PICTURES: Bruce Springsteen's surprise visit to Irish 'hometown' of Rathangan

American music legend Bruce Springsteen has paid a surprise visit to Rathangan just over the Laois border in Kildare this week to check out his ancestral roots and sing a song in the local pub.

The Boss visited The Burrow pub, the community centre and also was shown where his relations may have come from in the townland of Mount Prospect. 

There was a warm welcome for him as he greeted people during the private visit. 

The CPA Rathangan pupils performed for the man from New Jersey in the Community Centre

Watch the Boss singing My Hometown the Burrow

Cllr Mark Stafford said the council had extended an invitation to Springsteen to visit the town and they had been in communication with his team.

"We were told that he doesn't make a decision on where to visit until he actually arrives in the country he is visiting." he said.

Cllr Stafford explained how he got word late last night that Springsteen wanted to come to the Kildare town.

"We were told he was interested, but on the strict condition that it was to be a private visit and he didn't want any large gatherings. You can understand that as it was a personal visit. Anyone he did meet, he was very obliging and he had all the time in the world for them."

 
"He was delighted to be here and was interested in learning all about his heritage."

Earlier in the day he paid a visit to the library in Newbridge where historians, who had carried out research into his family roots, made a presentation to him.

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It was revealed in 2016 that Springsteen's great-great-grandmother Anne Garrity emigrated from the Mount Prospect area of Rathangan during the Famine and settled in New Jersey in the US.