Coldplay fans from all across the country descended upon Croke Park last night to sing along with one of the most popular bands of the last 20 years.
The band are bringing their Music of the Spheres World Tour to the iconic Dublin venue for four nights, starting last night, Thursday, August 29.
Even still, many fans were left disappointed when the tickets for all four nights were quickly sold out.
Determined not to miss out, several Irish fans decided to hunt for tickets abroad.
One such group were Síle Casey from Spink, her daughter, Catherine McDonald, and family friend, Eabha Dooley from Abbeyleix.
The Laois trio managed to snap up tickets to see the British band in Vienna, Austria.
“I couldn’t get tickets for Dublin, but I found tickets for Vienna,” Síle told LaoisToday.
“We couldn’t even get flights into Vienna; we had to fly into Budapest and get the train down to Vienna. We arrived late Saturday evening, had a shower, had dinner and went to bed.
“We arrived early enough to the stadium on Sunday, and luckily enough, when we got in we got right to the barrier – there was no big pushing or shoving, everyone was very nice and calm.
“We were standing in the sun all day, and it was 31 or 32 degrees out there.”
The girls’ long wait in the sun had not gone unnoticed, nor had Catherine and Eabha’s colourful bucket hats.
“They’re two quiet girls, 14 years-old, just enjoying the concert,” Síle continued.
“And the then in the middle of the concert the camera just came to them, put them up on the screen and zoomed in on them.
“Then Chris Martin started talking away to to them – and then he sang a little song about them.”
Martin’s off-the-cuff tune thanked the girls “for standing in the sun all those hours” but were “safe under their hats of bananas and flowers.”
Síle says it was Martin himself who pointed out the group a short while before the once-in-a-lifetime interaction.
The Spink native reached out to Coldplay Facebook group, where she was sent a video of the song by a girl in the crowd from Slovenia.
Coldplay played four nights in Vienna’s Ernst-Happel-Stadion before flying into Ireland.
The four concerts in Dublin will mark the end of the European leg of the tour, with the band’s Music of the Spheres World Tour coming to a conclusion later this year in Australia and New Zealand.
Check out the video below:
SEE ALSO – Column: Looking at how the rest of the Leinster counties run their senior football championships