"Bona nit, Barcelona!": the love story between Bruce Springsteen and the city

Experts say that in this thing called love there are several phases that everyone, in one way or another, ends up going through. The first phase speaks to us of infatuation, of enchantment, of the idealization of the other and of the crazy desire to know, to know everything about this person. It is the period of attraction and the moment considered the best time, one that we never want to end. According to psychologists, and despite there not being a total agreement on the matter, this period could be estimated to last between the first six months and two years. Once this time is over, and if all goes well, that's when a relationship turns into true love, the good kind, the authentic kind. Through respect, admiration, and a shared life project, all wrapped up with a moral response and a similar way of seeing the world, a relationship can be maintained over time.

The New Jersey artist's first affaire with Barcelona was unexpected, as happens with most great love stories. According to witnesses, it was a burst of passion, intensity, and a connection like neither he nor his inseparable E Street Band had ever seen.

Over time, and several concerts, The Boss has found a comfort and harmony in Barcelona that no other American musician has. Through its people, Springsteen has discovered a responsible city, with a taste for culture, open, welcoming, passionate, critical, social, and one that has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to values such as peace, democracy, and fraternity.

Exactly 42 years have passed since that April 21, 1981. A few months earlier, the country had been convulsed by 23-F and Bruce Springsteen, at 31 years old, in the middle of the tour for his double album The River (1980), considered one of the best rock albums in history, and with the song Human Touch becoming a resounding success, found a gap to make a getaway to Barcelona for what would be his first concert in Catalonia and the first in all of Spain. His previous concerts, on April 18 and 19 in Paris, showed, as had happened with the French and German audiences, that the European audience, in general, was colder than expected. On the 24th he had another concert in Lyon. At that time, the artist was more famous in the US than in Europe and there were still two years to go until the premiere of Born in the USA.

The venue was the Palau de los Deportes de Montjuic, with 8,000 tickets for sale, 7,600 were sold at a price of 900 pesetas (less than 6 current euros). Gay Mercader, the promoter, remembers walking calmly with Bruce along the Rambla and no one recognizing him as they searched for a restaurant for dinner at that time of the evening before the concert. They found Amaya open. Mercader remembers him as a frank and simple man. In his words: "He came to conquer, to take the city, and that's what he did"

That "first date" lasted more than three hours of inexhaustible intensity. The doors of the Palau were supposed to open and, due to an error, only one door could be accessed. Outside, there were people from all over the country, many from Madrid, who had come on buses organized by the capital's record stores. Inside, the first to enter could see Bruce Springsteen on stage finishing sound checks. From the concert, the songs that stood out were Point Blank, Racing in the Street, the original version of Because the Night, Thunder Road, Rosalita, Out in the Street, Cadillac Ranch, the classic among classics Born to Run and Rockin' all over the World.

At the time, Gonzalo de la Figuera (editor of Disco Actualidad) wrote: "The best rock concert ever seen in Spain. He alone makes you believe that rock'n'roll brings back your desire to live and smile. It is a colossal antidote against depression and sadness. Three hours of Springsteen live are worth a thousand records of whatever you want". The legendary Luqui Guri, in Gran Musical, considered the show "the concert of the century".

The concert ended with a proclamation from the artist to the audience: "From now on, I carry you in my heart". In subsequent interviews, Bruce Springsteen declared that "the faces we saw at the concert were the most passionate ever seen on the entire planet". "Despite playing before a few thousand... it was unforgettable". Biographer Dave Marsh, author of Bruce Springsteen On Tour 1968 – 2005, wrote: "I have never again seen a group of fans demonstrate it all night (referring to the song Prove It All Night) like that crowd in 1981. Neither in Barcelona, nor anywhere else. It was the best concert I have ever attended in my life".

The exhibition Bruce Springsteen. Barcelona, 1981, which can be visited from April 20 to May 14, has free admission. The exhibition features photographs taken by the curator of the exhibition and then photographer for Vibraciones, Francesc Fàbregas, of the event. The exhibition is designed by Oscar Cusidó, who accompanies the thirty or so black and white and color snapshots, some previously unpublished, with various comments from cultural personalities, musicians, and journalists such as Jordi Bertran or Juan Cervera, who were lucky enough to attend.

Fàbregas was hired by CBS to cover the concert and still remembers the nerves and responsibility due to the magnitude. Literally, he says that: "his legs were trembling" and considers himself privileged. He also perfectly remembers how he only had permission to photograph the first songs, but, discreetly, he ended up among the audience covering the entire show. At night, he had to develop the negatives at home with nervousness and fear of spoiling the material. The photographer rediscovered those photographs during a move. The negatives remained in perfect condition and more unpublished ones appeared with the closure of RockdeLux magazine. Fàbregas highlights the uniqueness of the Jardí del Palau Robert in the exhibition, which he considers "one of the best spaces we have in Catalunya". Now, 42 years later, the photographer regrets not having photographed the audience and says he learned it there: "the history of a concert is also in the faces of the attendees."

The photographer regrets not having photographed the audience and says he learned it there: "the history of a concert is also in the faces of the attendees"

The thirty or so snapshots show a young, energetic, smiling, complicit, and playful Bruce Springsteen. An icon with a Telecaster guitar on top and with a vibrant passion on stage. The fact that the exhibition is outdoors gives the images great freedom and naturalness. The fact that we are not in an enclosed space emphasizes the intensity of the gestures and movement, which always seems spontaneous.

The exhibition contains a prologue by El Periòdico journalist Jordi Bianciotto, who highlights: "The very special relationship that developed, from the very first moment, between The Boss and the city of Barcelona". And continues: "There are concerts that shake lives and leave a lasting echo... that night... deep allegiances were sealed in Barcelona". "It was much more than a recital; a high-voltage emotional experience and an act of celebration of life".

Eva Pomares, general director of Diffusion of the Generalitat, says: "It is an excellent opportunity to relive, with all the emotion, that mythical concert that remains in our retinas 42 years later". Oriol Duran defines the show as "historic night", and highlights the idyll between the New Jersey native and the Ciudad Condal. He also recalls the mythical welcome phrase that has made history for all the musician's fans: "Bona nit, Barcelona!".

Film director Manuel Huerga states: "There is a before and after this baptism of '81. My head exploded watching the beast on stage". He also recalls how he had the opportunity to explain to the artist that in the Spanish state there were several languages and the peculiarities of Catalan.

For Loquillo it was "the end of adolescence and a lifestyle". The rocker attended shortly before doing military service in the Navy.

The writer Jordi Sierra i Fabra confesses that "it was an ecstasy, a collective rush. And a party. It was not a rock recital, but a concert to get up and dance. It was shortly after 23-F, and at that moment, we needed something like that."

Bruce Springsteen will perform in Barcelona this Friday and Sunday, April 28 and 30, which will be another page written in the very special love affair with the city. Now, at 73 years old, he will offer two concerts from the tour of his latest album Only the Strong Survive, at the Olympic Stadium and with sold-out tickets.