The band looked really happy and totally relaxed from the very beginning. You could feel right away they are having fun as much as the audience on every single song. I have never seen Jon as happy on any of my previous shows. He was throwing smiles all over the place. The show started with typical line up, with the first surprise being Just Older. I’ve never heard this one before and I love that song. The crowd was going crazy on all big hits. They were really amazing. Everybody sang and knew the lyrics. Maybe it was just like that in GC, I don’t know. But I was surrounded by true die-hards I think and it was a pleasure to be with them on those nights. First song of my request list was LTOR. I have said it million times over here that I love The Circle and finally I was able to hear this one live. It is such a great song with such a great message. The one some people seem to forget about nowadays or just pretend they don’t need it. This is by the way my wife’s fav song of TC so she got her reward really quickly.
And then Jon went out to the circle for WWWB. Another track of TC. I don’t care what others think, I love it, and even though I heard it before last year I didn’t mind getting that again. The best part of it is that we were so close to him. I could almost look straight in to his eyes. I took loads of close up photos during that song. And then he went into BOR, our fav ballad. Again, we heard it twice last year but I will never get bored with it. And then came one of the most magical moments for me. The one I defended so much over here during Richie’s absence. If there’s anything that made BJ such a huge band in the world, for sure it’s the bond between Jon and Richie. Those two are inseparable. They are like heart and soul of the band. You take out any of them and you don’t see the same band. And when Jon asked Richie to join him on the circle, the whole crowd went nuts. When Richie was on his way toward Jon, he was given such an amazing ovation, it was unbelievable. I know that they could get away with the shows without Richie in US, but in Europe Richie holds a huge part in fans’ hearts. He’s as important as Jon I think. And because of that whole issue with his absence, when they started IBTFY, it felt so special to me. I saw 2 brothers again on stage. Stronger than ever. Even though I have seen it last year too, this time it was special again. His absence made me and many of us realize how important his role is in this band. Magic between them is not ordinary and we should always enjoy every second of it.
Another amazing part of the show for me was SIBSN. I think it was Brian who said that and I have to admit, that people in Ireland just like in the UK go absolutely crazy on this one. Everyone was shouting the lyrics. It was unbelievable. And also it was the first time I got electric version of it which was truly amazing.
When they started HAND I knew we are getting closer to the end of the main set. My heart was beating like Kalashnikov at that point as we were getting closer and closer to the start of the encore. But there was one big song before that – my song of hope – KTF. As always, I handed the camera to my wife to film it and I just focused on the song itself. This is always a moment for me. And this particular performance was the one I needed the most. Richie was doing unbelievable things on the solos in it as always. There he was. The man who I waited to hear the most, playing those notes of hope for me, to soothe my pain and prepare myself for the most crucial part of the trip. During his solo I looked up in the sky I whispered in my mind “Hey God, let this be THE MOMENT. Please, don’t tease me with me anymore. You heard me when I called for Richie’s health, you heard me when I called for my wife to go with me, and you answered all my prayers. Please listen to this one last call, and don’t make me wait until tomorrow or longer. I need it now. I have kept that faith long enough, don’t you think?”…and that’s how the main set closed and the band went off stage.
