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Concert review: A 30-something’s perspective on The Script

Singer Danny O'Donoghue aimed to please The Script's twentysomething fans. (Photo by Magic Liwanag)

I never liked The Script.

Maybe because I always consider post-boyband artist ventures suspect, at least until they reach their third hit or their second albums. Not that I feel like my tastes are better (I may be a “rock guy,” but I still think Color Me Badd was brilliant in their time, and the Backstreet Boys weren't that bad at all). It's just that those post-98 Degrees artists didn't have the flair and the catchy tunes to actually matter.

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Maybe because I see singer Danny O'Donoghue on “The Voice UK” all the time, I just took him for granted. Or maybe because his band's songs just didn't appeal to me. I like my music challenging.

I guess that's why I initially considered it a challenge to watch their concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Maybe I'll get them.

An audience of 20-somethings

When my bandmate Dax and I went to the Smart Araneta Coliseum to check the band out, the demographic was an interesting lot: teenage and twentysomething girls—some with their boyfriends in tow, guys who didn't seem like the complicated type… all young. And they filled the Coliseum.

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When The Script finally went onstage for their first song, “Good Ol' Days,” the venue turned into a sea of colorful glowsticks and a wall of sound. Or screaming. I said to my friend, “Wow, this looks intense.”

The stage design was great, the lights were dazzling. The Script was really out to put on a great show. And O'Donoghue was really out to engage the crowd, as evidenced by the sing-along bits on the social commentary “We Cry.” It's pop commentary, but then how many pop songs these days sing about something worth paying attention to?

Greatest hits

The band then proceeds to one of their greatest hits, “Breakeven.” It then occurred to me that this was a group without pretenses: they talk about relatable matters, write catchy tunes, and they were accessible.

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O'Donoghue drove this point home by swimming through the sea of fans in the audience, letting them sing along. Did “Glee” help in making their material more accessible? Possibly. But then again, why shouldn't any act make an effort to do so?

The lovefest continues

O'Donoghue and his cohorts Mark Sheehan (an old mate from the boyband Mytown) and Glen Power continued the lovefest with the introspective “Science and Faith,” another hit song with “The Man Who Can't Be Moved,” and then proceeded to slow down with “Nothing.”

With “If You Could See Me Now,” it became obvious that The Script was primarily a pop band, incorporating the catchy musical devices of the day (rap, the melodic chorus hooks). Nothing wrong with that, really. Better than singing about having money, women, and cars.

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“Talk You Down” got the crowd rowdy again. Well, as rowdy as a crowd of pleasant ladies can be, singing about a post-breakup situation. In the midst of all that, the only thought in my head was: drummer Power was really, really good. He lives up to his name, with added flair.

Bunny costumes for Easter

A hilarious turn happened when the band took a break and brought in two men dressed up as bunnies onstage, for the standard band-photo-op-with-the-crowd moment. Sheehan joked that they would beat up the bunnies if the crowd didn't join.

Of course, no one wants any bunnies getting beaten up. Especially on Easter Sunday.

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A couple more songs, and The Script ended with “For the First Time.” It definitely wasn't the band's first time here, and I doubt it will be the last. And as all good concerts go, the encore. They returned with the U2-level anthemic as Sheehan played the opening riffs of with “You Won't Feel a Thing,” sans their singer.

Good show, great visuals, engaging act

O'Donoghue appeared in somewhere in the lower box area, channeling his inner Bono as he swam through he crowd on the way to the stage. “We are a band that's with you,” they seemed to say.

They seemed to be done with their show with the empowering “Hall of Fame,” (originally done with will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas) but the crowd did not seem to have any of it. So they returned with a second encore. Strangely, it was the first song of the night, “Good Ol' Days.”

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I scratched my head, but the people did not mind at all. It was a good show, great visuals, and an engaging act. Perfect night. While I won't be going all fangirl-crazy over them anytime soon, I have to grudgingly admit that there is something to The Script.

“But of course,” a Voice (ha-ha) at the back of my head seems to say. “That's why they're big, after all.”

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed.