Wednesday 17 July 2013

Limerick Rocks To Springsteen [July 16, 2013]

A quick round-up of comments about last night's Bruce Springsteen concert in Limerick.
Irish Independent: "Thomond Park has seen its fair share of rocking nights in Munster red - but none like this as Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band played the biggest concert ever to take place in the venue.
"The Boss and the E-Street Band thumped out an exhilarating mid-summer vibe as 40,000-plus fans savoured rock music at its very best."

On our Twitter feed (@springsteen_ire):

@jollybeggarman “Dear God. I can't process that. I really can't. I'm too tired and emotional to try and say what happened tonight. #brucelimerick"
@Drizzielee "Fantastic 41 shots"
@thejohnhealy "Great gig in Limerick. Thank you!"
@raytomany "He introduced [41 Shots] as a letter back home. Tears in the band and among the crowd by the end."
@damianclarke66 "What a show! Thanks Bruce."
@PhillyCarey "Well, that was a brilliant gig and a brilliant venue!"
@AndrewTLowry Amazing that Bruce dedicated 'My Hometown' to JT McNamara in Limerick. For those that don't know JT was paralysed after a fall in Cheltenham."
From our Facebook page:
Stephen Robin Getty "Incredible show tonight in Limerick. You could tell Bruce was really enjoying himself. Born to Run Album tonight in the set. Highlights for me 41 Shots & a really beautiful Drive All Night."

Paul Fitz "I would have paid my ticket just for the pre-show. It was excellent. I was 2 rows from the front and so it seemed personal for the crowd in the pit."

If you were at the show, please let us know what you thought!

Sunday 5 May 2013

The Battle for Slane Castle - in cuttings

Some classic cuttings from the Slane Castle show in 1985.
This is a backgrounder, introducing Bruce to a new audience.




Next, a story about some of the shenanigans behind the scenes during the planning for the show. 
It was quite a rocky road and, as we detailed in 'Land of Hope and Dreams', the show almost never went ahead at all.
 A newspaper advert for the show.
 Local people were asked what they thought of plans for the show.

Finally, Slane is ready for Bruce Springsteen. And he rocks!


Sunday 14 April 2013

Dancing in the Rain: newspaper cuttings from Dublin 2009

As promised, here are a load more cuttings from our files. The shows in Dublin in 2009 saw Bruce playing to about 80,000 fans over two nights.
Even though it was the height of summer it poured down on night one, giving the street vendors of the "heavy duty ponchos" the opportunity to clean up!
Share your memories below!
Evening Herald, July 13, 2009


 Evening Herald, July 13, 2009


 Irish Independent, July 13, 2009


 Irish Daily Mirror, July 13, 2009


 Irish Sun, July 13, 2009


                                                         Irish Independent, July 13, 2009

Thursday 28 March 2013

BRUCE AND OUR BOOK - IN THE NEWS

Over the last few years we've been fortunate to have some great support - not only from fans but from journalists too.

Here are a few of the articles which have featured 'Land of Hope and Dreams'. Our thanks to Tom McCormack for his help compiling them.

Meath Chronicle
October 2010

Irish Sun
October 2009

Irish Times
October 2009

New York Irish Voice
April 2010

Sunday Life
April 2010

Irish Times
June 2010

Sunday 24 March 2013

Where's Springsteen? If I Were You, I Wouldn't Start From Here.

Some of the best fun we had writing our Springsteen book was researching the Slane Castle concert from 1985.
Everyone seemed to have such amazing memories of that gig.
Many Springsteen fans were seeing their first shows on that tour. Plenty were going through major exams at school that summer and they needed something to cheer them.
Dan French was already a veteran. He's probably Britain's foremost Springsteen expert and he was a great help when we were writing the book.
If it was all right with Dan, then we knew we were on the right road.
Dan sent his story "If I Were You, I Wouldn't Start From Here!". It was written by his friend Mike Saunders with the help of Dan himself and Linda Gilder.
We used most of it in the book, but the version linked to is complete and unedited.
It's an epic - on the scale of Michael Palin's "Biggles Goes To See Bruce Springsteen"!
It tells the tale of a group of English people in a foreign country, searchin', searchin' for the Promised Land.