Barber’s oversized gift gets him a passport to meet The Boss

He may have been born in the USA but we’ve claimed him as an Irishman.

A Co Clare barber who’s been to 50 Bruce Springsteen gigs spoke yesterday of how he presented the rock legend with a giant Irish passport in front of thousands of fans during his Thomond Park gig in Limerick.

“It was my 50th Springsteen show and I just thought he deserved an Irish passport,” said Jimi Coughlan.

“It was a unique idea, I thought, and so I asked my son, Christopher, who is a software engineer, to design it. I handed it to him during the show and he was gobsmacked.”

Jimi, who runs Jimi’s Barber Shop in Kilrush, included his mobile phone number and was stunned to get a phonecall from The Boss after the show inviting him to join him and the E Street Band for a drink at Adare Manor.

“It was fantastic to meet him. He bought me a sparkling water — that’s my drink — and it was great that he took the time to meet me,” said Jimi.

Now the people of Rathowen in Westmeath have invited The Boss back to his ancestral home to make it official.

Springsteen’s great-great grandmother Ann Garrity was born in 1830 and attended school in Rathowen. They hope to present him with her birth certificate as part of their Gathering celebrations.

Meanwhile, Springsteen enjoyed a traditional Irish rendition of his hit, ‘The River’, during a trad session at the luxury Castlemartyr Resort in East Cork after his gig in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Thursday.

Springsteen and his entourage booked out about 30 rooms in the luxury hotel which remained open throughout despite rumours it was in lock-down.

Guests said Springsteen was very relaxed and mingled and chatted freely.

He had jetted in to Cork earlier from France where he watched his daughter, Jessica, a champion showjumper, compete in an elite showjuming event.

Monkstown-based horse whisperer and pre-trainer, Tom Busteed, a close personal friend of Springsteen’s, said The Boss really enjoyed the gig that night.

“He read the audience after four or five songs and had them buzzing,” he said.

“I asked him afterwards why he didn’t play ‘The River’ and he said ‘Sorry Tom, but I couldn’t downbeat it, I was on a roll.’

“We went back to the hotel with him afterwards. He had a shower, changed, and came back down to the bar where we had a lovely evening. It was very relaxed, very sedate.”

Mr Busteed, who has holidayed at Springsteen’s ranch in Rumson, Red Bank, near the Jersey Shore, said members of the E Street band liked what they saw of Cork, and he revealed that sax player Jack Clemens had indicated he would like to holiday here in August.

Concert promoter Peter Aiken said he was delighted with the Cork concert. “It was amazing. It had so many highlights. I can’t think of any other band that could do a cover version of ‘Wild Thing’, just like that,” he said. “And his acoustic version of ‘Thunder Road’ at the end was amazing. It was the perfect ending to the concert.”

Springsteen, 63, and the E Street Band, played a 30-song, three-hour-and-10-minute show featuring three tour premieres — a cover of ‘Wild Thing’ made famous by The Troggs in 1966, ‘The Price You Pay’, played for the first time on this tour, and ‘Real World’ from Springsteen’s 1992 album Human Touch.

Springsteen performed it twice in Páirc Uí Chaoimh — solo on piano and as part of the pre-show.