The Neil Prendeville Show | Cork's RedFM

00:00 At waiting for a day, it's over. It's enough to follow a professional career. It's not a person to follow the esperances. Therefore, create a shopify shop on Sunday, make your first sale on Wednesday. Your office will be anywhere. There are months that you don't need to do despertador. And on Wednesdays, it's another flavor. Nothing compares to this. This is the life on Shopify. Come on free at shopify.com 00:27 Cork. Morning. 00:29 It's time to talk. How much of your son's life have you been in? I always have been advocating mushy peas and garden peas. Do as much cool stuff as possible. 00:39 The Neil Prenderville Show on Red FM. The last 22 months has been an uphill battle. The Voice of Cork. 00:46 Be part of the conversation. The Neil Prenderville Show with Elevate Credit Union. 00:49 Yee-haw! 00:51 You know. 00:53 You know why. 00:55 Get out your Stetsons. People are already sending me photographs and screen grabs of their Stetsons being dusted down. I imagine they travelled to Dublin for the last Gareth Brooks gigs, but check it out this morning. Belfast first, then Galway, then Kilkenny, then Limerick, and the finale, the last two gigs... here on Leaside, Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th of June. It's just been announced, ladies and gentlemen, and there'll be some flurry and scurry for the tickets next Monday morning, this day week at 8 o'clock in the morning, because there are no Dublin gigs. 01:29 Not that I know of anyway, now something might change, I have no idea. But at the moment it's five locations with two gigs each, making ten. So if there's nothing happening in Dublin, that means an awful lot of people from Dublin will be looking for tickets. And some people, with regards to Garth Brooks, will go to more than one gig. He is so revered and loved on Leeside. So it's just been announced. More on that a little later on this morning. But can I say, I've already been talking this morning with the promoters, and I have a couple of tickets to give away for Garth Brooks just before midday today. 02:00 Tell all your friends and relations, make sure they're listening. We have Garrett Brooks tickets just before midday today for the opening night. at Super Value Porky Cueve, which is Friday the 18th of June, and we'll play a Garth Brooks song and open the phone lines and then expect our phone system to absolutely crash. Or indeed, we might even mix it into... You never know what you might do. We might even, as the morning goes on, decide to give it to whomever can prove to be the biggest Garth Brooks fan out there. What lengths or extremities have you gone to in the past or would you go to to score a couple of tickets? 02:36 for Garth Brooks. So stick around. It's going to be an interesting morning. Lots more to do, but definitely a couple of tickets for the first gig on Leaside, Friday the 18th of June between now and midday. In fact, if you think that you deserve them as being most definitely the biggest Garth Brooks fan on Leaside or wherever, because people are listening all over the world now, then get in touch. Text 0868 104 106. Convince me as to why we should give you the tickets. I might have some fun with that across the morning. 03:07 Meanwhile, we need to be on alert and alarmed because I don't know. 03:12 I mean, clearly... You know, climates are changing, they're saying, and summers are getting hotter and all sorts of stuff like that. Certainly the polar ice caps are melting and the sea levels are rising. And they're suggesting in the mail this morning that will the sea swallow cork? 03:29 It's the kind of story that you sit up and take notice of, particularly if you live in areas like Middleton, who've experienced that in the past and lots of others like it are areas of the city that are constantly being flooded. They're saying that flooding in Cork is set to grow significantly worse in the coming decades. And particularly the south of the country and the southwest of the country is sinking. as the seas continue to rise. And they're saying that 40% of the population live within five kilometres of the coast. And they're wondering as to whether people will have to start moving away by the end of this century, I suppose, primarily. 04:06 But certainly, perhaps you might see huge differences in the next few decades. At the north of the country, not so much of a problem. But us down here, there is a risk that will be swallowed up by the sea. I pass it on for what it's worth, not as if you've got enough to be worried about. And other people that have things to be worried about include Fine Gael because they have no idea actually what they are. Do you know how companies have mission statements and you set out a mission statement as to what you are, what you want to achieve, what your goals and objectives of a company are? Well, political parties are the very same thing. 04:37 You are either left... left of centre, right, right of centre, or maybe somewhere in the middle. But at least you need to call it. And there was a time, of course, when Fianna Fáil would have been known, for instance, as the Republican Party. And they own that. They don't anymore. And I suppose you would have said that Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael would have been right of centre, you know, centre-right parties. So, in fairness to Simon Harris, he tried to get this across the line twice to get an emotion on the agenda for the Ardèche at the weekend. 05:09 to say and to affirm and to confirm itself, Fine Gael, as a centre-right party in the Christian democratic tradition. That's what he wanted. And at least he had the bravery and the cojones to say, well, we need to nail it, Laz, as to exactly what our identity is. But it was rejected by the executive council. So they continue to not know exactly what they're supposed to be, which is kind of confusing for everybody else then, isn't it? Because it's almost like just a hybrid of two parties, actually, whatever you have on yourself. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, they're kind of the same thing. 05:39 Either way, we also have many issues going on here in this country with people who are very unhappy, certainly within the public sector. But it would appear, according to the Independent this morning, that they're going to burn some serious midnight oil over the next couple of days to try and sort out and avert this latest strike that's due next week with the public sector over pay raise. And they're going to have a bash as well at trying to sort out the row with the solicitors. So the Independent this morning are suggesting of some kind of impending breakthrough. If people can just agree on a number, because it's always about a number, isn't it? 06:12 And then, of course, the numbers didn't work out for Donald Trump. And that's why some of the British papers and indeed the red tops in Ireland are calling him a lame Donald Duck. or lame duck donald and he of course is blaming the war for the vote collapse but anybody could have told him that that it was an absolutely stupid idea and of course went against everything that he said was going to be his mission statement while president not to get involved in other people's wars and it brought him down in the end the newspapers are picking up this morning on this because it was very much a story from yesterday to be honest with you one of the more interesting is that J.D. 06:47 Vance seems to be kind of trying to distance himself from Trump, which is kind of a weird thing to do. Because usually if, you know, when the president goes out of office, the vice president gets a shot at being the next president. But you need to get the endorsement of the outgoing president, if you can follow me. We have many stories from courts this morning for you, lads. And one or two of these are quite interesting. And certainly for me, because I spoke to family members in the past, during the dark days of COVID. And one is a family who settled a High Court action over the death of a family member in Ballyno during COVID. 07:22 It's a lengthy court report, which I wouldn't have time to go into, but my thoughts are with the family this morning. There's a chance that some are listening. They're lovely, lovely people. And this is the story of Kathleen Thompson from Farron Rhee. She was in Care Choice, Ballyno, and the family of this 84-year-old woman who died in their nursing home during the pandemic settled a high court action over her death. And she was doing fine, absolutely fine. But at one stage, she tested positive for the virus in January of 31st, 2021, and she died the next day. 07:55 So, so rapidly. But the family is one of five who lost loved ones to COVID in Ballynoe. But even reading the reports this morning, dozens and dozens and dozens of people and staff tested positive in Ballynoe. And, you know, Kathleen Thompson was doing fine for a long period of time and was testing negative and negative and negative. And then I remember the family telling me she was transferred from her room to another room. Allegedly without a consent or knowledge. And on January 31st, she tested positive for COVID and died the next day. 08:29 There were other court cases and there's even more court cases coming against Ballynow Nursing Home and the entire facility. Like the papers this morning talk about a man by the name of James Lee, God rest his soul, who also passed away. during the third COVID wave in Ballinault at the time. And there was a settlement regarding his death last April against Ballinault. And there will be more to come. And you know, we've been following, or at least I've been telling you about Agnes Foley, 87 years old from Charleville. before the Cork Circuit Criminal Court, because there was an awful, awful accident. 09:05 She stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake when she was parking in Charleville. She killed one woman and seriously injured a man on the footpath. And I don't think any of us expected that there would be a custodial sentence, and there wasn't. And yesterday, the judge imposed a fully suspended 18-month term. It's just beyond tragic, but it came to a conclusion yesterday. And more for more roads, you may recall that incident on the Cork to Waterford Road in June of 2024. Let me tell you about it. Gilbert Collins, 15-year-old, and Vuzwa Idris, age 17, they were on an e-scooter, right? 09:41 Yeah. And apparently they were coming back from an early morning gym session. 09:47 I believe it was at two in the morning. And this is on the Cork Waterford Road. And they were on an e-scooter and they were riding the e-scooter and they were hit by a bus. Well, the driver of the bus, Adrian Doyle, 43-year-old has pleaded not guilty. He's before the courts charged with dangerous driving, causing their deaths. Now, we'll keep an eye on that one because that's an ongoing court case. So it's not possible for me to reflect or to give any kind of opinions or anything on that one while it's an active court case. But there's more tragedy involving the blind cord from the blinds in people's homes. 10:23 And another little lad makes the papers this morning. He was killed because he suffered brain injuries after his neck became entangled in the cord of a window blind. Another one of these tragic accidents. And I say that because when you look at some of the evidence, it's fair to say that the cord... 10:42 wasn't hanging loosely from the blinds. It was actually attached to the wall. 10:49 It's not possible to go into the full details of how this happened. It's probably not even a fair thing to go into, but he died. He was a four-year-old and he passed away. I just... There are way too many of these tragedies, aren't there? Even when in the best will of the world, people take as many precautions as they can. I don't know what to do about that. There is these kind of... You can get these kind of plastic poles, you know what they are, and they hang down from the blind and you twist them left to right. I mean... Why wouldn't they pass an EU law saying that all of them have to have that kind of twisty, bendy pole and not the court in the first place? 11:24 And then another one that we've been following that's still before the courts where there's this Brazilian rickshaw driver makes the papers. 11:33 Bizarrely, the red tops, for some extraordinary reason, best known for themselves, say he was only eight days in Ireland and he was on a travel visa. 11:41 Fair enough. He was on a travel visa. He should have just been holidaying or whatever. But he wasn't. He was working as a rickshaw driver. But this has to do with the death of the mum, Danielle O'Kane. She was at a Westlife concert. And after the concert, she got into the rickshaw. So there's evidence in the papers this morning that said, actually, the guards opposed bail because they were concerned that your man might leg it. because it was only eight days in the country at the time of the incident, but apparently the allegation is that he executed, this is Garda speak now for you, he executed a reckless manoeuvre attempting to exit in a particular manner and to merge into traffic, but he struck a concrete bollard with the rickshaw and then that spilled the rickshaw and it spilled Miss O'Kane out onto the road and she sustained catastrophic injuries. 12:29 So that's before the courts of the morning and Another very cruel court case that makes the examiner this morning. I think she was quite lucky, to be quite honest with you, because she ended up, instead of getting any kind of custodial sentence, I think she got community service instead. But it's quite interesting because this is a woman who used an elderly man's bank card to buy clothes online from Brown Thomas and buy things at Dublin Airport and what have you. So she fraudulently used his bank account. She was lucky to avoid a prison sentence because the judge had said it was clearly meditated and clearly planned. 13:05 So Wuraulu Alabi from County Kildare got 200 hours community service instead of... the 12 month in custody. I don't know whether people would agree or disagree with that, but it was like 17 fraudulent transactions on the elderly man's bank account. The poor misfortunate man now has slipped into Alzheimer's and dementia. He's got cognitive impairment and that's sad in itself. But the combined value of the fraud on his bank card was €2,289. It doesn't say, well, I didn't see it in a court report as to how she got her hands on that bank card, but there you have it on the last 200 hours. 13:40 community service and then you have to worry about the state of society in general with the examiner this morning this i didn't see this in the print edition but i saw it in the online edition where they're talking about increased anti-social behavior but but hold on a second they're honing in on teenage girls and they call it mental health issues what does that mean though you'd say anti-social behavior as a result of mental health issues You need to know more about what you mean by that. It results in 13-year-old girls more than ever before now are hitting people, punching people, kicking people, not paying for their bus fare, not paying for their train fare, engaging in graffiti, behaving badly in public, hitting and kicking and punching people. 14:20 Why are they so angry? This kind of carry on. It rises year on year. And there you have it. And the examiner this morning saying that the younger cohorts are gone off the track even more because of mental health issues. I'd love to see a breakdown as to what they actually mean like that, because sometimes it's a catch all. Sometimes it's a catch all and sometimes we'll accept it can be true and accurate. it also can be a cop-out, don't you think? And can I just mention a whole plethora of different stories that make the papers this morning with regards to what we eat and what we think is healthy or unhealthy for us, right? 14:52 Because there's an awful change in what people eat now. And we've moved away, say, for instance, from, as in carbs are a bad world. Carbs are the fuel for the body. And without carbs, of course, the body will literally shut down, right? Organs will shut down, might get stroke, might get heart attack, all sorts of problems. So you have to have a balanced diet. But for some reason, the enemy now is bread, pasta and potatoes, demonized. And the Telegraph this morning go into this. And I like these kind of stories because while bread itself is a very, very natural product, right? 15:25 And there's nothing wrong with it. It can depend on the bread that you eat. So it's got to be good bread, ideally a sourdough and well-made, not necessarily mass-produced, but very, very good bread. Pasta and potatoes, I mean, nothing wrong with them. I mean, you don't want to have a diet that's constantly just bread and pasta. Do you get me in that regard? But, you know, it's better for you. It could even turn back your biological clock. So we shouldn't really have turned our back on what I would call staples. And another one is dairy. I mean, dairy. What's wrong with milk? 15:56 What's wrong with cheese? What's wrong with yogurt? These are all very, very natural things to eat. I don't mean to come across preachy, but so many people now have dropped dairy for oat milk or almond milk. I mean, why? I mean, do you think it's better for you? Because it's not. So moving away from dairy to plant-based alternatives, You're just stripping away loads of vitamins and minerals that you'd be getting from a natural product. There's nothing unnatural about almonds, but eat them, crunch them. And the papers then talk about other crunchy things. 16:26 And this probably will happen here if it's happening in the EU, because it is, of course, one of those daft EU rules where you're not going to be allowed to say, let me give a typical example, smoky bacon crisps anymore or Did it hurt anybody because they were called smoky bacon? I love them. Oh my God. I used to love the Sam Spud smoky bacon. Heaven in a little plastic bag. But you won't be able to use the word bacon anymore because there ain't no bacon in it in the first place. We kind of know that and don't care, but it's a nice treat. So you won't be able to do that. You won't be able to have pot noodles. 16:58 Well, you won't be able to buy chicken-flavored pot noodles because there ain't no chicken in it either. Some kind of hydrogenized stuff. So that's the long-life things that I suppose we should watch. But sometimes I think they can take the rules too far. I mean, okay, we're going to have to live with it. They're going to have to relabel these things because there's no real stuff in it. But that's the way it goes. And I think you should be breaking out the popcorn with regards to RTE and the latest sit-down that they had with the sports committee yesterday. Because it's just, these stories out of RTE get more and more bizarre. 17:29 And all of the papers have been looked at this morning, particularly with regards to the off-the-ball presenter who moved to RTE, Ger Gilroy. The story is, how was he hired? 17:42 And was he poached or headhunted? Now, you talk about using words and trying to dance around a story. This one is, I mean, how would you sum this up, right? So they want to start a new sports podcast and they say, OK, we've got to find somebody to do the job. They're obliged to advertise it internally and something like 20 different people applied for the job. But they also had their eye on Jar Gilroy from the beginning. That's my interpretation of this. So they got on to him and said, are you interested in this gig? He said, yeah, I suppose. And they said, well, look, apply for it because you have to apply for it and then you'll get it. And that's what happened. 18:12 And many people are unhappy with this, including the RTE Sports Department personnel themselves because of apparently alleged comments that he previously made about the station. So I suppose you couldn't make this up. The Irish Independent this morning are saying, did he or did he not? Sorry, the Irish Times saying, did he or did he not get a clothing allowance? I mean, why in the name of God would you need a clothing allowance? And they're suggesting, because it came up yesterday at the Oireachtas Committee, that he was brought shopping for a tracksuit top. 18:46 Oh, my God almighty. Is there nothing really that they can do without getting into some kind of quagmire of difficulty or controversy? But there you have it nonetheless. Anyway, either way, text 0868-104-106. Pick up the phone on 0818-104-106 for a lot of other different reasons this morning, including, let's have a go at that, Cork's number one Garth Brooks fan and why. We've got tickets to give away just before midday. Text 0868-104-106. 19:18 Be part of the conversation. Text 0868104106. You remember on Tuesday morning I was talking about a lad by the name of Timothy Ford. He was down at Parnell Place bus station and was attacked. He ran away from his attackers and ran up Merchant's Key. He was badly, badly hurt and seriously wounded. 19:39 And a lot of different people came to his aid. We had a couple of witnesses on the air on Tuesday. It's a very, very serious story because he lost an awful lot of blood and ended up obviously moved to the CUH with the result of, because of the injuries had to be operated on. And he's still there. And the family are very, very worried about him, including his mother, Victoria Miller-Ford. She joins me by phone. Victoria, good morning. 20:04 Hi, Neil. How are you? 20:05 Ah, grand girl. But how is the lad? 20:08 It was very, very unwell. 20:10 Yeah. The surgeon says he's American to be alive. 20:19 I believe they have to fly in a trauma surgeon to operate exclusively on him. Is that right? Yeah. Lost an awful lot of blood. 20:29 We lost four litres. 20:32 When did you hear of it? 20:36 I got a phone call from a woman that came to his first aid. 20:41 And I was actually lying down on the chair with my granddaughter. She's only five weeks old and she was asleep on my chest. 20:53 And I didn't really believe the phone call. I thought it was a joke because I wasn't after fully waking up, you know. Who rang you? 21:06 The woman that came to his first aid. Okay, okay. But I have... I'm after having so many calls that came through on my phone. 