1985 revisited: Irish gig was one of Springsteen’s steps toward superstar status

Ed Power looks back to a year when some of music’s heavy hitters began to grow into true legend status

Bruce Springsteen performs on stage at Slane in 1985.

The world was in a grim spot in 1985. Yet in the shadow of potential nuclear oblivion abroad, the dead hand of a moribund economy at home in Ireland, and the apocalyptic creep of the Aids epidemic everywhere, popular culture threw back the shutters and let the light in.

Musically, it was the year of big artists growing into their fame. That May, Bruce Springsteen played his first Irish show — to a crowd of more than 60,000 at Slane Castle, Co Meath who each paid £15 for a ticket (less than the Ticketmaster service charge to see a musician of his stature today).