The Script have had a busy year, with a couple of supporting tours, and now hit the road again on their ‘Man In The Arena’ tour. As usual, they put on a show. Boy, do they put on a show! With several visually striking sets, it never gets boring watching this superb and very tight band. In Danny O’Donoghue, they have a consummate showman as their lead vocalist.

They come out firing on all cylinders with ‘Hall Of Fame’ and never really take their feet off the pedal. Songs like ‘After We’re Gone’, ‘Grow Old With Grace’, ‘Man in the Arena’, ‘Scars Align’ and ‘The Crowd Was Singing Wonderwall’, from the new album ‘The User’s Guide To Being Human’, fit into an arena concert very nicely. They are big, bold crowd participation songs that add to their impressive live catalogue.

At one point, O’Donoghue did his usual disappearing act, only to reappear in the crowd, this time at the side, complete with a small keyboard, with everyone clambering to get a selfie. Always a nice touch! Then, hey presto, he was back on stage. At one point, he was attached to a harness and subsequently performed some very impressive running and floating moves. Visually stunning!

But they weren’t finished yet and treated us to a nine-song medley. A nice idea, with an emotional version of ‘If You Could See Me Now’ and the massive ‘Superheroes’. They left the stage, and we didn’t have to wait too long for the encore: the aforementioned ‘Scars Align’, ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, finishing with ‘Breakeven’.

They finished as strongly as they started. You would expect Danny’s voice to be a little weary, but it was strong and clear to the end. It’s amazing just how consistent this band of brothers are. On stage, they take some beating, and they’re not too shabby on recording either. Cracking band, cracking night.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe