Up Close radio gig in Edinburgh 18.11.04 - By Karen

[This was written for the message boards so please excuse the colloquial language]

Day started off wiv me driving meself out to Edinburgh and achieving the unheard of by getting myself there and NOT getting lost!!!! I woz so proud lol (as Ali will tell ye’z im BAD wiv directions/maps and roadsigns!!!).

Anyway I met Shell about 2 and we went and had a fat lunch in pizza hut lol (diet woz out the window!!!) We then went a walk to find the venue.

The Hub was a converted old church up beside Edinburgh Castle, we took a wee look inside then went for a walk around the grounds. As we walked up towards it we seen a people carrier stopping at the side door and we noticed Calum and Liam getting out. We then went a walk up to the castle and had a wee look over the wall before walking back down to the main entrance to the Hub where we stood and FROZE our asses off lol. A little while later a black merc came round the corner and I said to Shell “oh black merc, wonder if it’s him” I woz that cold I didn’t notice Anto sitting in the front of the car lol as it drove past we where like “was it him……naa” then we looked as it headed up the hill and seen sumone in the back with a Flat cap on and we where like “Ohh flat cap, its ronan” we sorta started walking up the hill but never actually moved far, Ronan got out the car and looked down towards us but with us being so cold and not wanting to run up a hill we just kinda stopped walking and turned back lol.
When Ronan got in the building we went inside to sit in the café to heat up, and we had the pleasure of hearing him soundcheck Father and Son and Way you Make Me Feel.

People started arriving about half 6ish so we started to queue. They let us in and we all headed to the hall in an orderly fashion – there woz none of the madness that occurred at Balloon Festival lol.
We got to the hall, it was all standing, but the space right infront of the barrier was kept for the question askers so we where in second row. It didn’t take long for them to get everyone organised, so with the question askers in place, us mere mortals of the audience also in place all that was left was for the man himself to take to the stage!!!

He came swaggering onto the stage looking GOOD, dressed in jeans, a khaki green t.shirt and a kinda green leather jacket, hair’s kinda spiky and launched straight into Turn it on.

The set list was

Turn It On
Lovin’ Each Day (yes he did do Here, here and HERE lol)
The Way You Make Me Feel
If Tomorrow Never Comes
When You Say Nothing At All
I Hope You Dance
Last Thing on My Mind
This is Your Song
Brown Eye Girl
Rollercoaster

After Turn it On and LED he spoke of how much he loves Glasgow (er Ro ye where in Edinburgh lol) he said how he’d not played in Edinburgh for a few years so it was good to be back as whenever he tours they only make it as far as Glasgow but he loves Glasgow and cant wait to open the tour there in a few weeks. He then said how he’s always said the best shows he does are always in Belfast and Glasgow.

During the way you make me feel he done walkabout –well if you could call it that lol it woz so small he didn’t have much room to walk about but I got another handshake lol.

He got us to sing a bit of ITNC aswell.

When James done his wee solo flute bit during WYSNAA Ro bent down to put the mic up to the flute and his t.shirt kinda went up his back a wee bit so he put his free hand on the back of his trousers, scared that they’d mabey fallen down a bit and flashing his long johns!!LOL
Ro also showed anyone in the audience who mabey doubted the strength of his voice just what he could do when he held that big note near the end of WYSNAA, his face woz goin a lovely shade of purple lol

After WYSNAA he spoke about Ten Years of Hits and thanked everyone for buying it and keeping it in the charts, then sum old women started shouting at him to move out the way so they could see Paul Turner and Ro started laughing and woz like “HAHA Ye want Paul?? Hahahaha” and stepped out the way and couldn’t stop laffing then said “God we had to get rid of Steve Jones cause this used to happen, now it’s happenin wiv Turner!!” he couldn’t stop laughing then he said “ah I forget what I was going to say about this song” and the music started up while Ro still laughed and kept turning to Paul Turner and saying “Turner” while shaking his head lol it woz hilarious but thankfully he got over his giggles to get the song sung.

