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22 Oct 2025
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22 Oct 2025
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David Niland from Barnacarrol with his mother Mary at Bruce Springsteen's final concert in Dublin's RDS
A BRUCE Springsteen superfan from Barnacarroll was overjoyed when he was handed a harmonica by ‘The Boss’ himself at a recent concert.
David Niland, who is a member of Mayo Down Syndrome, was lucky enough to be near the front row at the Springsteen’s final sold-out gig at the RDS.
While performing ‘Thunder Road’, the rock’n’roll legend strolled over near the pit where he reached into his pocket and handed David his harmonica.
Speaking to The Mayo News this afternoon (Wednesday), David said he felt ‘fantastic’ to receive his hero’s instrument.
A delighted David then sang a bar of ‘Born In The USA’ before sounding a few notes on the harmonica.
His mother Mary explained that they never expected to get that close to Springsteen during the performance.
“We didn’t expect to get anywhere near the front. And we were getting in at five o’clock and we were told that the pit was gone early in the day. We had resigned ourselves to go into the main pit. We were going in and they were still giving out bands at five o’clock. So we got some and there was probably 6,000 people in the pit.”
Mary and David then met a fellow Springsteen fanatic who brought him as far as the second row.
“Bruce was coming across the stage, and they were right at the front,” continued Mary.
“He was coming across the right and David got lifted up as he was coming across. You could see him reach in his pocket while he was still singing, and he took out the harmonic and gave it to David.”
A certified Springsteen mega-fan, David regularly plays along to Bruce Springsteen songs on his guitar at home.
His favourite Springsteen song is ‘Born To Run’, which was just one of many performed during a non-stop set that went on for over three hours.
By coincidence, Mary was expecting David last time she went to see ‘The Boss’ in the RDS back in 1999.
“We’ve got to get him coming west,” said Mary.
“He’s unbelievable what he did. The energy he puts into gigs is phenomenal. You wouldn’t see it too often,” said Mary.
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