A DOWNINGS woman has described Daniel O’Donnell as being one of Donegal’s “greatest exports” after she attended his recent show in Perth, Western Australia.
Susan Coyle’s love for the country singer began ten years ago when she attended his concert in the Riverside Theatre at the Convention Centre in Perth.
“Blown away” by his ability to entertain, Susan now describes herself as being a “super fan”.
Here is what she thought of Daniel’s latest concert:
My husband Kevin and I had the pleasure of attending the Daniel O’Donnell concert a couple of weeks ago in the Riverside Theatre at the Convention Centre in Perth, Western Australia.
I was lucky enough to have seen Daniel in concert 10 years previous at the same location with my friend Amanda Kelly from Castlefinn (and with the thanks of a few contacts from home, we even got back stage to see him before the concert).
Even though I have fond memories of my father singing ‘there’s always a fire in the kitchen’, I only truly became a super fan of Daniels after that concert in 2014. My friend and I were mid 30’s at the time and just blown away by Daniel’s ability to entertain, his energy and his comedy.
I was pretty much expecting the same great night this time as I experienced 10 years ago, but Daniel has taken his concert to another level.
He’s funnier, his production was bigger, he’s added poetry, storytelling and of course the comedy was one of the highlights.
So why I am writing this? Well for me Daniel’s concert is simply like nothing you can ever experience from any other entertainer, and I’m not sure if he gets any kick back from Tourism Ireland or Tourism Donegal, but he should. He is without doubt one of our greatest exports.
He’s recently taken his tour across New Zealand and Australia, and every show is this magnificent advertisement for how amazing Ireland and Donegal are.
Daniel’s concert starts with a video of him getting on a plane at Carrickfinn airport and explaining how it’s been awarded the most beautiful runway in the world, and how accessible travel is to one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland.
He then sings familiar songs such as ‘Alice’ by Smokie which really gets the crowd going but with the demographic being a mix of anyone between 18 and 100, Daniel has to remind them to be sensible!
The part where Daniel impersonates Elvis in full costume and lights will live on in all of our memories for a very long time. It was sensational!
When reading out requests, Daniel who admits to being in his 60’s jumped off the stage to go into the crowd to greet a fan who had turned 100, but the amazing part for everyone was when he was able to leap at least a meter and a half back up onto the stage unassisted.
I think everyone wants to know who his personal trainer is!
But none of this even beings to describe how wonderful his show was.
Daniel sang a song which was originally written as a poem by his mother and he started the song by showing a video of her reciting the poem and he joined in.
This was a sad poem about her having to leave her home place on an Island off the North West coast of Donegal, but somehow Daniel managed to turn it into the most beautiful, moving song.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the concert hall.
Daniel followed this by singing a Charlie Pride song he recorded with him back in 2019 prior to his passing.
Daniel singing his parts live and showing Charlie Pride’s recordings via video for the crowds delight.
Another unique feature of Daniel’s concerts is his ability to make it a personal experience for everyone.
Not only does he phone fans prior to the concert who have been unable to attend the concert, but prior to flying back to Donegal last week, he took the time to attend the funeral of a fan who had written to him explaining she was hoping to attend his concert but was ill and passed away before the concert.
I didn’t reach out to anyone from home this time for a back stage pass to meet Daniel, but turns out we didn’t need one.
Daniel ends his concert by telling everyone he will meet them in the foyer after the concert.
I chanced my luck at rushing out of the concert hall into the foyer and sure enough, there’s the queue with only about four fan groups ahead of us.
Suddenly the entire concert hall pours out into the foyer, and everyone queues up behind us.
There’s a part of me that feels unworthy because the fans behind me have likely attended most of 16 concerts Daniel has performed in Perth over the past 32 years, but my husband reassures me that Daniel will be delighted to see supporters from Donegal and he was.
Young, old, Irish or any nationality, Daniel extends unwavering patience to each and every one of his fans standing for multiple photographs (no doubt to the frustration of his management team).
I was so overwhelmed by the concert and crowds to meet Daniel that when I finally got to have a photograph with him, I’m pretty sure I forgot to tell him how amazing his concert was.
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