����ý

He may have been born in the USA but it seems Bruce Springsteen also has a hungry heart for exploring his Irish lineage.

The 73-year-old singer-songwriter's great-great-great-grandparents left Rathangan in County Kildare for New Jersey in 1853.

Springsteen visited the town on Thursday while in the Republic of Ireland for a string of live shows.

Sitting around a pub table with locals, at one point he broke into song.

The Grammy-winning musician joked he would sack his band after the pub's customers joined in for the chorus of My Hometown, the final song on his 1985 album Born in the USA.

He also made a surprise visit to the Creative Performance Academy, a youth theatre group for four to 12-year-olds, where pupils were rehearsing a boyband medley.

Owner Katie Burke, a lifelong Springsteen fan who has tickets to see him perform on Sunday, said she was "still in shock".

"We were getting ready for a rehearsal when one of the teachers came in and said there were some men outside who would like to see the children," she said.

"I walked into the corridor and it was Bruce Springsteen - he said he'd like to come and watch.

"I told him I hoped he liked boybands."

Ms Burke said Springsteen watched the children perform two or three songs before having his photo taken.

She said not many of the children knew who the singer was but some recognised him from their parents' record collections.

She added: "He left and I said: 'I'll see you on Sunday.'"

Springsteen's E-Street band played the RDS Arena in Dublin on Friday night, with two more shows on Sunday and Monday as part of a lengthy world tour.