Last weekend I got the chance to see one of my favourite bands ever, The Script, live in Croke Park in Dublin. Of course I jumped at the chance to go when my sisters handed me the two tickets on Christmas morning! Now, I'm slightly less experienced than the average person my age when it comes to concerts, with my last concerts having been Taylor Swift in 2011 and Glee Live in 2011 too - that really describes my persona down to a tee - so having the chance to finally go to another concert was something I was dying for. I brought my best friend, Rachel as her birthday present (I know, regifting gifts is a SIN but I'm sure God will forgive me). As I'm a country girl through and through, it's always a big deal when I get a chance to go visit Dublin, otherwise known as "The Big Smoke" in culchie terms, so to spend the weekend in Dublin was a dream!
I travelled up to the city the morning of the concert so we could have a few hours to gather ourselves and prepare for what would be an unforgettable night. Rachel is living in Dublin for the summer for work so we were very kindly welcomed in her aunt and uncle's house for the night. Unfortunately for me my hayfever decided to come full force that day so every ten minutes was marked with a sneeze from me and a "bless you" from Rachel! We managed to kill a few hours in the Ilac Shopping Centre and getting lunch in O'Briens (in which I got charged nearly €12 for a toasted sandwich and soup because I asked for lettuce in my sandwich! We learn from these mistakes, so anyways..) and we headed for the house to get ready.
When it came closer to the time of the concert, we made our way to Drumcondra and got a takeaway from a fabulous little Italian restaurant called
Independent Pizza Company - their sweet chilli garlic bread was TO DIE FOR. As soon as we ate our food, we left for the concert, reeking of garlic.
(I forced Rachel to take a Croke Park selfie with me. I don't have a problem, I swear.)
Being at Croke Park was a huge deal for me as I'd never set foot in the place before (I'm not a sports person at all.) and even passing by it on the train was overwhelming so imagine how exciting it was to be there! Our tickets got checked about 7 different times going into the stadium and there was a point where the scanner didn't work on my ticket. As the anxiety ridden girl that I am, there was a moment where I started mentally freaking out, thinking that I wasn't going to get in and Rachel would abandon me to see The Script without me! Of course it worked in the end and we got in. Panic averted!
The first support act were a reggae group called
The Wailers. I'm not a fan of reggae but I knew a couple of their songs so we enjoyed it anyways. Luckily for us, we were early enough to be right at the front of the barrier before the VIP section so we had a great view! Two girls we knew from back home were there so the four of us stayed together for the night and we enjoyed every moment.
The second support act was Pharrell Williams. This was where things got real. He put on a real show with his group of female dancers that he called "The Baes". I didn't know some of the songs he performed but the atmosphere was crazy! Pharrell sang covers of Hot In Here by Nelly, Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg and Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. It took everything in me to not dance my ass off - also there was barely room to breathe, let alone dance! Once he started to sing Get Lucky, the crowd went WILD. At this point my voice was starting to go and the main act wasn't even on yet! Pharrell brought on a group of children to dance on stage for Happy and it was the most adorable thing I had ever seen.
FINALLY. The Script were absolutely incredible. They opened with Paint The Town Green and the crowd went mental! The concert was being livestreamed all around the world, so that was a big deal. They sang all their hit songs and they put on an amazing show. Some of the highlights of the concert involved Danny (lead singer) prank calling a lad from the VIP audience's ex and singing all of the song Nothing (a song about being better off without your ex) to her and getting the audience to scream "GOODBYE ASSHOLE!" to her on the phone before hanging up, the audience constantly singing the Olé chant in between songs and the band walking RIGHT by me. They were a metre away from me. I cried.
Excuse my awful photography at that moment. I was shaking harder than Taylor Swift during Shake It Off.
They performed my favourite song of their's, The Man Who Can't Be Moved, and I was emotionally unstable all the way through it since it's very close to me for personal reasons.
As the concert was coming to an end, everyone around the stadium put their camera flashlights on and it simply looked magical, like a constellation.
(The Script's official Instagram liked my
picture of this moment the day after the concert. I'm slowly climbing up the fame ladder.)
It was the most amazing experience of my life.
Next day was a day dedicated to shopping! The only places I really wanted to visit in the city however, was Penneys (or Primark to you non-Irish folks) and Brown Thomas. The Penneys we went to was the Mary Street Penneys, aka the first ever Primark/Penneys, and is HUGE. Three floors. Don't mind me, just drooling. I bought some clothes but I can't share a picture since some of the items I bought are currently in the wash.
Of course I had to go to Brown Thomas! Brown Thomas is a department store that's only in cities in Ireland. Like I said before, I'm a country girl through and through so I never go to cities so I had to make it a mission to get to Brown Thomas. They're also the only stores in Ireland that stock Mac and I just HAD TO. As soon as we walked in I dragged Rachel over to the lipsticks. She was shocked by how many shades existed for lipstick. Oh, my simple Rachel.
I ended up purchasing the matte shade Mehr and I'm IN LOVE with it. The shade is a darkish, dirty pink (I'm awful at describing colours, bare with me) and it's just wonderful. I got a free sample of the False Lashes Extreme Black mascara with my purchase, which was a delight as I have a talent of making samples last forever.
At this point, it was getting closer to the train so our last stop was to a little burrito restaurant that I don't remember the name of because I had never tried a burrito before. Needless to say it was a very messy experience. I also didn't eat for the rest of the day as it was so filling.
(How cute is Rachel. Seriously. Cutest best friend ever.)
Finally, we went to the train station. We were really early - I like to be early, early bird catches the worm and all that - so we had our last hurrah in a truly Irish fashion over a cup of tea. Finally I caught my train home and nearly fell asleep a few times on the train but that was okay. A weekend I'll never forget. Ever.
Thanks for reading!
- Sinead
