During the "Darkness"-Tour Bruce was named "The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz". More than 15 years later he is still hard working, but he has redefined the meaning of that term defying the rules of "Showbiz". His concert in Berlin was a fine example: On the GOTJ-Tour hard working does not include a three hour plus show of sweat and Rock 'n' Roll being the front man of the world's best live band, but a brilliant solo set with fine guitar playing and an amazing vocal performance. The most rewarding thing, however, was Bruce's amazing capability to communicate with his audience. He made every effort to capture and keep the listeners' attention during the thoughtful songs and stories and succeeded. For me the first highlight of this remarkable evening came one hour before the show when the "man in black" handed me a ticket for Row A, Seat 5 in the orchestra pit, the first row to the right in front of the Stage. After Frankfurt that was the second time I had dumb luck and thus I fortunately didn't have to worry about the non quite intimate atmosphere of the 4.000+-seat Congress Centrum. Bruce played a fairly standard set and the first highlight was "Darkness". The guitar playing on this was almost overpowering, The "Berkeley Night"-Version and the "Philadelphia"-Version included on the GOTJ-Single do sound lame in comparison. I found the song sequence Darkness-Murder Inc.-Nebraska immensely effective. Almost everyone got the message was that show was about. Apart from some Bruuucing and some calls for "Born to Run" the audience was very cooperative. (Although this might be a slight misjudgment. People who had seats further back had some trouble with unruly neighbours, who were talking laughing or running around. Some people in the balcony sections obviously left during the concert.) "Nebraska" was followed by "Little Things That Count" and "Sell It ..." both introduced by the usual stories. The inclusion of "Sell It ..." at this particular point is my only criticism. Though hearing it for the first time, I really liked the song it didn't fit in here. Especially as it was followed by "Brothers Under The Bridge" and "BIUSA". I would have preferred "Sell it..." at the end of the show where it would fit the somewhat looser atmosphere. Nevertheless "BIUSA" was incredible again. (Actually so incredible that the reviewer of the Berliner tabloid "bz" didn't recognize it writing about fans "who waited in vain for songs like ‘Cover Me’ and ‘Born In the USA'". The same jerk complained about "the boring country music played before the concert". Some critic! ). During the last part the show got even better. The four songs with the common "Borderline"-Theme namely "Sinaloa Cowboys", "The Line", "Balboa Park" had their climax in "Across the Border". The much discussed humming Bruce does at the very end, send shivers down my spine again. I think it really shows how much confidence he has these days in his vocal performance. I can only describe it as frighteningly beautiful. I always thought Roy Orbinson was the only one who could sing like that. Encores were "Bobby Jean", "This Hard Land", "Streets...", "Galveston Bay" and "Promised Land". All in all it was again a remarkable concert. Though I liked Frankfurt, the only other show I saw, a little bit more, because of the venue and also, I guess, because the first show you see during a tour is always somewhat special. Again I was suprised, how well the communication between artist and audience worked. Before the tour I always feared that either Bruce would leave out the stories or that the audience wouldn't pay attention. Luckily, this didn't happen. Now comes the big wait for the next tour. Solo or with THE band? Quite honestly. I don't care. I think, that we can be sure that Bruce knows what he's doing and that he'll be hard at work. by Steffen Wagner