Tunnel of Love Express
| Tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | |
 |
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| Associated album | Tunnel of Love |
|---|---|
| Start date | February 25, 1988 |
| End date | August 4, 1988 |
| Legs | 2 |
| No. of shows | 67 |
| Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert chronology | |
The Tunnel of Love Express was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and featuring The E Street Band along with The Horns of Love that took place in 1988. It followed by four and a half months the release of Springsteen's 1987 album, Tunnel of Love. Considerably shorter in duration than most Springsteen tours before or since, it played limited engagements in most cities, leading to tickets being in great demand. Shows were held in arenas in the U.S. and stadiums in Europe and included an historic performance in East Berlin.
Coming on the heels of the massively successful Born in the U.S.A. Tour, the Tunnel of Love Express was designed to disorient Springsteen's audiences. A theatrical entrance began the show, a full horn section appeared, band members were rearranged from their customary positions, and on-stage spontaneity was kept to a minimum. Set lists were unusually static, and many of Springsteen's most popular concert numbers were omitted altogether. Instead, the shows featured Springsteen B-sides and outtakes as well as renditions of obscure genre songs by others. Critical reaction to the concerts was generally favorable, with some mixed reviews, while audiences were sometimes baffled.
The show featured backup singer Patti Scialfa brought center stage and the object of sexually themed presentations unusual for Springsteen. That, combined with the dour nature of many Tunnel of Love songs, led to speculation that Springsteen's marriage to Julianne Phillips was troubled. Further visual evidence of Springsteen and Scialfa becoming a couple emerged as the tour progressed, his separation from Phillips was officially confirmed, and for the first time Springsteen became the subject of a tabloid fervor. Springsteen and Scialfa eventually married, and the Tunnel of Love Express shows were the last full-length ones Springsteen would play with the E Street Band for eleven years.
The tour came four and a half months after the release of Springsteen's 1987 album, Tunnel of Love, which had sold well – although nowhere near the blockbuster levels of its predecessor, Born in the U.S.A., which the album was partly a counter-reaction to – and already generated a hit single in "Brilliant Disguise". In part, the unusual lag reflected the ambivalence of the album; Springsteen had first recorded it solely by himself, and then some E Street Band parts had been dubbed in. Indeed, Springsteen and the band had started to drift apart over the previous two or three years, seldom speaking amongst themselves. Springsteen had considered going out on tour solo, and his management had provisionally booked 3,000-seat halls around the country. But he eventually decided against that approach, feeling the tone of the resulting show would be too dark.
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