After only about 1? weeks in Europe, Bruce and the band will be back in the States for a couple of weeks off until picking up again on the 14th in Cardiff. And when he does, he will have something to live up to. The five shows he played in Europe really saw a band in absolute top shape, taking tons of requests, playing 30 minutes longer than when they were here in December and Bruce being all over the stage, including a little new projection in the center that we haven't seen before. As for the setlist, after the Dublin shows, as fantastic as they may have been, I had already started to formulate a slightly bitchy post about how European stadium shows seem to put an end to setlist experiments and spontaneity. But then came Manchester with "Adam Raised a Cain", "Saint in the City" and "Rosalita" and the first London show with a crazy long setlist that included "Point Blank", "Cadillac Ranch" and a host of other songs that hadn't been played at the other shows in Europe. Not to mention the second London show last night, which may not have been as long as the first one (Bruce had allegedly been fined ?80,000 the previous night for breaking the 10:30 p.m. curfew), but where, for the first hour it seemed the basic setlist structure had been completely scrapped and no one knew what would be next. "Darkness" as the third song, "Gypsy Biker" before "Radio Nowhere". WTF? The latter may have been a result of pre-senility on Bruce's part since the written setlist did have "Radio Nowhere" in its usual second spot. Whatever the case, if the last few shows are any indication we're in for a legendary summer of Bruce.

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