And there I was again, waiting, like on all my previous shows at the beginning of the encores, waiting for that first chords played by David. The band started to go back on stage and I thought that I saw Richie with THE guitar in his hands. I looked at my wife and said to her “ Yes, that’s THE guitar…” but still it could be Always or anything else. And then it started….I was holding my camera just like with TD at the O2 and when David started playing the intro, when everyone was quiet waiting for the song, just like last year I shouted from the bottom of my soul – “YEEAAAHHH! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!” Finally, after all those years I can finally hear it live. I handed the camera to my wife as I did for TD at the O2 and she recorded the whole song (I am eternally grateful for that to her). I needed to focus only on the song and forget about recording for those few minutes. And instantly tears started filling in my eyes. I realized the chase is over. The dream was in my hands. I paid a huge price to get this, mentally, but it all has paid off. “It was like my soul’s on fire and I had to watch the flames, All my dreams went up in ashes and my future blew away…” - that’s what I felt few years ago as I was leaving Dublin. But as the song moved forward, I felt like those demons of my Dublin past are being “washed from off my SOUL”. It was my catharsis. And ironically it was all happening in the same city that killed me once, now I started to raise up like Phoenix from the ashes. Every time I watched videos of DC on YT I wanted to hear those intro solo harmonies, I think they are absolutely amazing. If Bobby is there for any reason for sure that’s the one reason I would keep him on the tour. That intro on 2 guitars sounds brilliant and I am surprised that they didn’t put that on the record originally, but that’s the beauty of live performances, you can add something different into the songs and give them new life. Throughout the whole song my throat was blocked and I couldn’t sing at all, I was just silently whispering all the lyrics with tears in my eyes. But top of my emotional explosion came when the main solo started. The only thing I could do was to scream “Richie!” with my throat half blocked. And in a flashback I became that 12 year old kid again, the one with his KTF cassette in his walkman, with headphones on and volume set to the max, when track #7 was played, when the wind blows in the background and Tico’s drums are accelerating, leading to the main solo by Richie. That little boy dreamt about the moment of seeing that band one day and hearing that solo live someday. And there I was, almost 20 years later, listening how my guitar hero is playing it in front of my eyes. It was amazing. Of course Richie nailed it. It is only Richie that can do justice to this solo. I can’t find the words to describe the emotions that were in me. This was perfection. This was better than I imagined it. And of course there was one more thing that showed up in front of my eyes – our little Natalie. I saw those big brown eyes and that cute smile of hers, and I realized all of that sacrifice did not go for nothing. Her crazy father just caught his biggest dream that made him the happiest man on earth. And if there’s something I will pass to her, for sure that would be following her dreams no matter the cost. Set your goals and do everything that you can do to reach them. For sure there will be bumps on the way and people who will try to put you off course, but if you stick to your own beliefs, there’s no force in the world that will be able to stop you. And the harder that path will be, the sweeter satisfaction and reward will be. And I am a living proof for that. So here it is:

DRY COUNTY -
After DC, they played Wanted which again was magical just like IBTFY, with Jon and Richie standing there side by side, right where they both belong. And just when I thought it can’t get any better than that, they started playing TD. My BJ Trinity was complete. In one show I got to hear my all 3 fav songs. I was in Heaven here on earth. It was perfect. But I knew it can’t be over because there was no Prayer yet. And when they came back, Tico started the beat and there it was, another one from my all time TOP 10 I haven’t heard – Always. I love that song but when I saw on YT the solos Richie’s doing in it, I wanted to hear it live even more. And he nailed them perfectly, especially the outro solo was amazing. He was totally on fire that night. On one night I heard two songs where he shines the brightest with his amazing guitar solos – DC and Always. When Prayer went on the whole crowd went absolutely wild. Jon was amazed with crowd reaction. You could see it in his eyes he was truly touched. The show was almost 3 hours long and the band left their hearts out on the stage that night for sure. And so did the crowd. And me, well, I couldn’t feel my arms from holding up the camera all the time recording videos and taking photos above people’s hands, I couldn’t feel my throat from singing, I couldn’t feel my back, I couldn’t feel my legs, but my soul was healthier than ever before. That was without a doubt my fav show of them all. Nothing short of magic. A night I will remember for the rest of my life.

The next day in the morning we called home on Skype and sang Happy Birthday to Natalie. She couldn’t recognize our voices clearly but we needed to do this for her and for ourselves. That’s the least we could do, since we couldn’t be with her on the day of her birth. 2 years, time flies, I remember that day like it was yesterday. The day that changed my life forever. And I promised myself that for the first and the last time in my life we are not together on this day, unless she decides otherwise, maybe to chase her own dreams.