The Boss helped me deal with success, says Hansard

In the new issue of Hot Press, Oscar and Tony Award-winner Glen Hansard exclusively gives his verdict on the recent Bruce Springsteen Dublin shows. He explains what makes The Boss & The E Street Band so special.

Glen also talks of the friendship that has developed with The Boss - and how Springsteen helped him to come to terms with his Oscar-winning success.

Glen recalls his first encounter with Bruce... on his way to Grafton St. to busk – he spotted a pink Caddilac and went to have a look.. "I literally bumped into this guy. I had me guitar on me back - and he said, 'Sorry!' and it was Bruce. It was fucking amazing."

Glan tells how The Boss had helped him come to terms with his Oscar-winning success, and told him, "For the past 20 years you've been a guy in a band, a guy on the street, you've been working your way up, you against the world... That guy has just died! You're mourning the passing of your old self. Don't worry about it - take some time to adjust'."

Glen acknowledges now that Bruce was "absolutely right".
Asked by Hot Press' Stuart Clark what the atmosphere is like backstage at a Boss show, Glen recalls that on one occasion he was talking to Bruce, who mid- sentence, remembered where he was and said, "Oh, I'd better go on!"

Glen names Bruce's 'Drive All Night' among his favourite songs. "When Jack Clement came on tour with The Swell Season, we played 'Drive All Night' every gig and joked that one day we'd do it with Bruce.. perhaps we will!"

Read the full interview, as well as Stuart Clark's verdict on Bruce's R.D.S. shows, in our new issue, out now.