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.

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