21:15 I don't know which number is that woman's number. All right, okay. 21:19 And... What did she say? 21:21 She said to me, your son is after being stabbed. I'm just giving him first aid. 21:27 And that's how I found out. 21:31 And about a few minutes after that then... 21:34 And the sea street guards rang me. 21:38 What do guards say in a situation like that? Get to the scene or meet us at the hospital or what? 21:44 He was meeting his twin brother and they were going to the cinema and they were going to Nando's for food and they just said to me that they had his twin brother and could you come to the scene your boys after being seriously injured? 22:02 Okay, so what you're saying is that Timothy was meeting his twin brother at the bus station. And they were waiting for their girlfriends. They were waiting for their girlfriends. 22:13 Was that during the day or the evening? It was mid-afternoon, was it? 22:17 I think it was about four o'clock. 22:19 Yeah, I heard that. And they were literally going for something to eat and going to the cinema. And do you know what happened next? Yeah. 22:28 To tell you the truth, I'm in a bit of shock at the moment, Neil. I haven't had any sleep or anything like that, you know. I don't know the full extent of what happened. 22:42 The detective sergeant is dealing with that in Anglicy Street. There is video footage of it, which I will never look at. 22:53 I couldn't as a mother look at that because I did read one thing online where they said they saw my son running and his whole stomach was hanging out. 23:06 Ah, sure, no one needs to see or see, anything like that. No mother would have to see him. I mean, he did run away. He tried to get away from them, ran up Merchant's Quay and ran in, ran into audience. But did they, was this an unprovoked attack or did he know the individual or individuals? 23:24 I don't think so, no. I don't know the people myself, the guards, know who they are. I don't know anything about them people. 23:30 Yeah. Yeah. 23:35 At one stage, I don't mean to upset you, but at one stage, had he passed away and had to be resussed? 23:42 Yes, in my arms and resuscitation, yeah. 23:47 And how did they kind of move you away because they said we've got to get him back, is it? 23:53 Yeah, I just remember falling into the guard's arms and There was doctors flying from everywhere. And yeah, he went grey and he just went and they got him back for me. 24:07 Yeah, that's all I remember. 24:09 I can't imagine any kind of a worst nightmare for any parent to go through. 24:15 Yeah, it was... 24:17 I don't think I'm feeling anything at the moment. Sorry. 24:23 Is he conscious? Have you been able to talk to him? 24:25 Yeah, he's still getting blood and they moved him from the ICU into critical care and ICU came up yesterday morning just to see if they needed to bring him back into ICU from the critical care ward because his left lung is not working properly He can't walk. 24:55 He has all defensive wounds on his arms, on his fingers. 25:03 Yeah, he has tubes coming out of his stomach. 25:08 A wound that can't be stitched because it's so deep. That has to be opened and packed every day. Yeah. 25:18 Yeah. 25:19 Now, like, without being too graphic, I mean, you know, I'm always amazed at the work that surgeons can do and, you know. 25:27 Oh, they're unbelievable. 25:28 Oh, absolutely. I mean, the main artery to his stomach was cut and, you know, I won't go into too much graphic detail, but that did result in, like, at least four litres, at least four litres of blood. 25:38 So he was in a very, very bad way. He could have just died from shock alone. 25:42 Yeah, this woman saved my son's life. Like, whoever this woman is, I owe my life to her. 25:48 She saved his life. Whatever first aid she gave him, saved him until he got to the COH where they could really work on him. But this woman, there was an angel around my child that day. Most definitely. Would you like to find her? I need to find that woman, yeah. I need to find that woman. 26:09 I really need to find that woman. She saved my baby's life. 26:12 Victoria, I don't know you, but I talked to an awful lot of people on the air and you sound certainly your horse and that's from exhaustion. I'd say you're completely worn out with worry and stress, I'd say. 26:22 I am because he's 18 tomorrow. You know, my twins are 18 tomorrow. And yeah, no matter what age they are, you know, they're always going to be my baby. 26:32 Yeah. 26:33 You know? 26:33 Yeah. Yeah. 26:35 Without a doubt. And would you have been watching out with regards to the company they keep or the people they were hanging out with? You don't know, was this unprovoked or were they under threat or they had somebody... Oh God, no. No. Yeah. 26:48 No, absolutely not. They're good lads, like... 26:53 They're good lads, yeah. Yeah, very, very good lads. Yeah. 26:57 Yeah. 26:58 Yeah. 26:59 Okay, so this woman, without her, you'd be burying your son as opposed to watching him recover in hospital. 27:06 Yeah, I'd bury my son. Yeah. 27:11 Okay, well, we have a lot of good... 27:14 good results on stories like this. Not necessarily like yours because yours is very, very serious, obviously, but other people who've got help from members of the public, we endeavour to try and find them and hook them up with the people who want to say thank you. 27:28 Yeah. 27:29 But this is a woman that was at Parnell Place bus station or was it a woman in Merchant's Key Shop? Yeah. Are you sure it was a woman? 27:39 Yeah. 27:40 Okay. 27:40 Definitely. Yeah. 27:41 Okay. Because there was another lad actually Working in Dunes in Merchants Quay who gave first aid. 27:48 His name was James. I didn't know about that. I didn't know about that. I'd love to meet him as well. And James stayed with Timothy holding him. 27:58 Yeah, because Timothy said to me that he ran to the staff door holding his stomach in and he asked him for help. And he said they just ran away from him. 28:11 shock I'd say shock yeah it wouldn't be listen to me you know it wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea there'd be a lot of fear no because he did slip on his own blood a couple of times because it was just squirting out yeah But there always will be people, certainly in Cork, who will do that without wanting to be critical of others, but do the right thing. And apparently there was a man called James. He stayed with them and he was holding and pushing the wound. 28:41 And that's very important at the time with regards to blood loss. So that's okay. Listen, if there's a woman, there's a woman. We'll see if we can find the woman. But there certainly was a chap. I believe his name was James Fitzgerald. 28:54 Oh my God, I would love to speak to that man. I would love to do something nice for him. Yeah. 28:58 So will it be a slow recovery? 29:02 It will be a very, very, very long road. Yeah. Not even slow. It will be a very, very long road. 29:11 Yeah. Okay. So you won't be having him home anytime soon, but he's in the best place. He is. 29:17 He is. They're amazing. Absolutely amazing. 29:21 And I just want to say a big thank you to the surgeons in the COH because they are outstanding for what they've done for my child. And the nurses are just next to not, they're just unbelievable. 29:36 Yeah. 29:37 Yeah. 29:37 Okay. So you say, while your sons didn't know these, was it one fellow or was it a group of fellows that attacked them? 29:43 Three. 