According to the uproar that has been set up this week in Barcelona with the arrival of Bruce Springsteen and his acolytes - individuals named Barack Obama and Steven Spielberg -, this being a rock star with decades of stage presence it's not enough in the world of grand tours: you also have to look like it. Dragging, for example, icons from the free world. Such important figures as a former president of the United States, with whom you also have a podcast of those who fix the world, and an acclaimed Hollywood filmmaker who everyone knows. Characters with whom, moreover, you have a friendship and who have flown in a heartbeat to this side of the Mediterranean so as not to miss the start of your European tour... In Barcelona, of course.
From where exactly the friends of The Boss followed the concert at the Olympic Stadium was last night the best kept secret by security. Some pointed to the corridor that opened from one side of the track to a camera located in the center. “See that red fence? They are not there, but they will be there", said a funny guy. Another assured that it was in front of the stage where they had been placed, glued to Springsteen, which seemed improbable with the ups and downs of The Boss to that first row of stalwarts on whom the camera focused.
It was a waiter from the area next to the tribune who gave the clue. "All three are there." Tom Hanks too? Have you seen them with your own eyes? No, no, but he knows it perfectly, he says.
Perhaps they would be in the vips stand, with politicians like Xavier Trias and types with earmuffs in their ears looking indecisively at The Boss with his strumming guitar, well-muscled arms and well-tailored black shirt... Shouting: "Catalonia, Barcelona, we love you, we love you, we love you!” And it was at the end of the concert, in the encores, when the women, Michelle Obama, Kate Capshaw and Patti Scialfa, came out to do choruses to Glory days amid shouts from the audience.
B-B, Bruce and Barack, did virtual and cosmic tweezers in the stadium yesterday, like two giants of goodwill. His podcast (Renegades: Born in the USA) wants to be a refuge for misfits. "We don't have much to do with it", the politician begins saying in one of those conversations at The Boss' house, surrounded by his thousand guitars, singing gospel well watered down with alcohol. Now in Barcelona, Bruce starts with dixieland/country airs... Maybe thinking of his friend, his friends... Spielberg too.
“You're a rock star, white, from New Jersey, and I'm a half-breed lawyer and politician born in Hawaii. Why do you say you were an outsider, if I see you very white?" And The Boss explains to him that being the son of a schizophrenic was not ideal in his country. Country they want to change... "A more fair, equal and free society". Obama's word.
Their meeting in Barcelona was presided over by friendship, culture and good food. Springsteen's guests took advantage of yesterday morning to enjoy the city. They had dined the night before at Amar in the Palace hotel and went to bed early in the morning. The Obamas and the Spielbergs left the hotel at noon on their way to the Moco Museum, on Carrer Montcada, where they spent 50 minutes on a private visit – they were also scheduled to visit the Picasso – and then head to the Sagrada Família, where a private tour led them to the Juvé balcony and the nave. Half an hour later, they left the Nativity facade, with a crowd of tourists recognizing them.
With a convoy of eight vehicles, they went to eat at the Martínez restaurant in Montjuïc. Mediterranean meal, with some American surprise... Springsteen's friends had a salad, ham and fried fish for lunch. For second, the Obamas opted for rice with shrimp, while Spielberg stumped the staff by ordering cheesecake. And the wine came from Lluís Llach's winery.
The dinner the day before, at Amar, took place already after midnight, accompanied by security guards, without the slightest sign of fatigue, not even a hint of arrogance. Neither to the restaurant team nor to the diners, who were hallucinating when, in the middle of the table, they saw some customers coming in who greeted them with sympathy. It was them, the six most wanted friends in town all day: Springsteen, Spielberg and Obama with their respective partners.
The table had been reserved the same day, although the origin of the choice came from days ago, when José Andrés, a great friend of Obama, visited Zafra's restaurant with the Adrià brothers. The Asturian chef commented to Pol Perelló, formerly a key figure in the El Bulli restaurant and today director of the Zafra restaurants, about the culinary preferences of those who would visit them, as well as that they were "very normal people" who like to look at the menu and taste everything. This time they let themselves be advised and served the classics of Zafra, such as bikini with truffle on brioche toast with butter and caviar, clams, anchovies, the spectacular Roses prawns or macerated oysters, in tribute to Albert Adrian There was also the crayfish carpaccio, a tribute to El Bulli, the sole meunière and the wagyu meat, cooked at the Josper. Perelló describes it as "a dinner of true friends".
Yesterday it was Bruce who would have embraced the entire city if that had been possible, to the cry of Because the night, Patti Smith's anthem. There were those who claimed that the echo of his voice could be heard from the neighborhood of Gràcia. The Boss was from the whole city yesterday. Tomorrow, the revalidation.
