SOME hardy souls, had spent the entire afternoon queuing in the cold outside the Arena to see the Script, who were not due on until just before nine.
But these super-fans were rewarded handsomely when lead singer Danny O'Donoghue headed off stage during the first number and down to the front rows to get help with the "ooo-oo" section of vocals on Good Ol' Days.
He was back there again for the next up, We Cry, meeting and greeting and allowing the rest of the packed venue to be subjected to some variable standards of singing as he shared the microphone.
Moments earlier, this sizzling show had started most profoundly with reflections from the astronomer Carl Sagan."The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena," The voice-over declared before O'Donoghue, who also appears as a judge on BBC One show The Voice UK, and band-mates Mark Sheehan and Glen Power burst on to stage.
The enormously popular Breakeven, from their self-titled 2008 debut album, was third up and was enough to get vast sections of the seated areas on to their feet.
An elongated introduction, with more than a hint of U2, preceded Science & Faith, the title track from their second No 1 album. And then we were into whole-arena sing-along mode for The Man Who Can't Be Moved.
O'Donoghue seemed genuinely blown away by the crowd's reaction to this one, so much so that he took a seat on the front of the stage to soak in the adoration for a few moments. "See, that's why we come to Nottingham. Right there. An incredible moment," he declared.
And if he was feeling emotional then, it was tweaked up several notches as the band launched into If You Could See Me Now, off their third album, appropriately titled #3.
This, their latest single, a tribute to O'Donoghue's late father and guitarist Sheehan's late parents, was wrought with emotion.
After rattling through Before The Worst, Sheehan was back to form happily sharing anecdotes of a "messy" night out in Nottingham the night before the gig.
The fun kept on coming, with the inevitable Twitpic posed for with an ironing board O'Donoghue had allegedly stolen from the hotel.
And then O'Donoghue was getting an audience member to ring her ex before borrowing her mobile to sing 'Nothing' down the line to a presumably bemused 'Connor'.
"He hung up on me twice, so I called him back," O'Donoghue laughed.
This was entertaining stuff and the best was yet to come with Six Degrees of Separation and For The First Time taking us towards the encore.
And after deafening demands for the trio to return, O'Donoghue surprised everyone by appearing up in the enraptured stands to belt out You Won't Feel A Thing.
More touchy-feely moments accompanied his walk back to the stage for the predictable, but barnstorming, finale, Hall Of Fame, their collaboration with Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am and their only No.1 single.
Source: Nottingham Post / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net / Getty
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