The news of the visit of former President Barack Obama and filmmaker Steven Spielberg to Barcelona to attend Springsteen’s concert has multiplied expectations, even more so after all the alarms went off last week after it was announced that Springsteen and his wife had contracted a covid asymptomatic Finally, this will not prevent the performance of the Boss, good news especially for a handful of fans who, since Thursday, have been queuing in front of the Estadi Olímpic in order to occupy the area of ​​the track closest to the stage.

The organization of these queues of fans is a tradition at each Springsteen concert, an autonomous initiative, independent of the organization of the concert, that fans have set up since the late 1990s to stand guard and thus avoid the penalties of physically queuing. , which forced them to spend hours and sometimes days in front of the stadiums and to spend the night on the street.

Four stalwarts of the Boss were in charge this Tuesday morning of guarding the list, to which 69 people had signed up by noon, a small number compared to the more than 1,000 names that are expected to be registered on Friday. Sitting on the grass in front of the Campana de la Pau, the organizers attended to the people who came to register, who were marked with a number on the back of their hands.

Magira, a veteran of the Boss tours with 82 concerts behind her and the number 10 engraved on her right hand, is one of those who patiently awaits the arrival of the concert. She has been on many of these lists, but it is the first time that she has been in charge of organizing them. “It’s what is always done at Bruce’s concerts, they are unwritten rules”, she comments, noting that the total number of registered oscillates between 1,000 and 1,500 people per concert. “The first fan that comes opens the list, and the rest of us worry about knowing where she is, who is taking her and the confirmation times.”

“This time there is more expectation because it is the start of the European tour and because Springsteen has not come to Barcelona for seven years,” explains Joan Colet, from the Stone Pony fan club, which for 35 years has brought together the Barcelona fans of the artist New Jersey. On this occasion they will be in charge of organizing the trip of seven buses to bring a total of 900 fans to the two concerts on the weekend, followers who will come from Madrid, the Basque Country, Valencia and different areas of Catalonia.

When the big day approaches, it is Springsteen’s own team that is in charge of locating the organizers of the list and giving them the pertinent instructions so that they can be the first to enter. “Graham and Gray, two workers from Bruce’s organization, are the ones who usually come to talk to those signed up for the list,” Magira points out, “but it’s been 7 years since the last concert and maybe they don’t work anymore.” What she is sure of is that someone will come, because the Boss never leaves his fans hanging.