After two long years, I finally got to enjoy live music in a packed-out venue.
Last weekend saw the return of the annual Country to Country music festival after a two-year delay. It sees Nashville’s biggest stars cross the Atlantic for a three-night showcase of country music.
Having attended every festival since it first came to Dublin’s in 2014, this year was the one I was most excited about.
Not just because of the incredible line-up - which included Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert and Kip Moore - but because for me, it was my first concert in well over two years.
The rare excitement of hearing high-calibre country music in Ireland was tangible among fans who travelled from across Ireland and beyond over the weekend.
The festival is ever-growing in popularity, which was highlighted by sell-out crowds.
Live music is among the things I missed most during Ireland’s several Covid lockdowns.
The gigs came just two weeks after Ireland officially dropped all Covid restrictions and I was left surprised by a number of things - in particular, the one remaining Covid rule in the 3Arena.
As a Covid protocol, the venue is completely cashless.
A post on its website reads: “For the health and safety of our staff and customers, we are now cashless at all our bars and shops.”
Many people, including myself, were left surprised at the rule after bringing sums of cash into the venue.
In terms of face masks, the venue says: “There is no longer a government requirement to wear masks at indoor events. It is entirely your choice if you would like to wear a mask on your next visit to the 3Arena.”
For this concert, the majority of attendees chose not to wear masks. It felt great to see the bottom half of a stranger's faces for the first time in over 18 months, and to see their joy and excitement at the live music.
Another surprising, yet heart-warming thing I noticed, was some of the performing acts meeting and greeting attendees in the crowd. I spotted several acts reach out across barriers, put their arms around fans and pose for pictures.
I had expected some hesitancy as the Covid pandemic is not over.
The last and final surprising thing I experienced was the hassle of getting home.
Ahead of the concert, myself and my pal downloaded every taxi app possible on our phones, as well as taking cash in case we flagged one down on the street.
Despite this, we had extreme bother getting one to accept the fare on the app, or pulling over as we flagged them down across the three nights.
Saturday night in particular saw storm-like conditions as we exited the venue around 11.30pm. During our long and wet walk home, several taxis accepted our requests before cancelling just a few minutes later - while another we flagged down told us our €20 fare “wasn’t worth his while”.
Another option for some is public transport, with a Luas right outside the 3Arena. However, on Sunday night it stopped early due to essential engineering works being carried out on the Red Line, which left many concertgoers regretfully having to leave the venue early to catch the last tram home, missing over 30 minutes of the concert.
Despite the difficulty getting home, I'm already counting down the days until my next concert and next year’s Country to Country festival!