29:44 Three of them. So your lads don't know these, but the Gardaí do, is it? 29:49 yeah okay okay all right okay well let's see what happens in regards to that do you do you worry do you worry about i mean it's getting more dangerous isn't it oh it's absolutely horrific like i've even before anything like this happened i've always said to my my boys and my daughters um don't be going in town like you know you've no reason to go in town like you know i'll drop your hair and i'll drop you there and You know, I mean, there's only so much you can do from, like, you know, I mean, they want to do things on their own. 30:20 You know, you have to trust them to do things on their own, you know. 30:23 Yeah, they need independence. They should be able to go into town. 30:26 Yeah, they should, yeah. But I know the dangers in town, right? 30:32 It's not just Cork City, like, you know, I mean, we're hearing this. 30:37 It's absolutely everywhere, like, you know, I mean, look at this traveling bishop's town as well. You know, I mean, it's, It's absolutely everywhere. 30:45 I know. Just move around a little bit there, Victoria. It's just like, because this is unprovoked. They didn't say, give us your money, did they? 30:53 They didn't say, give us your mobile phone. Why would you just walk up to somebody? 30:58 I don't have a clue. 31:02 I really don't have a clue. 31:03 Okay. Okay. Listen, you're very kind to come on this morning. You've got a million things on and obviously a million worries as a mammy. But let's see if we can find more people that might... There may well have been others who actually came to his aid. Let's see if we can find everybody because you would like to say thank you. Because they literally saved his life. 31:22 They literally saved his life. They did, yeah. 31:25 All right, Victoria. I'll get back to you if we've success on that, all right? But all our thoughts are with you and with Timothy. Look after yourself. Thank you very much. Thank you. Bye, Victoria. Take care. Bye. 31:46 Be part of the conversation. Text 0868 104 106. Big news announced this morning, of course, with regards to Garth Brooks making a return to the island of Ireland with the Irish tour plays. Belfast first. These are all two gigs in each location. Then Galway, then Kilkenny, then Limerick and then Cork. 18th and 19th of June. Something nice to look forward to. And I love the excitement and the buzz. You know, it's kind of a lot of people talking about all sorts of different acts yesterday and we hung our hat. We hung our Stetson on Garrett Brooks. 32:17 Not blowing any trumpet on that one. You just take a gamble and take a bet on it. And of course, it turned out to be right, which was great. I wonder what odds we'd have got yesterday from Paddy Power. But anyway, that's a story for another day. So the 18th and the 19th of June. I have a couple of tickets to give away for the opening gig at Porky Cueve. People will have to, I mean, you want to be very careful now, Aoife, because there's other people who would actually sell their soul and a few would sell their bodies or donate their bodies to surgery or whatever. 32:43 So there's a high bar for Garth Brooks' number one fan. Tell us about yourself. 32:49 if there's a high bar that rules me out anyway Neil I'm a Garbrook fan since about four or five I used to drive the parents mad at home watching a VCR recording that's kind of giving away my age now I suppose he I just remembered the Thunder Rolls part of the concert and he had like You know, I was pouring rain down on top of the stage, lightning up on the ceiling, and I was mesmerised. I had it on repeat. But sure, it gave my mum and dad an extra couple of hours in bed so they were delighted. 33:23 So you literally watched it and watched it and watched it? 33:26 Watched it and watched and watched it, yeah. And then, sure, I thought I was part of the stage, so I used to be singing Friends in Low Places, thinking I was one of the backing singers. But all I knew was the chorus, so that drove them all ballistic as well. 33:39 There's probably camcorder footage of that somewhere in the house, is there? 33:43 I would hope not. And I would imagine now, I'd have faith in myself that I would have found it and deleted it, if there is. 33:52 Anybody buy a cowboy hat or cowboy boots or anything as a kid? 33:58 I think they were probably trying to discourage me a little bit, so probably not, no. 34:03 You drove everybody nuts. 34:04 I did have a wedding planned out, though. 34:06 The which? 34:06 Yeah, the wedding. Oh, we were getting married. 34:09 Oh, tell me more about that. 34:11 So it was real love, was it? 34:13 Real love, yeah, yeah. Until I found out he was married, I thought, but... I still had a little bit of faith. We were having our cucumber sandwiches and corned beef sandwiches at the reception. Yeah. 34:25 How old were you when you made the decision that you were going to marry Garth Brooks? 34:30 I think I was about five, maybe. I was a big girl in school then, so I was ready. 34:35 You had all the food picked out, is it? Corned beef sandwiches? 34:38 Yeah, and cucumber sandwiches. 34:40 Good choice, incidentally. Where were the marriages going to be? Was it going to be in Nashville or was it going to be in Cork or where? 34:48 Oh, I wasn't too fussy, really. If the passport was in check, I probably would have went over to him. 34:54 So is your party piece then Garth Brooks' songs? 34:59 No, just the chorus of Friends in Low Places. It was, yeah, probably not the wisest choice for a five-year-old singing about whiskey and beer, but... 35:08 It was the 90s. It was all good. It would sound cute though, wouldn't it? It would be cute. 35:13 Well, at the start, you know, the first bit probably, but as I kept repeating the chorus, not so much. 35:20 So is that all you know is the chorus of Friends in Low Places? 35:25 That was all I knew, yeah. 35:26 And even to this day now as a grown woman, is that all you still know? 35:29 No, no, no. I know the full song now and I know many other ones as well. 35:35 Did you go to Dublin? 35:37 No, I had tickets for the original one that he had announced and then they cancelled all those gigs so I never got them the second time around. 35:47 And do you still have the VCR? VCR will come back again. Everything's coming back. CDs are back with a bang. Vinyl is back with a bang. So hold on to the VCR cassette disc and cassette tape and it'll come back into fashion, you know? 35:59 Hopefully. I remember Running Point. Do you remember the movie Running Point? 36:05 Do you want me to lie? No. No. 36:07 No, I think it was, yeah, Running Point, but Kurt Russell used to be on after, but I was too young to watch it, so they used to have to come up and make sure I turned off the concert before that came on after, yeah. 36:18 All right, do you still have that VCR, that video disc, or video cassette? 36:22 I don't, no, I doubt it, I doubt it, no. 36:26 All right. Well, we'll see how we get on across the morning. There's a high bar there for sure. 36:31 But you'd never know. If there are really good ones, we might throw it all into a Stetson and pick one. But stay listening, do you hear me? 36:40 Yeah, yeah. Thanks a million, Neil. 36:42 Take care. Aoife claiming to be Garth Brooks' number one fan. She wanted to marry him as a five-year-old. Can you beat that, Donna? 36:50 I'd like to hope so. 36:52 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wonder, is there anybody that would donate their body to medical science? 36:57 Oh, I said I would absolutely sell my soul. I had the tickets for the original concert. 37:03 Just like Aoife? 37:05 Just like Aoife, but I never refunded my ticket. I kept my ticket as a souvenir. 37:10 I never got my money back. I just wanted to keep the ticket. 