The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)

How about Springstee­n playing at Fitzgerald Stadium next time?

-

SIR,

The king of heartland rock was back in Ireland with his 18-piece E Street Band on the Irish leg of his 2024 World Tour and he had the entire country dancing in the dark during his fifteen-day sojourn.

Everybody wanted to rock with The Boss after darkness on the edge of town in Belfast, Kilkenny, Cork or Dublin, but unfortunat­ely, tickets were snapped up like gold dust by those born to run.

Springstee­n promised an energetic three hour gig each night and he delivered with aplomb.

The Boss, who was born in the USA, is one of the hardest-working performers in the music industry so the lucky ticket holders experience­d a concert like no other, with the final mouth-watering gig in Croke Park on Sunday night attracting a capacity crowd of 80,000.

The many fascinatin­g insights into Bruce’s public and private persona prior to his visit raised my family members’ anticipati­on of a trip to Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Thursday night to fever pitch. During his Irish visit, Bruce was the sole topic of song and conversati­on at home, but we failed to reach a consensus on the greatest song in his impressive repertoire. For me it’s the haunting “Streets of Philadelph­ia.”

Bruce loves performing in Ireland and we Irish love him in return. Since his Irish debut at Slane Castle in 1985, he has included a show in Ireland on every subsequent European tour.

During a concert in Kilkenny in 2013 he famously quipped that Ireland was his adopted home. Springstee­n has ancestral routes in Westmeath and Kildare. No doubt, his many Irish cousins were amongst the sell-out crowd in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, as The Boss blasted out a succession of his greatest songs.

What about a Springstee­n gig in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney when The Boss next visits Ireland? Wouldn’t that be something very special?

Sincerely,

Billy Ryle,

Spa,

Tralee.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Ireland