This was five years after the potato famine devastated much of Ireland, and she settled in Freehold. My great-great grandmother Ann Garrity left Ireland at fourteen in 1852 with her two sisters, aged twelve and ten. “A lot of trouble came in the blood of my people who hailed from the Emerald Isle. “We are the afflicted,” Springsteen wrote. A chapter is titled “The Irish” in his memoir, “Born to Run.” The Boss has Irish, Italian and Dutch ancestry. The Springsteen and the E Street Band dates in Dublin are May 5, 7 and 9. “He radiates a very very beautiful energy, he is like an embodied angel! It’s great to see that someone can find work that they are lit up with and that they can spend their whole life lifting peoples spirits through their work and stay so enthusiastic and energetic and full of gratitude and grace and appreciation for the work and for everything and everyone in their life.” “It was really really exciting and monumentally inspiring to spend time with yesterday,” said MacGowan's wife in an Instagram post. MacGowan, who has used a wheelchair since breaking his pelvis in 2015, is suffering from encephalitis. Prior to his Kildare jaunt, Springsteen visited Shane MacGowan of the Pogues in his Dublin home. “You guys, I’m firing the E Street Band and I’m hiring you,” said Springsteen to laughter. Springsteen subtly changed the melody and tempo, and the denizens joined in.

The Boss led the ladies of the town in an a cappella version of his 1984 hit, “My Hometown.” Also in Kildare, the Boss hit The Burrow, a pub in Rathangan, where genealogist Megan Smolenyak has traced Springsteen's roots to. Springsteen watched the kids perform a few songs and then posed for a picture with the group.

Born to run bruce