Well, we thought this day would never come, The Halls as it’s known now, ex Civic Hall, has been shut for seven years due to renovation, with many problems along the way. It’s the largest local venue to us and it used to be great. Opening this week with Blur, tonight we have one of a couple of warm-up dates for The Script for their upcoming support slots for the Pink stadium tour.

The Script have had their own problems, with the untimely death of their co-founder and close friend Mark Sheehan, which has really affected them a lot. They couldn’t hide their emotions and shared their feelings with the sold-out crowd, both from conversation to the fans, who they refer to as the Script family, and a couple of acoustic numbers played by Danny O’Donoghue and Glen Power, on the edge of the stage. ‘Arms Open’ and ‘If You See Me Now’, a very emotional sight, but they didn’t let it get too depressive when they followed this by ‘Paint The Town Green’ as a tribute to their native Ireland, which included them jumping down in the pit. Glen Power donning a over the shoulder drum and Danny, with a small tambourine thing, marching around teasing the crowd, who lapped it up.

Yes the hits were there – ‘Superheroes’, ‘Rain’, ‘Talk You Down’, ‘Breakeven’ – throw in a massive sing along ‘Six Degrees Of Separation’, before too quickly for those attending tonight finishing with ‘Hall Of Fame’, which we thought would blow the newly renovated Halls roof off. We must admit that we have seen them sharper but that’s what warm up gigs are for surely, and we would guess they will be firing on all cylinders on the Pink tour, not that anyone here tonight probably noticed anyway.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe