On the 8th of July, The Dubliners were the special guests at the 'Turnhoutse Vrijdagen, a music event that takes place during the summer holidays in Turnhout, Belgium. As many other fans, we arrived pretty early in Turnhout, awaiting the concert we sat oneself on a terrace, with a fresh drink. It was nice to see that not only Belgium was well represented that day, because people came from everywhere to see The Dubliners performance, from The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, ...
Suddenly, we saw John entering the stage, rapidly I took my camera and went to the stage. But as I arrived, he had already been gone. Yet, patience is and remains a beautiful virtue. So a couple of minutes later it was Patsy's turn. As for that moment, I was the only one standing there, I yelled at Patsy, 'Patsy, can I please take a picture of you?'. Kind as he is, he posed specially for me and I took a beautiful picture. It didn't took very long before other enthousiastic fans saw what was happening on the stage, and they gathered in front of it - because it was time for The Dubliners soundcheck! So one by one, they appeared on the stage. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to watch them doing their soundcheck. I don't think I only speak for myself when I say that it is a totally different experience than when you see them perform during their concert. For me, I knew it was the start of an evening I will never forget. 20 minutes later... the soundcheck had ended.
It was time for the Cluricauns to do their thing. During their performance I saw Barney walking between the public. I thought to myself, this is my chance! I went to see him, and told him how much I loved his song "I wish", which he had sung in The Royal Circus in Brussels 2 years ago. He said to me '"I wish I had someone to love me"? Did you like the song? Well, I will sing it tonight specially for you!". I was totally overwhelmed that he was going to do that. My mom, who had followed me, asked Barney for a kiss, and he was happy to give it to her. That time, I knew it was going to be a night I will never forget and my mom neither of course.