37:12 That's a great idea, isn't it? 37:14 Yeah, just, you know, I'm only 35. But it's just, he's huge nostalgia for me. 37:22 And why? 37:24 When I was, I was born the 90s, so the whole way through the 90s, as you were talking about, finals and stuff, like cassettes for the tapes for the car. 37:31 All our Sunday spins, Gareth Brooks was on. On the summertime, when you'd go to Chamore, you'd go wherever you were going, Gareth Brooks was blaring inside the car. And I just took that the whole way up in my life. 37:41 And we went to 2022. 37:44 Amazing. The best concert I've ever been to. 37:46 My wife and son were at that concert and they said it was just a sea of love. Everybody. 37:52 I had tears in my eyes. And he plays all the classics and then all the songs that other people wouldn't know. And I know the ball. I go to all the tribute acts now. So when he's in the opera house and there was one in Cargillain last year. But I will go everywhere. 38:07 You are what I would call a super fan. You've been to the Dublin gig. You kept the original tickets, didn't get a refund. 38:15 No, no way. And I have anxiety now about getting tickets. 38:19 I have three kids and I said, next Thursday when they go on sale, the kids are going to be late for school because I have to make sure I get those tickets. 38:26 Listen, nobody would in any way say, don't, you know, keep the kids out of school. 38:34 What the hell? They're more important things than school. 38:37 Absolutely. Absolutely. 38:39 Garth Brooks, for sure. So, I mean, what did you think yesterday? Because we didn't know who it was going to be. 38:45 Oh, Casey gave a bit of a clue in the morning because he kept saying to Vic, he was saying, why do women go to the hairdressers? I was like, why are you going to the hairdressers? And then he went into, I blame it all on my roots. And I knew straight away, I said, that's it. That's it. And it was just fingers crossed. And then I was looking on his, Garrett Brooks Instagram page last night and he brought it to California and I was texting my friend and I was like, he is geeking around that time. Like he's definitely coming. 39:13 There'll be fierce demand. Do you want to have a few laptops and half a dozen mobile phones going next Thursday? 39:18 I know, absolutely. Absolutely. But I will get them. 39:22 But I think it'll be all right. There are 10 gigs. They're well spread around the country, up as north as Belfast. 39:29 And to me, it's not just like a gig in the least. This is my all-time favourite. I need to be there. 39:34 Would you go to both of them? 39:36 Oh, yeah. I think some people will. 39:39 Yeah, but can we get the tickets? That's the thing. 39:41 That's the thing, yeah. Well, keep the kids out of school. Nobody will begrudge that. Need a little bit of help on Thursday morning. 39:48 I know, I know. It'll be a few minutes late, that's it. 39:52 Actually, there's no school next Thursday. You're all right. Really? There's a strike. 39:58 I thought that was the Wednesday. 40:00 No, it's... Is it the Wednesday? Oh, no. Is it the Wednesday? Yeah. 40:04 I'm not sure. All right. Well, maybe. Well, if not, anyway, the universe is. 40:08 OK, well, let the lads go on strike for an hour. 40:10 Yeah, that'd be great. 40:12 OK, you are a super fan. And do you have any particular favourite? 40:17 Oh, God, I could go through them. Baton Rouge, Unanswered Prayers, The Dance, Two Pina Coladas, The Beaches of Cheyenne. 40:25 Oh, you are a super fan. No, the strike is Thursday the 12th. 40:30 Well, there you go. 40:32 There's a chance it might be averted. So if it is averted, just have the lads can have a work to rule for an hour or two. 40:40 Hit the laptops and hit the mobiles. Stay listening. We'll see how we get on across the morning, Donna. Thanks, Neil. All the best. Take care. Bye. Text 0868 104 106. Garth Brooks, super fans. 40:50 Get on to Prenderville. 40:51 Text or WhatsApp Neil now. 0868 104 106. The Neil Prenderville 40:59 We're looking for Garth Rooks. Super fans, lads. Text 0868104106. Tickets to give away just before midday. Yesterday, we spoke a lot about young kids and we spoke about teenagers and parenting and the dangers of mobile phones and technology. We all know phones are so dangerous for kids. So why are primary schools pushing their youth so hard? I'm not sure that they do. Do they? 41:20 I think they are pushing to move away from copy books and jotters and books in general and move to like iPads and things like that. We forget, Neil, to facilitate young kids with regards to their activities and playtime when hundreds and thousands of houses are built without any community amusements or parks. It's an interesting point, actually, because there's a major push now on apartment blocks. And that's what you see an awful lot of buildings, say, for instance, trying to get everybody to live in the city, for instance. They've taken away all of the car parking underground, for instance, because they want it to be a car-free city, ultimately. 41:56 And then you have lots and lots of apartment blocks, which is all very well. You might have a balcony, but what about access to clay? you know, and in green spaces and things like that in the cities. 42:08 Meanwhile, years ago, children were taught manners and table manners, giving up your seat on the bus, opening a door for someone, respect for older people, respect for people's property. There was also the threat of getting a slap Your children were expected to go out and work honestly and hard. You don't see a lot of that in today's kids, do you, says Desi? A lot of them just want to try and make a living from crazy videos and social media, watching the tens of thousands of euro that influencers are making online. An interesting perspective. I took my son and his friend to sports last night. 42:40 They're eight and nine years of age. The other boys were gloating about just being online with other members of the class and pointed out my son and only one other boy who still don't have phones. I was so shocked. No way will my son get a phone in primary school. I protect him for as long as necessary, no matter how much he may like or dislike me for it. The social media world can be amazing, but can also be very dark and open up a world of bullying and misinformation. He's too young. I don't want him looking online for attention. 43:11 I'm trying my best as a mum in this very unstable world. I don't envy teens and children these days. I was blessed to have grown up in the 80s and 90s. Yes, you are so right. The challenges now are much more serious. Keep them coming. Text 0868 104 106. Lots to do after 10. 43:34 Be proud of the conversation. The Neil Prent of a show with Elevate Credit Union. Talking about different gigs, there's a really good gig in the Silver Springs Hotel this Friday night. The great George Murphy and the Rising Suns. He's played in studio with me a couple of times and they are a super, super outfit. Real talent. Lots of special guests as well. Tickets are available if you're heading out on Friday night. Be a great place to be. Silver Spain's a good spot. Nice bit of food there. A couple of bevvies and the George Murphy and the Rising Suns gig. Eight o'clock tomorrow night. Good luck to you with that one. The big gig. No disrespect intended, but the big gig, of course. 