Title: Summertime Santa 'Label': Ev2 Format: 3CD Source: Audience Date: July 11, 2008. Location: Olympiastadion, Helsinki, Finland. -- source: Zoom H2 (internal mics 120° setting) Taper: Drunkenmaster -- Disc One: 01 Calliope Intro 02 Night 03 Out In The Street 04 Radio Nowhere 05 No Surrender 06 Hungry Heart 07 Spirit In The Night 08 Summertime Blues 09 Sherry Darling 10 "Madame Marie Story" 11 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) 12 I'll Work For Your Love 13 Candy's Room 14 Youngstown 15 Murder Incorporated Disc Two: 01 The Promised Land 02 She's The One 03 Livin' In The Future 04 Mary's Place 05 "I Think It's The Same Guy" 06 Point Blank 07 The Rising 08 Last To Die 09 Long Walk Home 10 Born In The U.S.A. 11 Badlands 12 "Suomalaisille Naisille" 13 Girls In Their Summer Clothes Disc Three: 01 Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 02 Born To Run 03 Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) 04 Dancing In The Dark 05 American Land 06 "Santa Does Come From Finland" 07 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town 08 Twist And Shout 09 Adam Raised A Cain 10 Bobby Jean 11 Fire 12 For You (solo piano) 13 The River 14 Janey Don't You Lose Heart - D3 Tracks 09-14: Parc des Princes, Paris, France. June 27, 2008. "Moerie" recording. ====== - Edited from "drunkenmaster"'s master recording. - Tour premiere of full band "Youngstown". ====== "A gorgeous Friday night in Helsinki for the last show on the Scandinavian leg of the tour. A sunny day in the mid-70s cooled down to mid-60s by the time the show began at 8 p.m. Olympia Stadion is a well-kept venue built in the 1950s, complete with a real grass field which gave the event a very park-like feel. The walk from the city center to the stadium is undoubtedly one of the most pleasant of all of the venues, a short 15-20 minute stroll through a park teeming with gardens, ponds and people having picnics, sunbathing (yes they do that in Finland) and some even engaged in pre-show festivities. Helsinki is a very refined, city and the reserved crowd seemed to reflect that: there wasn't the rabid passion that was evident in, say, Goteborg, but the audience was warm, appreciative, and even polite. Unlike Sweden, Finland hasn't been a regular stop for Bruce and the band over the years (much to the disappointment of some of the locals I talked to), so I didn't really have any particular expectation about the night prior to the event. And I certainly didn't expect a 31-song show with an eight-song encore, which ended a bit later than the 11 p.m. curfew the locals insisted had to be adhered to. Hard to find many faults with this show -- strong set list, good energy, and near perfect sound. Highlights in the main set were three "summer specials": "Summertime Blues," "Sherry Darling," and "Sandy." Bruce collected signs during the long intro of "Summertime Blues" and made a few comments about the short Finland summer and long winter and made a funny remark about Santa Claus possibly being from Finland. "I'll Work for Your Love" was a "small" request which Bruce honored and was a pleasant surprise. But the night's real power was the three-pack of "Candy's Room," "Youngstown," and "Murder Incorporated." With "Because the Night" not in tonight's setlist, Nils was showcased in "Youngstown" -- previously performed only once by Bruce on this tour, solo-acoustic -- and it was searing. "Point Blank" was also a surprise, a request from someone who Bruce said had been "chasing [him] around for a while." "Born in the U.S.A." was nicely weaved into the four-pack (now five-pack) to end the set, was very well received by the locals, and Garry W. Tallent's bass work was exceptional. It felt as though there were a sub-woofer beneath the field. As good as all this was, it wasn't until the encore that the locals really seemed to rock out. An eight-song stunner, which didn't end with "American Land." After that traditional closer, Bruce went on a hunt for a particular sign he had seen earlier in the night, found it, continued his story about Santa being from Finland, and then the band broke into a surprise mid-summer version of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (complete with some great Ho-Ho-Hos from Clarence) just for Finland. The locals ate it up, and the band wasn't done. They went straight into "Twist and Shout" to close, and even the most reserved Finns seemed to be up and dancing at this point. A nice Scandinavian send-off". - backstreets.com