You’ve got to hand it to The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue — when he steps on stage, he commits.
Kicking off the band’s Saturday night set at Isle of Wight Festival, the frontman strolled out onto the Main Stage in a pair of dark sunglasses, soaking up the crowd’s screams like a rockstar who’s been here a hundred times — because, well, he has.
But what looked like your standard ‘I’m-famous-and-it’s-sunny’ moment turned into something else entirely when Danny whipped the sunnies off just a few bars into the opening track to reveal a sizeable black eye. Cue the collective gasp.
“I was sparring last night at the pub,” he told the crowd with a smirk, brushing it off like it was nothing. Classic Danny — turns up, takes a hit, and still puts on a slick, high-energy set like it’s business as usual. Whether or not the “sparring” excuse is code for something a bit more rock’n’roll, we’ll leave to the rumour mill, but the commitment to the bit was impressive.
And from that moment on, the energy didn’t let up. Not one jolt. The Script rolled through a hits-packed set that had the entire field shouting every word back at them — black eye or not. ‘Breakeven’, ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, and ‘Hall of Fame’ all hit hard, but it was Danny’s obvious love for the stage — shiner and all — that gave the whole thing a bit of extra grit.
There’s always been something polished about The Script, maybe too polished for some, but on Saturday night, there was a messier, more human edge to it. A bruise on your face and a mic in your hand tends to do that.
Props to Danny for not only turning up looking like he just stepped out of a pub scrap, but for still delivering a set worthy of the headline slot. Battered, sure — but not even close to broken.