44:06 Well, two of them anyway. Ten in total. Two on Leeside. The 18th and 19th of June. Garth Brooks is coming to town and we're going to give away a couple of tickets for the first of those two gigs, which will be the 18th of June. 44:20 right across the morning looking for super fans the best super fan story you got to prove that you are the ultimate super fan like that you had open heart surgery and just as the surgeon closed up you got up out of the bed and headed off to a Garth Brooks concert kind of thing with a gurney maybe hooked up to a drip or something but you know what I mean we're looking for super fans because he's coming to town the big man's on the way the sky 44:47 And on and on it goes, ladies and gentlemen. Malcolm, good morning. 45:17 Morning, Neil. Okay, is it you or is it your wife? 45:22 It's probably a bit of both, but more hard than me. 45:26 Do tell. Yeah, she actually has the lyrics of the dance tattooed on her tie. 45:34 Oh my God, that's going to be hard to beat this morning now, I can tell you that. 45:39 We went to the last concert in 2017, September 22, up in But I was telling Eva there when I go, she was actually in Langers before we went in. 45:53 Langers? 45:54 Yeah. Have you permission now to say all of this this morning? 45:58 No. 46:02 No, I sent you a couple of videos there when I go of the concert itself. But I held back one or two. If I send them in, I'll be divorced. 46:11 I can see how she's fuming. 46:15 OK, well, all secrets will be revealed with the promise of a couple of tickets, I suppose. That's the way you see it. Oh, I'm sending all the videos. I haven't seen any of those videos. Like, what are they like? 46:29 I'm going to text off for now. 46:31 What'd she just say? What'd she say? 46:33 I can't open an oil. 46:36 You can't open it. Put me on speaker on your phone and then open the text. One minute oil, have a look. 46:48 Oh, the lyrics of the dance tattooed on her leg. 46:53 She just has to say that I'm dead when I come home. Don't go home till tomorrow. And to get mini paneros. 47:03 Yes, don't forget to buy the spuds. All right. 47:06 So, go on. She was, I honestly, you know, before we even got into the concert, I have a video on my phone. I sent around to Emo there on the minute. We're sitting on the steps outside across my pub and She was just no good. 47:21 But we had a ball then coming back that night because we got the train back the same night. I was walking the following day and we got the train back. I tell you, I never laughed so much. 47:32 It was unbelievable, but he's a great, great entertainer. How long has she got the tattoo on her leg? 47:39 Oh, Jesus. I think it's since the very first concert in Lansdowne Road. I was at Croke Park a couple of years ago. 47:47 Yeah, I'd probably need to see proof of that, you know. 47:51 I can get a photograph of the Indonesia. When she's asleep. 47:59 Don't do that. Get permission. 48:02 Get consent. 48:06 So you went for a few bevies before the gig. I'm assuming that she was so excited that it went to your heads and you were a bit the worst for wear. 48:14 I was blood sore, but I was walking the following day, Neil. I was responsible. 48:18 You were her responsible adult then, her chaperone. Fair play to you. 48:21 Yes. 48:23 Yes. Does she remember? Does she remember the gig? 48:27 Bits and pieces, that's what I texted. It was actually my birthday that day. It was the 17th of September in 22. I was 52 that night. So she got the tickets for me for my birthday. 48:38 Okay, I think it will be... Okay, we're raising the bar with every call. 48:42 So she's got the lyrics... 48:44 Of the chorus or the whole song of the dance? 48:47 The chorus. The chorus. 48:51 I can send you proof. I can send you proof. 48:54 I mean, you'll have to see it, man. I mean, it's not that I don't believe you. You're a decent man. 48:59 You've been on before, but you never know. 49:01 I'm assuming that people would go so far as lying to get a couple of tickets this morning. So I need the proof, right? 49:08 Put a Bible in me right hand and I'll swear. 49:10 No, no, that's fine. Just send me the picture. 49:13 I'll get a picture like I said to the demon. 49:15 If it's safe to go home, that is, right? But you're going to have to get it to me before midday. 49:20 Oh, shit. Excuse me. 49:24 she won't send it to me I'll see what I can do before well that's the challenge boy if you choose to accept it go for it but I'm actually a muck at the moment people have to wait people are waiting on their post and their past them just tell your wife if she's up for maybe hopefully winning a couple of tickets if she's got the best story to send me a photograph of the tattoo on her leg it's simple tell her to whatsapp it to me 0868 104 106 job done Right. Give me a few minutes. 49:55 All right. OK. OK. I'm waiting. I'm waiting, Malcolm. Thank you. Georgina, good morning. 50:00 Good morning. How are you? 50:02 OK, so Malcolm's wife has a tattoo. You say you'd be willing. 50:05 Oh, I'll get a tattoo. 50:06 Yeah. 50:07 I will get a tattoo. If you give me tickets for Garth Brooks, I will get a tattoo. 50:12 And what would it be of Garth Brooks or the lyrics of a song? 50:16 Oh, I get the lyrics of that summer. 50:18 How long does your love affair go back? 50:21 Well, I'm 42 today and since I was about 10, so about 32 years. 50:27 And tell me about Santa Claus. 50:29 Santa brought my brother a huge boombox for Christmas. And the first thing he played on it was Garth Brooks. And that was the first time I had heard of Garth Brooks. 50:39 Oh, and that's what got you hooked. 50:41 I absolutely love him. 50:42 Okay, so have you bought all the albums or what, the CDs? 50:46 Oh yeah, all of them. I listen to them when I'm cleaning the house. My husband comes home, well, my partner, and he knows that I'm on one if Garth Brooks is playing. He's like, oh, we go back out the door again. 50:57 Not at all means you're in great form and you're loving life. Oh, yeah. I think that would be... Come here. That would be a great thing to walk in the door to go home to somebody at home happy playing music. Come on, that's brilliant. 51:06 Well, I think so too, but he doesn't seem to think so. He runs away. 51:11 You wouldn't be bringing that Grinch with you, so would you? 51:14 No, no, he can stay at home. 51:16 I'm only fooling, I'm only fooling. 51:18 Have you seen him live? I haven't. We've tried to get tickets for every single one of them. And my sister managed to get tickets for the one in Parkey Creeve that was cancelled. 51:30 So we were all geared up and we were like, yay, we're going to go, this is great. And then he cancelled the five gigs and then we couldn't go. And then I couldn't get tickets again the next time he came. 51:40 And it's your birthday today, isn't it? 51:42 And it's my birthday today. It is. It's my birthday and it would just be the best present ever. The first thing that my partner said to me this morning was, happy birthday, look at this, and showed me the announcement. that it was Garth Brooks for Parky Creep. I was like, I have to go. 51:58 I have to go. That's the problem. You see, an announcement like that for a massive gig for a super fan is fierce excitement for the gig and then the anxiety and the worry about not getting a ticket. What do they call that? Bittersweet, isn't it? 52:11 I don't know what they call it, but if I don't get tickets, I told everyone they're not to talk to me for a week. 52:17 I'd say at this stage, somebody would have to be up to willing to donate a kidney or something. 52:23 I would give my right arm and my left leg just to keep me balanced so that I'd still have one limb on each side. Give my right arm and my left leg. 52:31 That sounds good to me. That sounds good to me. Stay listening. We'll see how we get on across the morning. 