Rave reviews for the Boss after his night in Croker

When the 80,000 strong crowd disbanded and Croke Park emptied out, we were all certain that The Boss had left nothing on the field writes Joyce Fegan.

Diehard fans, from Co Donegal to Holland, had queued since Monday, Bruce Springsteen himself had flown in on Thursday and by Friday morning his name was trending on all social media highways across the land.

The Boss wasn’t just back, he was here in the flesh and with his E Street Band in tow. For a nation not known for our punctuality, no one dared to miss out on his prompt starting time of 7pm.

“He starts at seven sharp, you know?” I’d been warned all week.

So last night we knew, we were not only in it for a good time, but a long time too.

By 7pm Croke Park had thickened out and by 7.15pm The Boss and the E Street Band were making their way out of the tunnel, through the pit and on to the main stage.

“Hello Dublin, my God there’s a lot of you,” were the first words out of his mouth.

That’s all it took to have the crowd screaming and bare arms flailing in unison as the guitar strings began to sound. He kicked to touch with ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’. Every soul in the stadium was on its feet.

The Boss, in his usual energetic and impassioned style, didn’t come up for air, throwing himself immediately into song two, three, four, five and six.

There were ‘Badlands’, ‘Two Hearts’, ‘Sherry Darling’, ‘The Ties That Bind’ and ‘My Love Will Never Let You Down’.

This was to be a pared back version of The Boss’s typical performances but still, there were nine musicians, including his wife, on stage with him.

There were two pianos, drums, a saxophone, guitars and a tambourine.

And everyone in Croke Park was having a whale of a time, as the 66-year-old rock icon poured every inch of himself into every single bar of music.

His passion and good nature infected the crowd. There was no beer spilling or queue jumping, everyone was here for a good old-fashioned time. His army of fans wore their uniforms of denim and chequered shirts, cowboy hats and boots.

T-shirts read: ‘It’s Boss Time’ and caps were with emblazoned with ‘The Boss’.

There were star-spangled scarves and bandanas, blow-up musical instruments and handwritten cardboard signs, the kind you’d only find at a Bruce Springsteen concert.

“Bucket list: human touch with you,” read one of the placards from the pit.

However, after 43 years on the road, The Boss shows no sign of slowing and after playing his heart out in Croker, he’ll do it all again tomorrow night for another legion of 80,000 fans.

This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner