no one knew what would come next. Unfortunately, this happened at the expense of most of the Magic songs. "Unfortunately" because according to this fan, a lot of them truly have potential to become classics if given the time to develop. Hopefully Bruce will pull them out again in the future, whether that future involves the E Street Band or not.

For now, we'll look forward to seeing how the final American leg of the tour goes down and if any new developments are in store for us. Read more

   

The B.B. King's Blues Club plans to celebrate Bruce's 59th birthday in style. On September 20 they open the doors to a performance by the famous B Street Band, probably the longest existing and one of the best Bruce cover bands in the world. So if by then you're suffering by post-Bruce depression, the B Street Band will be an excellent temporary cure until the real thing hits the road again. The show takes place at B.B. King?s Blues Club and Grill on 237 West 42nd St. in New York City starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be bought here. Read more

   

If you thought Bruce's music was just about cars, girls, drinking beer and having a good time, think again. According to a paper recently published in The Psychology of Aestetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Bruce's music can be used to shed light on complicated psychological issues, including what happens when people suffer great loss and tragedy in their lives. The paper was written by researchers Lorraine Mangione, a professor of clinical psyhoclogy, and independent scholar Susan Keady, and is titled "Spirit in the Night" to "Mary's Place": Loss, Death, and the Transformative Power of Relationships. Contact Dr. Lorraine Mangione at lmangione@antiochne.edu for more information and to obtain a copy of the article. Read more

   

The evidence is better than any medical record: last night during a concert in Helsinki, Finland, Bruce lost his mind. After officially ending the show with "American Land", Bruce ordered the band to play "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". Yes, the guy we have worshipped all those years is playing Christmas songs in July, breaking his old record by more than 1? months (September 1, 1985). Clearly, years of regular touring has gone to his head and he is no longer aware of where he is and in what season. Apparently he's also lost his ability to count. The handwritten setlists usually include 24-25 songs, but last night in Helsinki didn't stop till 31 songs had been played and more than three hours had passed. We are looking at a show which is getting close to a full hour longer than when the tour started in October. To those of you who haven't seen the tour yet or haven't seen it since last year: do not miss this! Bruce and the band are at their absolute peak right now. Read more

   

While Bruce is knocking socks off European audiences with marathon sets and mindblowing song choices, maybe it would be nice to get in the time machine and head back to 1974 and read one of the first extensive interviews he gave. The interview was conducted after a show at Georgetown University and was published in a magazine called Sounds. If you think Bruce may be tired these days after performing three hours two days in a row, read how back in 1974 he was spitting blood from fatigue. Check it out. Read more

   

Four live tracks from the current Magic Tour are set to be released on July 15 under the title Magic Tour Highlights. The release will be for download only, which is bad news for collectors. The tracks all constitute a special moment of the tour. Three of them feature special guests, respectively Alejandro Escovedo on "Always a Friend", Tom Morello on "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (yes, that incredible version that blew the audience away two nights in a row in Anaheim), and Roger McGuinn on "Turn! Turn! Turn!". Finally, the release will include the last appearance of Danny Federici on a version of "Sandy". It's not known yet whether this will be available for download in all parts of the world or only in the US. We'll be crossing our fingers for the former. Proceeds of the release will go to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. Read more

   

Asbury Park boardwalk fortune teller Madam Marie has passed away. As any Springsteen fan will know, she was mentioned in "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" in the famous line "The cops finally busted Madam Marie for telling fortunes better than they did," and she has since become synonymous with the boardwalk in Asbury Park and carefree summer nights on the beach. Her fortune telling booth could be seen on the boardwalk until the mid-Nineties and became a big attraction to Bruce pilgrims from all over the world. Her real name Marie Costello and she was around 95 years old when she died. Read more

   

For those of you who subscribe to Sirius radio, it may be a good idea to turn it on in the afternoon of July 4. That's when Bruce will be on stage for the first of two Gothenburg shows, and Sirius will have exclusive live footage from the event, hosted by Dave Marsh. It won't be the complete show, just a few select songs, but still this should be a treat, bringing back memories of Bruce July 3 show in Stockholm in 1988 the first set of which was broadcast worldwide. Now, if only those of us in Europe could subscribe... except, personally I will actually be at the show, so I guess I get the better deal. Read more

   

A while back Bruce endorsed Barack Obama's presidential candidacy. Yesterday the Democratic senator returned the favor and told MSNBC that Bruce is on his iPod. And that's not all. Obama also said that "Not only do I love Bruce's music, but I just love him as a person, he is a guy who has never lost track of his roots, who knows who he is, who has never put on a front." High praise from a guy whose perspective on the world does seem to have a lot in common with Bruce's. Now that the fall tour has been cancelled, don't be surprised to see another active participation in the election campaign from Bruce. Unless he's afraid he jinxed the last one... Read the whole article on MSNBC. Read more

   

Most of these have not been officially confirmed, but they are from a reliable source:

• August 15, 2008, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, L
• August 16, 2008, Charleston Coliseum, Charleston, SC
• August 18, 2008, Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, VA
• August 19, 2008, Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA
• August 21, 2008, Sommet Center, Nashville, TN
• August 23, 2008, Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO
• August 24, 2008, Sprint Center, Kansas City, KC

Hershey, as we learned a couple of days ago, and Nashville are on Ticketmaster, so they should be set in stone. The rest will probably be announced shortly with tickets going on sale next Saturday, June 28. Allegedly, these will be the final shows of the Magic Tour.

UPDATE! The mew dates are now all official according to Billboard. See the complete US summer tour schedule on the tour page. Read more