The latest exclusive release from the Bruce Springsteen Live Archive Series comes from Stockholm, Sweden, on July 2, 1988.
Check out archivist Erik Flannigan’s essay on this performance below, then give this archival show a spin. CDs and Hi-Res downloads are now available for order, or stream Springsteen’s entire archival concert catalog plus the latest with a nugs subscription.
Contains Adult Themes, Viewer Discretion Advised
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Stockholm Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden, July 2, 1988
By Erik Flannigan
The Tunnel of Love Express tour is marked by changes: the addition of a horn section for the first time on E Street since 1976 (save for a few dates in 1984 including August 19 and 20, both released in the Live Archive series); the billing of Bruce Springsteen featuring the E Street Band; and where those seven musicians were positioned on stage. In retrospect, none seem material in terms of lasting impact.
Perhaps the most significant change in 1988 was Springsteen’s public embrace of adulthood and its inherent and often private complexities, explored so movingly on the tour’s namesake album, Tunnel of Love. Much of the yearning and pining romanticism found on Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River gave way to starker realizations (“When you’re alone…you ain’t nothing but alone”) and threshold questions that are difficult to answer (“Is that me… or just a brilliant disguise?”).
“The River” is arguably his first song to delve into heavier relationship realities, but in 1979 Springsteen wasn’t writing his own story, but one inspired by his sister Virginia. With Tunnel, songs reflected and refracted personal experience: the doubts (“Tunnel of Love,” “Brilliant Disguise,” “One Step Up”), the aspirations (“All That Heaven Will Allow,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Tougher Than the Rest”), the admissions (“Ain’t Got You,” “Two Faces,” “When You’re Alone”), and the dreams (“Valentine’s Day”), joined by a pair of kindred, finely crafted, third-person narrative tales, “Cautious Man” and “Spare Parts.”
Emblematic of this narrative shift was the on-stage move of Patti Scialfa from background vocalist on the rear risers to front and center spotlight for the set’s key moments. On the 1984-85 Born in the U.S.A. tour, Patti grew to become “one of the guys.” Singing “Brilliant Disguise” into a shared microphone, millimeters away from Springsteen in 1988, Scialfa was 100% XX–in terms of chromosomes. Fun fact: While the “Brilliant Disguise” duet was happening upstage in Europe, Clarence Clemons was downstage left playing a keytar.
Their personal narrative is of course widely known, ends happily and carries on 38 years later. We should all be so lucky. But well before any canoodling, Scialfa was already a catalyst who allowed Springsteen to bring adult themes to his stage. Her contributions to the Tunnel of Love Express tour cannot be understated, as Stockholm 7/2/88 makes crystal clear.
We’re familiar with her signature contributions: playing Emmylou to Gram on the show-opening “Tunnel of Love” and the stately “Tougher Than the Rest,” the aforementioned close-quarters vocals on “Brilliant Disguise,” her defiance-drenched background vocals that send “Spare Parts” soaring and three come-hither lines teasing “Do you love me, baby?” in “I’m a Coward.”
Scialfa is also central to 1988 readings of “The River” (which suits this grown-up setlist) and “She’s the One,” a song that’s never sounded better than it did on the Tunnel tour, punched up by the “Who Do You Love?” prelude. Her interplay with Springsteen is vital throughout the Stockholm show and heightens moments of subtext like the transition from “Seeds” to “Cover Me.”
“Seeds” describes the kind of economic collapse and layoffs that were all too common in the 1980s, putting breadwinners and their families on the street when once-stable jobs vanished. Springsteen sings “Seeds” with conviction, but after the last line, “It’s gone gone, it’s all gone,” he appends, “I’m alone and lost, and I can’t find my way home,” before ripping a visceral guitar solo. Is he still referring to the same circumstances or a different kind of collapse?
Scialfa’s memorable opening refrain to “Cover Me” provides a response: “Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.” The brilliant disguise has come off, and our choices have left us adrift and exposed.
This alternate interpretation of the song pairing adds vulnerability to the aforementioned list of themes drawn from the album. And the setlist further makes the case for lust (“Boom Boom”), manhood (“Adam Raised a Cain”) and standing up for what’s right (“War,” “Chimes of Freedom”), too.
“War” was a fitting opener for this year’s Land of Home and Dreams Tour, but one misses Clarence Clemons’ forceful baritone background vocals on the song, heard so clearly in Stockholm. Jon Altschiller’s 7/2/88 mix provides fresh audio perspective on the tour, showcasing Scialfa’s vocal turns as well as Danny Federici to a degree previous tour recordings had not.
Phantom Dan fans, this is the Tunnel show you’ve been waiting for as he is all over songs like “Adam Raised a Cain,” “The River,” “Seeds” and “She’s the One.”
Following a poignant, acoustic “Born to Run,” the encore leaves the adulting behind in favor of good clean fun. “Light of Day” includes a romp through Steppenwolf’s “Born to Wild,” “Cadillac Ranch” makes its tour premiere and no one can complain about a 1967 southern soul two-fer of “Sweet Soul Music” and “Raise Your Hand.”
The significance of Stockholm dates back to being one of only three overseas markets on the Born to Run tour, and the capital city has been an important European port of call ever since. On July 3, the day after this show, Springsteen would broadcast the opening set of his second Stockholm set across international radio airwaves, a performance later released in full in the Live Archive series. To use a classic Swedish bootleg analogy, consider the second of July the Follow That Dream to the third of July’s Teardrops on the City.
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