By: Emily Maybanks
On Tuesday 20th February 2018, Irish trio The Script – consisting of Danny O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan and Glen Power – brought their energy to the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, and I found myself perfectly placed not too far away from the stage, watching their electrifying gig! Their warm-up act was Ella Eyre who got the party started with some of her original music as well as a brilliant cover of We don’t have to take our clothes off.
The Script opened their two hour concert with the famous Superheroes, where they appeared on a platform in the middle of the arena behind a large curtain. Two more high energy songs – Rock the world and Paint the town green followed, during which they moved to the main stage and showered the crowd with confetti of green paper! They continued their show with a wide variety of music from all five of their albums, going back to music from their first album with the songs The man who can’t be moved and Breakeven.
Having been a massive fan of The Script and their music since their first self-titled album was released in 2008, seeing them perform live for the first time (see what I did there? For the first time) was an incredible experience; I would say equally as brilliant as watching Bastille on the main stage at Reading Festival 2017. Highlights of the concert for me were hearing live renditions of Wonders, For the first time and Nothing. They also sang If you could see me now, a song that means a lot to me, personally. The lyrics and the story behind the song (the loss of a parent) is something that I relate to. I had tears streaming down my face during If you could see me now – it was beautiful and heart-breaking, simultaneously. Watching them perform If you could see me now, you could see how much the song means to both Danny O’Donoghue and Mark Sheehan.
Their interaction with the crowd throughout their gig was outstanding. During No man is an island, a song from their most recent album, Freedom Child, they had us playing a game they called crowd control where they asked different groups of people (i.e., the left or right hand side, or males or females) to sing parts of the song, which was a lot of fun!
The Script closed their fantastic set with Hall of fame, their duet with Will.I.Am. Before the song, they gave an empowering, motivational speech about how the world is a crazy and often scary place these days, but we can come out of the other side with a smile on our faces; the lyrics ‘you could walk straight through hell with a smile’ echo this message.
Overall, it was a brilliant evening. The Script bringing their Irish pride to the Welsh capital, with Danny O’Donoghue ending up wearing the Welsh flag around his shoulders! Their concert was electrifying and everything from the visuals on the screens around the venue, to the lights and lasers, and the endless stream of paper confetti, which I will probably be finding in my clothes and bag for weeks to come, all came together to make it an absolutely awesome and unforgettable couple of hours!
