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Probably my final show for this year and yet another fantastic performance, but for differing reasons. The band normally play The Point, but this is under redevelopment, so the Aussies were in the Main Hall of the RDS Arena. Not the best venue I have seen them at, as it's nothing more than a hanger! Due to the size and I suspect the limitations of the roof, it was a very cut down stage set too. There was no semicircular screen at the rear, or circular 'Mr Screen' in front of this, instead we had a plain rectangular screen at the back and about half the normal sized speaker stacks, positioned left and right of the stage, as opposed to being suspended from the ceiling. OK if you were at the front, but possibly not so good for those at the rear, as the sound would not have been projected quite as well. However, I must have been in a sweet spot, as the sound was perfect from where I was sat and about the best this year!

The show had a bit of a faltering start, due to a lot of intrusive light from open doors and bright illuminated signs around the hall. Plus a lot of the crowd were still in the bar (I love the Irish!), so there was a lot of movement as people squeezed into their seats during In The Flesh. Not quite the explosive impact of normal show starts, but the intrusive lighting was quickly dealt with and once all had their pints and a seat, the show started in earnest.

This was a great night however and what the venue restricted the band from providing, the crowd more than compensated for by their response(probably helped along by the beer!). It was a very lively evening with thunderous applause at virtually the start and end of each song. Ola and Amy received the loudest and most enthusiastic ovation I have heard for TGGITS - clearly still a real crowd pleaser (but I thought Ola was not quite at her best tonight? - which is still way better than most!).

Anyway, by this point in the show everyone was thouroughly warmed up and we had singing, clapping and dancing!!! Yep, dancing..... I am still grinning now at the memory - just off to stage right was an open area which afforded access to the bars and a group that had gathered during One Of These Days were going for it. There is something infectious about seeing people having a good time and the cavorting of one particular guy was something to behold! We even had dancing through Comfy, which is something I have never seen before. Wonderful stuff...... I did take a video clip on my phone, but have yet to view it - if it's any good, I will add it later on.

So, in short a truly memorable night and the 3 guys I took along were suitably amazed. 2 were Aussiefloyd virgins and are already talking about The Point next year. I think everyone there had a great time, including the band. The venue staff were all very relaxed too, a huge difference to most of the camera/fun Nazis we have here in the UK?

Other little inclusions/omissions were no skippy during OOTD, but we did have the Pig half on, half off, an elevated balcony to stage right (again quite a funny sight). During Time the band changed the lyric to "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the Irish way" which as you can imagine really pleased a well oiled Irish crowd! Jason didn't do the 'Bruce & Sheila' intros either, instead we had a story about their past appearances in Ireland - he also seemed very chilled and relaxed, which I interpreted as them having a good time. And finally the glitter ball was raised from the stage, as opposed to being lowered at the end of Comfy.

So for me this was a truly fantastic night and a fitting end to this years shows (unless I can squeeze another in  ) The crowd more than made up for the sparse venue and looking around the audience at the smiling faces was a sight to see. Thanks to all for making the legend live on - long may it last........ and here's to The Point next year?




GG

PS. I have the above for you Mike, compliments of Gareth.

I agree the RDS was not a great place for the gig, however the lads made the most of a bad situation. nice to hear jason tell us about their time on pat kenny show > irelands biggest bore, roll on 09 and get back to the point.

Having been at The Point in 2006 and 2007 Dublin RDS wasn't at the top of my must see list this year.
      If The Point is up and running in time for next years tour then I very much look forward to being there.
      I highly recommend a trip over to Dublin to see the Aussies to everybody who might read this post.
          Fan Convention 2009 maybe ?

Agree with the other guys about the venue, wasn't great. But the band were great as usual. The crowd were really slow coming back after the interval. I must be getting older, but the concert seems to be going quicker very year and it seemed like no time at all when they were playing Comfortably Numb. It was great to hear some stuff I'd never heard before like The Thin Ice, Goodbye Blue Sky and Empty Spaces, but could've done without Keep Talking and Learning to Fly (thats only a small gripe)

I understand the Point will be available next year, as the renovations will be completed by the end of year.

GG said it all.. great show but not the best of venues.

We had a great time in Dublin and managed aftershow passes thanks to Mike Kidson. We kinda sneaked our way into RDS mid-afternoon while they were still setting up. We ran into a TAPFS stagehand across the street at an ATM machine and we accosted, I mean, asked if he could kindly escort us inside where we found Mike who was quiet surprised to see us. After a short chat with him, Ian and Damian, we got our passes and were off to return for the show later. I don't know how we managed to get 3rd row seats from Ticketbastards but there we were seated between Steve and Colin. After the intermission, we moved to empty seats in the front row right in front of Steve Mac. I can't believe security didn't check our seat assignments.

The show seemed to go by too fast and we really enjoyed the aftershow chatting with everybody. I finally got to meet Steve this time around. Looks like I'll have to catch up with Colin next time we're across the pond... because as we told the band, you'll never know where we'll show up!

Scott and Terri