Göteborg and the Bruce

I am writing this as I’m giving the three blonde, tanned, Swedish boys (friendly hunks really) who invaded my 4 bed mixed dorm some privacy since they seemed in the process of changing when I last entered the room.

I will always connect Göteborg to Bruce Springsteen even though he is from New Jersey. It began when I first looked into accommodations in Göteborg back in April and couldn’t find any for July 27th and 28th. What was going on I asked the people I was drinking with back in our Princeton apartment. It turned out that nothing really is going on in Göteborg, but that Bruce Springsteen would give concerts there both days. I dismissed the idea of a fellow New Jerseyan being the cause of my housing crisis, let me convince that people just liked the city for its nightlife at the weekends, and booked a room in a town a few hours north instead. But when I finally arrived in Göteborg, the Bruce greeted me from posters that not only announced the big event but also advertised for Bruce-parties all over the city.

In the hostel in Göteborg I stayed in a week before the concert a staff member confirmed the Bruce-mania and said that he was rather big in Sweden. Oh well. Having lived close to NYC I indulge myself sometimes in looking down on people who haven’t had any taste of big city life. Hostel boy did not appreciate that, but he gave me a room for the concert dates that surprisingly became available anyway, so I didn’t have to leave the city for two days. I ended up staying in a 4 bed mixed dorm, where I was woken up by my roommates’ alarm this morning playing a Springsteen tune. During a thunderstorm today when I was stranded under a roof for shelter together with two Swedish men, they asked me if I, too, was going to the Springsteen concert. And at dinner I sat next to a German family dressed in garments with Springsteen’s name on it.

I wonder if the three Swedish boys are going to the concert as well or stay for my entertainment. I’ll report.