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Cork, Ireland
An Irish based alternative music blog. Music news, gigs, live reviews, album reviews... You'll find them here. If you want anything featured or removed, please shout. I hope you'll discover something new to love on this little experiment of mine. Currently editing the Music Section of the UCC Express and contributing to Motley magazine on campus, as well as writing for PopCultureMonster and 4FortyFour. Always looking for new projects so please get in touch if interested. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

25 Years Ago: Bruce Springsteen At Slane

Today marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most celebrated gigs in Irish musical history. June 1st, 1985 saw The Boss take to an Irish stage for the first time.

A massive crowd as always at Slane, Bruce played to between ninety and one hundred thousand people - his first gig as a married man too, fact finders.

The setlist for the show is printed below - note the one off Beach Boys cover (their classic rite of passage track When I Grow Up To Be A Man) that has never been repeated. It was thrown in as it was Bruce's first show as a married man.

1.Born in the U.S.A.
2.Badlands
3.Racing in the Street
4.Johnny 99
5.Atlantic City
6.The River
7.Working on the Highway
8.Trapped (Jimmy Cliff cover)
9.Prove It All Night
10.Glory Days
11.The Promised Land
12.My Hometown
13.Thunder Road
14.Cover Me
15.Dancing In The Dark
16.Hungry Heart
17.Cadillac Ranch
18.Downbound Train
19.I'm On Fire
20.Pink Cadillac
21.Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
22.When I Grow Up to Be a Man (The Beach Boys cover)
23.Born to Run
24.Bobby Jean
25.Ramrod
26.Twist and Shout (The Isley Brothers cover)

The gig reportedly lasted for over four hours and is considered one of the highpoints in Irish musical history.

Given that there's no Slane this year, I though it nice to write a little about a classic Slane moment. I've only been to the castle once myself - for Oasis, Kasabian & The Prodigy last year, and while I loved the set-up, the trouble afterwards destroyed the whole experience for me.

Though given half a chance I'd be there to see Bruce. Fingers crossed he'll be there to mark the 26th anniversary of this classic show.

3 comments:

  1. Hiya Kevin
    Great to see this post about the Slane show.
    If you get a chance to check out our book 'Land of Hope and Dreams' you'll find many photos from Slane and the story of how the show almost never happened at all.
    Greg Lewis & Moira Sharkey
    www.springsteeninireland.com

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  2. hi kevin,

    great to find this! i was one amongst the crowd, a enthusiastic german among all the irish. when i came to ireland about two weeks before the concert i was glad to be the owner of a ticket for the german concert at frankfurt. when i tried to get a ticket in some record-shops in dublin, everybody laughed at me, but: in a small westcoast-record-shop i got a ticket plus a bus-ticket to slane. what a great day that was! what a show! what a crowd!
    what a bus! on the way back my seat began to burn. the heater was defect and so i had a really hot night after the show.
    25 years ago? can't believe! feels like yesterday.
    Tom, Germany

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  3. A gang of us from Kerry went to Slane to see the Boss and it was the best I ever went to.

    Over 4 hours of Bruce - he had us all in the palm of his hand.

    I was in the front row waiting for him to pick me for "dancing in the dark" but it wasn't to be. Was most upset years later to find out the girl in the video was Courtney Cox and it was a setup!

    25 years later I am settled in London and go to see him whenever I can but Slane for me was and will always be the best!

    He's the Boss!

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