Bruce Springsteen has granted Charlie Bird his “final wish” by dedicating the song Land of Hope and Dreams to him.
Mr Bird (73), who has Motor Neuron Disease (MND), has been a fan of Springsteen for decades. The pair were born in the same month.
Springsteen met him backstage before Friday night’s concert in the RDS. “I told Bruce Land of Hope and Dreams was on my bucket list, and he said he would play it for me. And God he did. I love him.”
Springsteen played it during the encore at the end of his 27-song set during the first of three sold-out concerts in the RDS.
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It was a standard of his live set for a decade, but only appeared on an album, Wrecking Ball, in 2012.
Bird posted a picture of himself with his wife Claire Mould and Springsteen back stage.
The former RTÉ journalist tweeted: “What a magical moment for me and my beautiful wife Claire. Bruce was so kind and a fantastic human. I played my voice app and I really believe we connected.
“Last evening I was blown away, brought to meet Bruce Springsteen backstage before concert. We had a couple of hugs and I used my voice app to talk to him. O God Bruce is a great human. My final wish has happened.”
Springsteen got a rapturous reception from his Irish fans for his set which lasted almost three hours though not everybody was happy.
There were complaints of long queues and that many cash cards were not working because of wifi issues. The bars in the RDS are cashless.
One disgruntled fan tweeted: “Chaos at the gates with no wifi so couldn’t scan tickets. Card payment not working at the food and bars. Terrible!”
Others complained that the toilets were closed in the RDS immediately after the concert.
Springsteen plays further concerts on Sunday and Tuesday. The weather forecast is very good for both evenings which are expected to be warm and dry.
