Photos and review by Zachary Coleman
When thinking of bands from Ireland, you may think of U2, the Cranberries, or even Snow Patrol. However, the band that immediately comes to mind for me is The Script. The Script was formed in 2001 in the capital city of Ireland, Dublin. The band started out as a trio consisting of singer Danny O’Donoghue, drummer Glen Power, and guitarist Mark Sheehan. The band released their debut self-titled album on August 8, 2008, consisting of hit singles “Breakeven” and “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.” After their successful debut, multiple hit singles, and five more full-length albums, the band suffered a tragedy on April 14, 2023. Lead Guitarist, Mark Sheehan, suddenly passed away due to a brief illness. After the unexpected passing away of their guitarist and friend, the band continued touring and eventually went back into the studio to record a brand new full-length album. That album is called “Satellites,” and it was released on August 16, 2024. This is the first full-length album by The Script to feature guitarist Ben Weaver and long-time touring bassist Benjamin Sargeant. The band went on to say they did not feel right carrying on as a trio without Sheehan. Therefore, they decided to carry on as a four-piece band for future releases and tours.
Leading up to the album release, The Script had an extended stay in Toronto starting on August 14, 2024, opening for P!nk on her Summer Carnival Tour at the home of the Blue Jays, Rogers Centre Stadium. The next day, the band announced they’d be playing a surprise pop-up acoustic set at PJ O’Briens Irish Pub to celebrate the new album coming out at midnight. The pub was packed full of people well before it was time for the band to give their 20-minute performance. So much so that people gathered in a crowd in the street just to hear the band play some of their hits, such as “For the First Time” and “Hall of Fame,” in their acoustic renditions. You’d think that would be all the surprises The Script has in store, but it was not. On the afternoon of their album release day, the band played another surprise acoustic pop-up event at Sonic Boom Records after being told by the city they could not perform at Bellevue Square Park due to city regulations. After a couple of surprises for the city of Toronto, it was time for the band’s album release show at History.
The line to get into History was wrapped around the building. It took almost the full hour to get everyone inside the venue in time for the opener, Tyler Shaw. Tyler Shaw is a Canadian singer and actor with three full-length studio albums and a Christmas album. Tyler Shaw knew how to work the crowd by striking poses and being an all-around fantastic entertainer. The crowd knew and sang some of his more popular songs, like his hit “To The Man Who Let Her Go.” Tyler played a total of eight songs in a 30-minute set, warming up the crowd for The Script. Tyler did his job so effortlessly like he has been performing his entire life. He truly left his mark on the audience that Friday evening. The anticipation starts to build for The Script as the crowd waits another 30 minutes for the Irish band to come on stage.
The Script came out to an extended intro for their smash hit “Superheroes,” and the crowd screamed back every word. Immediately, you feel the energy change in the room. This is not a normal North American crowd for the band. This night was something special, and not just because the band had just released their first album in almost five years that day. The band continues their set and goes into the first single off the new record, “Both Ways.” The crowd welcomed the rock/dance single with open arms. What a way to kick off the band’s album release show, and the evening was only getting started. After a couple more songs, the band played one of the songs the entire crowd was waiting for, “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.” You always feel the energy shift when a band plays one of their older songs, but an already loud crowd seemed to only get louder screaming every word back to the band. After the song played, the band was interrupted by thunderous applause from the crowd that lasted minutes. The singer, Danny O’Donoghue, was left speechless.
The next song was the emotional climax of the night as the band introduced their song. “If You Could See Me Now” by telling the original story behind the song and what the song means to the band now. Originally, the song's first verse was written about Danny’s parents passing away on Valentine’s Day, ten years apart from each other. The second verse was written by late guitarist Mark Sheehan about his parents passing away. However, now the song is more about Mark Sheehan looking down on the band performing the song for him. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room as this story was being told. One line from the song comes to mind while I reminisce of Danny telling the story. “Take that rage, put it on a page, take the page to the stage, and blow the roof off the place.” It’s a pretty accurate line for The Script and also what happened at History that evening.
The band continued their set, performing at least one song off every album they released, including “Before the Worst,” which was probably the first song the band as we know it wrote together, as the drummer, Glen Power, explained. After the song ended, Danny asked the crowd if anyone wanted to call their ex-significant other and give him the phone as he sang the song “Nothing” to them. One girl in the crowd happily obliged and called her ex. Danny sang to the ex for the entire song and ended the song stating that the ex-boyfriend was “left with Nothing” and then hung up the phone. The band then went into their song “Paint the Town Green,” which they stated was their “National Anthem.” During the bridge, each member had their own drum set, and the entire room was jumping the entire song. The band slowed things down with the second single off their new record and a personal favorite of mine, “At Your Feet.” After the song ended, the band started talking about how Ireland used to be a land full of poverty and very little wealth and then started singing the chorus to their hit “For the First Time.” As the song was ending, the band departed the stage. However, the crowd didn’t start chanting the usual “one more song,” rather they just sang the bridge of the song, “Oh, these times are hard. Yeah, they’re making us crazy. Don’t give up on me, baby” over and over again until the band came back out for their encore.
The band came out with a brand new song from “Satellites” called “Home Is Where the Hurt Is” making it the song’s live debut to a concert audience. If there was a place to debut a song most people hadn’t heard before that day, I would say this was the crowd to do it for. Even though not many people knew the words by heart yet, everyone in the room was dancing to the new song. Then, the moment everyone in the room was waiting for. The band started playing the opening chords to the song everyone wanted to hear, “Breakeven.” The band was again interrupted with deafening applause from the crowd. After the song ended, Danny made the crowd aware the next song would be their last of the night. He then asked for the lights to be turned off and for the crowd to light up the stage because the audience was “the real show of the night.” The band’s final song of the night was none other than “Hall of Fame.” The lead single from the band’s album “#3.” After the show ended, the band stayed on stage, and Danny started talking about how their new album, “Satellites,” had been released that day and how grateful they would be if everyone had given the album a listen.
One takeaway I took from the entire concert was how grateful the entire band was to be playing in that room for that audience. Danny and the rest of the band could not stop smiling and dancing the entire evening. There were a couple of moments through the night where Danny completely lost track of where they were in the setlist and needed to double-check just because he was completely lost in the moment of the night. It is heartwarming to see a band with such a huge following around the world be so down-to-earth and thankful. The band could have relaxed between their shows with P!nk and their headliner at History, but instead, they brought attention to a small local Irish pub and record store while promoting their new album. The Script was one of the first bands I ever bought all the CDs for and dove into when their album “#3” was released. They are also probably one of the few bands I still listen to from my childhood that I still absolutely love and adore. It’s nice knowing that after everything this band has been through that they are still so thankful, down to earth, and never forgot where they came from in the first place. It’s an inspiring and heartfelt way to live. The band’s new album “Satellites” is out now and can be streamed or bought wherever you listen to music.
