The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue said he is trying to learn to "love himself" after years of pretending to keep up with the rockstar image.
The singing sensation added that after being to "hell and back’" over the past few years, he is feeling more positive than ever about the future as he made an emotional return to the stage in Ireland at the weekend.
Speaking in Belfast, where the band kicked off their Ireland and UK Greatest Hits tour with two sold-out gigs at the SSE Arena, he said: “What a feeling it is to be back at these shows again.
“Looking at the whites of everybody’s eyes. What a moment. We needed it, you needed it.
“We have been through f*cking hell and back but we made it, we made it through.
“I’m not talking about Covid anymore, I’m on about having a good time and entertaining and getting drunk and singing our asses off.”
The Hall of Fame hitmaker added: “We have been staring at the same four walls, and eventually those four walls turned into a prison cell, taking us away from everything we love and everything we know.
“For years and years, I was a rockstar pretending I loved myself but I didn’t even know if I liked myself…
“I was standing looking in the mirror, I really wanted to like the person looking back at me.”
The frontman, 41, from Dublin went on to delve into his new "journey" of self discovery, as he dedicated their biggest tunes to loved ones and those who were lost during the pandemic.
“Somebody said something to me and it has been stuck in my head, she said, ‘life is too short’," he said.
“So I’m looking for something unreal. And I am going on a journey, because I want to love myself.
“Like I said before, life is too short to be dealing with bullsh*t. If you are not in the right job, if you are not in the right life, you are not with the right person, go and find it.”
Introducing Something Unreal, he went on: “This song we wrote during lockdown, it was about as soon as you get back out again, not settling for anything unless it is everything.”
“Things are finally getting back to normal, it is a new normal, but a more positive normal. We have never been more positive about the future.”
The band, made up of lead vocalist and keyboardist Danny, lead guitarist Mark Sheehan, and drummer Glen Power, were met with huge cheers throughout the weekend’s homecoming gigs, as they performed crowd pleaser hits such as ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, ‘For The First Time’ and ‘Superheroes’.
And as the group made the night even more personal, by adding acapella moments, and performing some songs from seats within the crowd, Danny admitted his ‘hair was standing at the back of his neck’ as fans lit up the packed out arena with lights on their phones and voices during the emotive gig.
The band, who sold out Croke Park in 2015, are on their return trip to Europe for their Irish and UK leg of their tour, after having just concluded a North American tour last month, in support of their Silver-certified UK and Ireland #1 greatest hits album ‘Tales From The Script’.
Due to increased demand, they have added a third and final date at 3Arena on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
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