Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band
Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway - May 20, 2006
Audience: 8000
Taped from section 208, row 13, seat 55
(which is 2/3 up, facing the right screen)
Taper: Bull

Lineage:
Core Sound LC binaural mics > iRiver H320 w/Rockbox (lossless WAV recording 44.1KHz)
WAV file copied to PC, volume raised 7dB in SoundForge XP 4.0.
Tracks split with CDWave, compressed with FLAC level 6.

A nice night at the Spektrum, really. I got there a bit late, but not anywhere close to too late. Security was like always in Norway - almost non-existing. The guards did "check" my pockets, but it seemed they only really was interested in stopping people from bringing their own bottles in. My pocket with both a cell phone and the recorder was obviously small enough that I didn't have to show what was in there.

The so-called "good seats" (according to the ticket lady when I bought the tickets) were a bit higher up than I was hoping, but the sound was good, and the combination of the overview of the stage and the close-ups on the screens made it all a nice experience. The one idiot (and his five friends further away) sitting next to my wife was a bit better after I told him to shut up somewhere in the middle of the show. I was happy to hear that his chattering wasn't much hearable on my recording.

The sound is good, better than I expected. This was my second recording with the Core Sound microphones, and at $75 they were really a good buy. Still looks like the Rockbox firmware patch for my iRiver recorder is a little buggy on level display, so the recording level should once again been higher. But the sound was so clear that it wasn't any problem raising the volume level afterwards on the computer. All in all a listenable recording. Some talking close to the mics two or three times, but not very disturbing. A little volume level adjustment in the beginning of the first song can be heard if you think of it when listening. The show is complete.

Track listing:

CD1
Old Dan Tucker
O Mary Don't You Weep
Johnny 99
John Henry
Eyes on the Prize
Jesse James
Cadillac Ranch
Erie Canal
My Oklahoma Home
Devils & Dust
Mrs. McGrath

CD2
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
Jacob's Ladder
We Shall Overcome
Open All Night
Pay Me My Money Down
Encore:
My City of Ruins
Ramrod
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
When the Saints Go Marching In
Buffalo Gals

Notes from backstreets.com:
Springsteen got to town on May 18, just missing Norway's National Day on the 17th, as he told the audience. Having relaxed in Oslo for a couple days -- in fact, they were all in town long enough that some of the band (sans Bruce) scratched a jamming itch at a downtown blues bar, The Muddy Waters -- Bruce was in fine form and great spirits. The crowd took some coaxing, but he finally "got those Norwegian asses off those Norwegian seats!" with "Jacob's Ladder" in particular revving things up. After skipping Norway on the Devils & Dust tour, Bruce made up for it in Oslo by giving them a special taste of that title track as a tour premiere. "Some anti-war songs are new and some are old... this one's new," he told the crowd, then followed "Devils & Dust" immediately with the nearly 200-year-old "Mrs. McGrath." And perhaps a taste of things to come: "My Father's House" was in the soundcheck.

Enjoy!