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Bruce Springsteen and Croke Park; together at last

Bruce Springsteen performs with the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden, New York in January 2016. Picture by Robert Altman, Invision, Associated Press 
Bruce Springsteen performs with the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden, New York in January 2016. Picture by Robert Altman, Invision, Associated Press  Bruce Springsteen performs with the E Street Band at Madison Square Garden, New York in January 2016. Picture by Robert Altman, Invision, Associated Press 

I LOVE Paraic Duffy. Really, I do. He's the best Director-General the GAA ever had.

It was confirmed on Thursday morning that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will rock the big house on Jones's Road on Friday, May 27 and possibly Sunday, May 29, should the first night sell out.

Nothing that a Leinster Senior Football Championship double-header can't be shifted around for.

Like me, Paraic is a Springsteen evangelist.

The high-ranking GAA official wasn't a bandwagon-jumper from the commercially explosive days of Born in the USA . Nope.

Paraic was around from Springsteen’s raucous bar-room days - a ‘Greetings from Asbury Park ’ man.

A young Monaghan lad of the 70s, Paraic was ‘Blinded by the Light’ and must have sashayed across the porch a few times to 'It's Hard to be a Saint in the City'.

If you're a member of Springsteen's congregation, the ageless New Jersey rocker can do no wrong.

Growing up, I was weaned on the legend of Slane Castle on June 1 1985 when Springsteen rocked the sweeping banks of the River Boyne.

Around 1987 I was bitten by the Springsteen bug. Never to be healed.

I was an evangelist right from the start. I pored over the lyrics of 'Brilliant Disguise', 'Thunder Road' and 'Badlands' before discovering 'Incident on 57th Street' and 'Puerta Rican Jane'.

My first Springsteen concert was in Glasgow 1992 when he toured with comeback albums 'Lucky Town' and 'Human Touch' after a five-year sabbatical.

Three rows from the stage it was the best-ever cardiovascular work-out - an amazing experience.

Later that year and a little further back in the crowd, The Boss jammed with Jerry Lee Lewis deep into the night at the RDS.

New album or not, we love the fact that he's almost an annual fixture in Dublin these days.

Maybe he has a summer house in Drimnagh.

The RDS. The old Point. He's always brought Dublin's houses to its knees.

But this is different. This is Croke Park. The house of legends.

For Springsteen, now 66, to be given a pass to the holy ground of Croke Park is long overdue.

It’s as if his dozen or so shows in the Irish capital over many years have been building towards this, potentially, two-night stand in May.

Or at least that’s how his thousands of loyal Irish fans will see it.

Hogan and Cusack will love The Boss.

Ahem, any tickets, Paraic?