It is a staple of concert promoters to remind concertgoers to leave themselves lots of time to get to the relevant venue.
In the case of Friday night's Bruce Springsteen concert at Croke Park, the advice would certainly best be heeded.
The usual heavy Friday evening traffic heading out of Dublin will be compounded by a Luas strike and a match in the Aviva Stadium, which is expected to attract 50,000 fans to Ireland’s last farewell before heading to the European Championships.
In addition, Springsteen will be onstage at the early hour of 7pm. He’s also playing in Croke Park on Sunday night.
The Boss reached pension age last year, but is showing no signs of slowing down or curbing his limitless stage energy.
36 songs
The first date of his European tour, which took place in Barcelona last week, went on for three and a half hours. The set included 36 songs.
"People get used to main acts being on at 9pm, but there is no support act. He will be on stage very close to 7 o'clock," warned promoter Peter Aiken. "Friday nights are busy anyway in Dublin, so come early."
It is 31 years since Springsteen's 1985 concert at Slane Castle, a show that has entered the annals as one of the greatest gigs ever staged in Ireland.
Three decades on, it will be the first time the Boss will play Croker. Friday night’s show is a sell-out, according to Mr Aiken, but there are some tickets left for the Sunday night show.
"We could have done a third night, but let's not go there," Mr Aiken quipped, alluding to the five nights of Garth Brooks concerts scheduled for two years ago that did not happen.
“He was the biggest act in the world in 1985. I don’t know what other artist could sell out Croke Park 31 years later,” he said.
Greatest hits
Springsteen’s The River Tour 2016 had started out with him playing the entire album of the same name, but he has mixed it up for the European leg. The tour is now essentially a greatest hits show, as he has not released a new album.
Springsteen last performed in Ireland in 2013, playing shows in Limerick, Cork, Belfast and two in Kilkenny.
Meanwhile, a campaign to get Springsteen to sing Glory Days on behalf of one of his biggest Irish fans, who died after having tickets booked for Croke Park, has kicked off.
Noel Kenny (44) passed away on February 28th, shortly after his sister Terri Kenny Murphy booked tickets for him for Croke Park.
She has started a hashtag #GloryDaysforNoel in an attempt to get him to play the song on Friday night.
