WHEN BRUCE FREDERICK Joseph Springsteen kicked off the European leg of his Born in the USA tour at Slane Castle on June 1 1985, things were pretty different in Ireland. Here’s how things were 27 years ago.
We had a Doctor for a Taoiseach (Garret FitzGerald) and condoms had just been allowed for sale without prescription for the first time.
The Cold War was still freezing and Germany had a west and an east. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister across the water and Dennis Taylor was a snooker world champion, having hoisted the cue above his head in a still memorable moment.
Just 22 days after Bruce’s Slane triumph, however, there was less cause for celebration. A bomb exploded on Air India Flight 182, causing it to crash 190 kilometres South-West of the Irish coast, killing everyone on board.
Hope in humanity was restored somewhat less than a month later, when Live Aid made the world aware of the famine in Africa.
Ireland was in recession then just as it is now, showing that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Another thing that hasn’t changed in 27 years is Ireland’s love for ‘The Boss’, as his two sell-out shows in Dublin’s RDS prove.
(Video: TheGoodOldRock/YouTube)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say