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The Script are clearly a band with lofty aspirations. For a start there’s the fact that tonight is the second of their three night stint in Dublin’s largest indoor venue; selling a staggering 42,000 tickets in total. Also let’s not forget the fact that they have also topped the Irish album chart with each of their three albums; so a band aiming high to say the least. You could argue that they’re a Croke Park headline show away from joining the U2’s and Westlifes of Ireland’s musical elite. With album sales well over the four million mark it’s not an inconceivable notion.

Lofty aspirations continue as their show starts in no other place than outer space. An ambitious space video backs the stage as the band emerge and we have to remind ourselves that we’re about to watch The Script and not someone more left-field like Muse.

The Dublin trio start all guns blazing with Good Oul’ Days, complete with a singalong that was made for Fridays like this. Frontman Danny, the band’s ace up their sleeves, bounces around the expansive stage with eyes so wide you’d be forgiven for thinking this was his first time playing to a packed home crowd. He wastes no time breaking the fourth wall and before we know it he’s down making friends with everyone in the front row. It’s a huge song written for big places and it’s clear that The Script are at home.

The good natured banter between frontman and crowd continues with second song We Cry as the microphone is passed around the front row, with very questionable results. But then again when you’re having the time of your life the last thing on your mind is whether you’re in tune or not.

The show continues in a similar manner with the band belting out their note-perfect, soft rock anthems. All the while Danny lays down a variety of frontman tricks to whip the crowd into even more of a frenzy. From getting the crowd to dial their ex’s as he sings down the phone to a particularly lucky (or unlucky) ex-boyfriend; to belting out a song from the sound desk at the back of the room (and then taking his life in his own hands by making his way back to the stage by going through the crowd).

Despite all this however the show was lacking a certain spark. Perhaps it was the somewhat average stage production or the anti-climactic finale of Hall of Fame where the Script seemed to procure all of the confetti in the country. Once that missing element is in place, The Script will move to the next rung of the ladder. That being said, the other 14,000 in attendance had the time of their lives!

The Script Photo Gallery

Photos: Debbie Hickey