The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue has revealed playing Croke Park is extremely personal to him – after his dad used to sell sandwiches from a pram outside.
The Dubliner was devastated when beloved father Shay dropped dead in February 2008 from a stomach aneurysm at the age of 63.
And Danny told Goss.ie how he wishes his father was still alive to come back to his former place of work.
He said: “I called my mum to say we’re playing Croke Park, and she said: ‘That’s amazing. You know your father used to sell sandwiches outside Croke Park’.
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“He had one of those little trollies that he put them all in, he put them in a pram, and he brought the sandwiches down for people coming in and out of the GAA matches.
“It would have been amazing if he was here to hear the news and see this. So it will be a very special gig, because we all have our own special links to this place from growing up.”
Meanwhile, Danny told Goss.ie that he won’t be nervous coming on stage at Croker on June 20, as The Script are such a better band than when they last played a massive show – the Aviva with 50,000 people.
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“Are there nerves at this stage? We always try to progress the band on. We were incredibly nervous before doing the Aviva show,” he explained.
“And just looking at us being a band as an outsider, we are better. We’re now five years down the line. We have two extra albums since then.
“We didn’t even have songs like Hall Of Fame or Superheroes, so I can just imagine what the Aviva would have been like with that. Now, I don’t even have to, because I have Croke Park.
“I think the electricity that I get from performing in front of a crowd is just phenomenal – and it’s not just any crowd, this is our hometown.”
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And Danny admits that while The Script have had some amazing experiences, nothing will compare to Croke Park for them.
He told Goss.ie: “Croke Park was always on the top of our list. Even growing up, I don’t think for us we would feel that we were any good unless at some point in our career we had played Croke Park.
“That’s a pride thing, that’s me coming from Dublin, Ireland saying that I want to play our national stadium.
“It’s a bit of a selfish thing but as soon as I come off that stage I will scream, ‘Yes! That’s another thing off the bucket list.'”
