Today we went out in the snow to meet Tommy who saw his first concert at Stadion, July 3rd 1988.

That first show was a mindblowing experience for Tommy, who just couldn’t go straight home afterwards. “I walked the streets, filled with euphoria, I don’t know what I did exactly, I was just so happy after the show. I got home about 5 in the morning and that day would be my first day at work after school. Of course I overslept and I got a scolding, but it was worth it.”

Cirkus, an intimate arena with only 1650 seats.

In 1996 Tommy had managed to get two tickets to the Circus show after 12 hours in line. The temperature had been 15 degrees below zero and it had been tough to get the tickets. Tommy went to the show with his mother, and as he entered the venue he almost walked into a man who asked if Tommy would trade his ticket for one at the front row. “Of course, how much”, Tommy replied. “Oh, it’s for free, it’s a present from Mr. Springsteen”, the Man in Black said.

“I could hardly believe my luck, I thanked the Man in Black from the bottom of my heart, and then I went down the aisle to my seat. After the show I managed to shake hands with Springsteen too”, Tommy told us.

Another important moment came last year when Tommy and his family had traveled to Gothenburg. The first night he went with his 8-year old son Billy. They had GA’s and during Waiting on a Sunny Day, which is his son’s favorite song, Tommy moved closed to the stage.
“We managed to come right next to the fence on the side of the stage and Bruce noticed Billy sitting on my shoulders. He pointed at my son and waved to him. Afterwards my friends told us we had been on the videoscreen. And Billy was so excited that he didn’t want to leave the arena. We were among the last to get out of Ullevi, because Billy said ‘Please dad, let’s wait a little, he might come out again.’ It’s really fun that my son is such a big fan already.”

It has been a very rewarding day, and we give our biggest thanks to Tommy for sharing so many of his memories with us.

Next interview is on Wednesday.

So we’re in for another round of interviews. Today we have met Morgan who saw his first show at Stadion, Stockholm, July 2nd 1988, and he still thinks that the second night back in ’88 is the best show he has seen.

Stockholms Stadion, the arena where Bruce have played most often, 1988, 1993 and 1999.

While Morgan’s two cats Borka and Lucifer tried to snuggle up in our camerabags, Morgan told us about how he managed to be among the lucky 1 500 who got a ticket to the show at Cirkus in 1996. After several hours in line outside the venue he got a ticket for the normal price and on a pair of very cold feet he could walk inside to see Bruce, past rows of scalpers. He also shared some of his memories from standing in line for other shows.

As many other fans have said, it’s the interaction between Bruce, the band and the audience, that attracts Morgan too. But he also told us that the music brings about a lot of memories. Especially about his friend that introduced him to Springsteen’s music. This friend died some years ago from an overdosis, but Morgan still remember all the fun they had together when he listen to the music.

As many other fans Morgan is very interested in standing close to the stage to see what happens between Bruce and the band during a concert. He thinks that the dvd-releases of Live in New York City and Live in Barcelona adds a new dimension to the recorded live preformances. Not only does the fans get the opportunity to hear Springsteen, but they also get to see his power as a live performer. Morgan really hope that there will be more dvds from future concerts.

Things went pretty well apart from me having the most hideous cold. I spent a good deal of time snivelling through the interview, but hopefully that won’t show… And armed with handkerchiefs, nosespray and Fisherman’s friend the second interview went better.

Today we have also talked to Tobbe. He saw his first concert in the Globe arena, June 15th 1992.

Tobbe wouldn’t have become such a big fan if it hadn’t been for a girl in his class who lent him a tape with Springsteenmusic. He listened to Born in the USA over and over again just to hear the drums in the end of the song.

Looking back on the shows he has seen, Tobbe thinks that Springsteen really got back in style with The Rising album.
“The nineties was almost a lost decade, with the exception of the Tom Joad-tour. It was fun to see Bruce performing his accoustic material, but there was no focus on the two albums Human Touch and Lucky Town. They where too haphazard. And Bruce looked a bit tired on the Reunion tour. He and the band was not as fit and tight as they proved to be in 2002 and 2003.”

We also talked about the benefits of fanforums on the internet. “The forums makes it easier for people to stay in touch. Before they existed you only saw other fans when you lined up for tickets or for concerts and it could be years before you saw eachother again. With the internet it’s easier to keep discussions going.”