After LTOMM he told us how Brian MacFadden had wanted to sing with him at the ball and how it was a great laugh and they where standing singing into each others eyes and getting right into it, in Ronan’s words “a bit too much into it” (lots of hearty chuckles from Ronan!!) then after he said that he looked thoughtful for a wee second before saying “I miss LeAnn” it was very funny and then he said “and Brian’s a great guy” and this got a huge cheer from the audience!! He then told us they raised a hundred thousand Euros at the ball before going on to sing This is Your Song.
During This is Your Song, he looked really emotional, I’ve never seen him looking as emotional as that during that song, he’s always kept his composure when I’ve seen him sing it (I know he woz emotional on the first night of the tour last year but I wasn’t there!!) anyway back to the upclose gig, his eyes totally filled up and he kept his eyes to the ceiling mostly, didn’t really have any eye contact wiv the crowd, I just wanted to hug him but the performance was absolutely AMAZING as usual.

After TIYS he said “and now it’s time to dance” before going on to ask if anyone had been to any of the shows and how he always does this song as it’s a great crowd pleaser and also a chance to show some respect to Van Morrison. He forgot some of the words during Brown Eyed Girl and was laughing at himself again.

After BEG he thanked the radio stations for hosting the gig and playing all his songs over the past ten years and then said “Where would we b wit’ out Radio…………..DEAF!” then thanked the royal bank of Scotland and said “Thanks for the loan to buy me last house!!!”

For Rollercoaster he got us all to sing a good bit of the song, and the crowd where really really loud considering there woz only 250 as we sung “I need youuuu” he replied wiv “yeah”
And then we’d sing “so stop hiding” and he smiled and said cheekily “NO!!” lol

Then all too soon he’d finished his set and it was time to answer all the questions from the crowd. I cant remember them all, he was asked about walk Ireland and said how he’s doing it again this year and it’s hard trying to think of things to keep the general public interested.
Someone’s Question was “you seem like a pretty clean living guy, have you any hidden vices” and he laughed and smelled under his own arms and said “im not very clean tonight!!!” then went onto say that he’s just a normal guy and his only vice is that wit’ being irish he likes a drink and then said “a bit like you scots, we like our drink”
One of the questions was about does he see himself as being a manager of a band in the future (or words to that effect) and he said no hes not a manager but he does take an interest in up and coming new artists and that he’s actually working with a girl from Manchester who he’s been watching lately.
He was asked about if he’ll ever do a ratpack or country album and he said no he wont do ratpack and that he loves the country ballads the most, but that hes going to go to Nashville and hopfully work some more with Leann and he’s going to write another “Ronan” album, a good pop album.
Er……………cant remember much else about the question and answer session.

After he’d answered the questions the DJ who was hosting it said to the crowd “Are you all ready to go home yet” to which we all shouted “NO” and he said “do you think we might be able to persuade Ronan to do another song and again we all cheered YES and Ronan shook his head and said “No ye won’t have to persuade me I’d luv to” so then the band and Jo all came back on stage and he sung Father and Son and OMFG it was amazing!!! His voice was outstanding!!! Ye know how on the album he makes his voice change well he does that live too, it’s fab!! At one point he turned round to Calum and woz like “They know it better than me” and pointed to the crowd.
After Father and Son he introduced the band, calling Jo, “Aunty Josephine” in a very irish voice lol and James had everyone in stitches, Ronan couldn’t stop laughing at him and neither could Liam.
Then he said he was going to do something he doesn’t normally do and end the show on a boyzone track and proceeded to sing Baby Can I hold you and that was absolutely beautiful live.

And then it was all over but not before he’d mentioned kicking off the tour in Glasgow on the 10th and 11th of December and that he’d see us all there!!

It was a FANTASTIC night and all that I can say is BRING ON THE TOUR!!!!