It’s Saturday night. It’s October 30th 1999 and “The Boys are Back in Town” plays through the PA in the famous Olympia Theatre. Backstage, last minute checks are done and finally a red light goes on and the tapes start to roll and the sold out audience cheer. In this instance, the boys are most definitely back in town. On the crest of a huge wave, the previous 12 months had seen PictureHouse thrust onto the national and international stage. Sunburst had been one of the most played songs on Irish radio for 15 months, Karmarama, the top ten album had been out a year and spawned a string of radio and chart hits. This had most definitely been their year.
3 national headline tours wedged between arena and stadium support tours with the likes of The Corrs and Meatloaf alongside an endless array of festivals meant they had played to a million people in 12 short months. 150 shows, millions of miles, 5 band members, 3 crew and a van called Flash.
Tonight’s show is just that. A band who know what they want and how to go about getting it. A band at their best. You might have been there, you can be now. Either way whilst we still can’t be together in person we can at least remember the good times. And yes, they were good.
—
Features the bands hit singles Sunburst, Somebody Somewhere, Heavenly Day, The World and his Dog, All The Time in The World and 1700 fans singing along.