We finished by recording when Tobbe played som chords from a couple of Springsteen songs.

Tomorrow is another day and another interview!

Ten days have passed and we’ve spent the time planning and organizing our future work. We will resume filming again on February 22nd and go on for about a week.

We will also pay another visit to the National Arcive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images where we will look at some more TV-material about Springsteen.

Most time is spent on scheduling the interviews for our next run, but it’s starting to look very promising.

Stay with us for more information!

Today we have met Erika, she saw her first concert at the Globe arena, Stockholm, October 24th 2002.

She has been brought up with Springsteen’s music, her father has been a great fan since 1975, and her older brother and sister as well as her mother, are fans too.

And then there is the story of Erika’s uncle. He was probably one of the first to see Bruce when he came to play at Konserthuset in Stockholm 1975. Her uncle managed to get inside the venue, because he knew somebody who worked at Konserthuset. He was alone, waiting in the concerthall, when Bruce came onstage. Apparently Bruce didn’t notice him where he sat quietly, so he was able to catch that private moment when Bruce strolled around the stage. (If all goes well we’ll interview Erika’s uncle too.)

Although the music had been there most of her life, it wasn’t until the family got tickets to the Globe arena that Erika really got into it. The show 2002 was also the first for her father, and she told us it was so fun to watch him sit back enjoying the performance while Erika and her sister were dancing like maniacs.

As a newbie Erika was most struck by the joy Bruce and the E Street band showed on stage. “The best thing Bruce has done was to reunite with E Street band. He needs them and they need him to be able to make the most of their tallent. You can see how fun they have together when they play, they are really glowing.”

Being such a young fan, Erika’s only 16, she’s a bit sorry that Bruce doesn’t tell stories like he used to do. “It’s so lovely to hear him when he is talking to the audience. It shows how much he cares for his fans, they mean so much to him that he wants to share his own experiences with them”, she said.

This was the last interview for this period. We have been filming for one week and it’s been a lot of fun. We’d really like to thank everybody that has been helping us so far!

Now we’ll take a break, filming will start again at the end of February or beginning of March. But we’ll keep on posting here whenever we’ve got news.

So stay with us!

Today we have met Per, who saw his first concert at Ullevi, Gothenburgh, June 8th 1985.

But it was the second night that really swept him away and even though the memories now have faded a bit, some strong pictures remains. Like the one when Bruce leans back, his head towards the sky and kicks in the intro to Born to Run.

No matter what age they are or how many shows they have seen – it’s one thing all the fans we have talked to so far keep coming back to. It’s Bruce’s intensity. “When he sings he gives it all, it’s like his life depended on it. And I think that the music in some way has saved his life”, Per said.

When he first became a fan, Per was really occupied with Bruce, thinking about him, talking about the songs, the concerts and everything. “Now I am farther away from that, but I think I’m perhaps closer to the songs and the lyrics. Before I used to think the songs were about Bruce’s and Steve’s lives, but now I relate them more to my own.”

He also said that if internet and the fanforums would have existed back in the eighties, he would probably have been very active. But now he doesn’t feel the need to talk Bruce on the net.

“The most important thing in life is relations and how you handle them, and Bruce is very good at writing songs about those things. His music gives you strenght to deal with the relations you have in your own life.”

Johanneshovs isstadion, or simply Hovet, is mostly used for icehockey games.

Today we have interviewed Inger, who saw her first show at Hovet, Stockholm, May 7th 1981.

The weather in Stockholm today was really bad, with slush and lots of snow. We had to walk through the wind, though the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain… before we got to Radiohuset (The National radio building) and the place where we could set up our camera.

The lighting and soundcheck went much faster this time and we started shooting. We spent a lot of time talking about the impact of Springsteen’s music. Inger said it was no wonder that Springsteenfans all over the world are very dedicated since Bruce himself is so dedicated in everything he does both on and off stage.

Inger talked about Bruce’s presence during the concerts. It’s very powerful and she meant that he is very receptive to the audience and their response to the different songs. “Bruce and the band is actively seeking eyecontact with the fans in front row. There is a very emotional interaction between the band and the audience and Bruce really makes people feel that he has seen them as individuals, not just members of an anonymous crowd. ”

She also said that Bruce’s music is the opposite of easy listening. It’s very demanding, because it challenges the listener to do something with his or her own life. If there’s something you need, you gotta raise your hand – so to speak.

Inger also told us that she had met her husband Dan, thanks to Bruce. They had started chatting at the official website brucespringsteen.net. Then they had travelled together with other friends following the Risingtour in Europe 2003 where they had fallen in love. Inger’s story proves that Bruce Springsteen’s music really brings out strong feelings among the fans!

We wish Inger and Dan a happy married life, it’s fun to see how the different webbsites have brought Springsteenfans all over the world so much closer to eachother.

After the interview we spent about four hours at a coffee shop at the railway station just sharing memories and experiences of our favourite artist.
Good preparation for tomorrow’s interview!

Today we have made our first interview with David, who saw his first concert at the Globe arena, Stockholm, October 24th 2002.

Mikael and I were both a little nervous about the camera and that all that stuff we needed would be included in the bags that had been sent to us. But the essentials were there and after some time of adjusting the sound and image the camera was rolling!

David told us about some of his greatest moments during the swedish shows in 2002 and 2003, the time spent in line to get tickets and all the tricks he had learned, and great moments with other fans.

For David it’s the strong images that the lyrics express, combined with the energy in the live performance that attracts him most in Springsteen’s music..

We give our biggest thanks to David for sharing his thoughts with us and move on to our next interview that will be on Saturday.

Stay with us!

Today Mikael and I have spent most of the day at Statens arkiv för ljud och bild (The National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images) where we’ve been looking at newsfootage from the swedish Bruceconcerts from 1981 to 2003.

Most of the footage included interviews with fans in line up for the shows, brief excerpts from songs like Rosalita, BITUSA, Better Days, Boom Boom, My Love Will Not Let You Down and WOASD, to name a few and some short interviews with Mr Springsteen himself.

The best part was a feature in Aktuellt, a newsbroadcast from May 4th 1981. It showed a portrait of Bruce Springsteen and described him as a singer that pictured the troubled youth. Then the feature slowly moved into a discussion about destructive individualism among young people, a developement that seriously worried the political parties in Sweden. The connection with Springsteens music was by this time very obscure and by this time we were laughing hard. But the thing that really had us in stitches was a hilarious translation of Thunder Road.

The wellknown lines that reads:

Show a little faith there’s magic in the night
You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright
Oh and that’s alright with me

were transformed into:

Våga tro på nattens magi
vacker är du inte men okej
och det är okej för mig

When we heard this we had to rewind the tape and listen again, because we were roaring with laughter. The discussion about the future of the troubled swedish youngsters was really bizarre but very very funny… 😀

We have some more programs to watch, so there’ll be more work in the archives. But tomorrow we’ll start filming, it’s time for the first interview with one of the fans. Hopefully the technique will run smoothly, we’ll keep you posted of our progress.

Time has passed since those sunny days outside the Ullevi arena last summer. But next week we’re meeting the fans again, the first interviews for the documentary will take place in Stockholm January 27th till February 2nd.

We are also going to cover the show HUNGRY HEART – A Tribute to the music of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in Jönköping April 24th. It will be an evening with Springsteen songs from 1973 till 1985. More info on the show can be found on www.programbolaget.se under the label “Kalender”. We are going to film the show and interview the band, who are dedicated Springsteenfans.

So, here we go! We are swedish filmmaker Mikael Andersson and Johanna Mörtberg, journalist, based in Västervik and Stockholm. We are going to make a tv-documentary about swedish Springsteenfans. Filming starts next week here in Stockholm when we get our stuff together for the first interviews with the fans.

The documentary is made for broadcasting on swedish national television and it will be centered around Bruce Springsteens concerts in Sweden, from 1975 until today. We’re going to interview different generations of fans and talk about what the music has meant to them, their feelings during the shows and their personal meetings with Bruce Springsteen. We will also interview a few swedish musicjournalists about their view of the concerts.

With our documentary we would like to capture why the swedish audience have taken Bruce Springsteen’s music so deeply to their hearts. We’re also going to travel to Asbury Park, NJ, to shoot some exteriors for the documentary.

We hope to finish our project at the end of 2004, and we’re going to post our progress here.

Johanna

Micke, far right, with Bruce Springsteen