52:37 I promise you can film me getting a tattoo done on Saturday morning if you give me the tickets. I have an appointment because I'm getting a tattoo anyway but I'll change the tattoo I'm getting and I will get the lyrics to that somewhere. 52:50 you can film me getting it done if you give me the tip okay you're trying to make a deal I get what you're doing here and as you're trying to make a deal with me I'm thinking what about if you and Georgina's what about you and Malcolm's wife going she's got the tattoo already I'll go with her no bother no bother Malcolm can stay at home and get ready to go and post his stuff following morning me and her will go we'll have a great time I'd say you go with the devil himself we'll see we'll see what the morning we'll see what the morning brings alright 53:20 Brilliant. Thank you. 53:21 You're a great sport, though, Georgina. And happy birthday to you. It's a big day, lads. 53:49 Just because he doesn't answer, it doesn't mean he don't care. And every local chapter has a seven-day week available. So I made a promise to myself to say today how much you Got to put me on through. Got to send my love down to Baton Rouge. Hurry up. Got to put her on the line. Got to talk to the girl just one more time. 54:21 Colin Baton Rouge, the great Garth Brooks. We have tickets to give away before midday today for Friday the 18th of June. There are two gigs, the 18th and 19th. Even people who aren't big fans of, say, his music will go to this gig. It's just going to be these two gigs. It's just going to be absolutely huge occasions on Lee's side. And it's something lovely to look forward to. We're looking for the biggest Garth Brooks superfan. Text 0868 104 106. 54:43 The Neil Prenderville Show on Red FM. 54:48 Conversation that matters. 54:51 Okay, Katrina, standing by. First up, Shane. Shane, good morning. 54:54 Well, Neil, how are you, boy? 54:55 Okay, so yourself and your cousin, Rebecca, were mad for tickets. Which gig was it you were looking for at the time? 55:01 This was for the original, the cancelled gig at the time. 55:04 All right. 55:05 And we queued up outside for music in the days when you could actually queue up to get a ticket, you know? You could show how much you wanted them, you know? And we queued up outside, and Jesus, Neil, it was one of the coldest, dampest nights. I'll never forget it. We were dying sick, I'd say, for about two or three weeks afterwards. 55:22 There was a mini in that queue. 55:24 Actually, no, the Pro Musica queue was only, I'd say that whole night, there was only about 10 of us in the queue. Everyone in the queue got tickets that day. 55:32 Okay, because was there another queue then over Ticketmaster on the queue or something? 55:36 There was, I think, in Ticketmaster, a bigger queue. But see, not many people would have thought of Pro Musica at the time. They used to have a Ticketmaster as well, see? and fair play to them because we were there before they closed the evening before and they came out and took all our names and everything so that no one skipped or nothing they did all organise that they knew who we were and all the following morning That's the proper way to do it So how did you get on at night then? Must have been interesting characters coming and going We had an interesting night at about 12 o'clock at night There was an entourage came down Oliver Brunker Street and Peter Dinklage, the Game of Thrones actor, was in Cork socialising that night. 56:15 We met him and he asked us what we were doing and we had a chat with him that night. 56:21 He was a bit rough for where after he'd met in the city, I could say that much. But it was an interesting encounter. 56:29 Big star. He's a big star. We don't know who's amongst us half the time. 56:33 big star and has gone on to even bigger things against his Game of Thrones you know but I have to say Neil one of the most one of the best parts of the night for me because I would have known the man the late Frankie Dunn from Knock the Heaney I would have known Frankie working up in the betting shop up there and Frankie was a character like you know and you know and this was at about 3 o'clock in the morning Frankie wandered down the middle of Oliver Plunker Street and wanted to know what we were at and we told him he spent a half an hour singing Garth Rook songs to us all 57:04 Did he know many of the songs he did? 57:07 He knew plenty of them. I'd say he had about three or four songs and he just kept repeating the same three or four for about a half an hour. But we'd great crack. 57:16 Ah, poor old Frankie. I know. He died tragically on that house in Bory Manor Road. 57:21 An awful death. An awful death. And he was the character of a man. A poor poor man. I used to work in a betting shop and he was the right character. He was no harm to nobody. No harm to nobody. 57:31 No harm to nobody. 57:32 a lovely lovely man but you know Neil it was an interesting night and it's a pity Neil that people can't do that anymore you know sit out in the cold and queue for a ticket and show that you really really want one night because I wouldn't be the best on computers and most times I'd go for a ticket like that I'd fail to get them do you know that kind of way 57:50 Well, I know that, and it is kind of sad in that regard, but I don't think that any father or mother would think it would be a good idea for their son or daughter, or any of us for that matter, to be queuing inside in the city centre through the night anymore. It's just not... Would you not think it's just not safe? 58:06 It's all right. It's different times than Tony, isn't it? It's different times. So Frankie gave you a rendition of all of the hits and when the shop opened you got your tickets then, yeah? 58:26 Oh, we got tickets. We got tickets. I'm sure the concert was cancelled, sure. And I never got to see why I didn't get tickets for the ones in Dublin either. Do you know? Now I'm going to try and get the tickets all right there again this time. But you know yourself, it is potluck really with the internet, isn't it? 58:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 58:42 It is potluck. Do you know what I mean? Potluck. 58:45 Some people actually kept that ticket and didn't just as a memento and a souvenir, which I think is a nice thing if you can afford to hold on to them, you know. But you're a super fan all your life, are you? 58:56 Well, I tell you now, actually, it's funny, Rebecca, the cousin that was with me, her mother, Judith, would have been at one of the 90s concerts, pregnant with her younger brother. 59:05 Where? 59:06 In Crowe Park in the 90s. 59:08 Right, yeah, yeah. 59:10 And would have been there, and not already pregnant, she was well pregnant at the time, and we would have grown up as a family. My parents and them, we were always Garp Brookside, and even as kids, we used to put on impromptu shows. We'd have the blankets up as the stage and all that and we'd put on Garth Brooks shows for him and charge him 50p a piece to come see the show. Do you know yourself? 59:33 More of that carry on, I think. The old-fashioned way like that. 59:38 Making your own props, putting together an old stage, putting on a performance. Why not? Why not? 59:43 And a sweeping brush for a guitar. 59:50 Or a hurley. Or a tennis racket would work well, wouldn't it? 59:53 A tennis racket, if I had one. Come here. We weren't living in Douglas and I didn't have many tennis rackets. 60:02 Okay, touche. I'll give you that one. I'll give you that one. Stay listening, Shane. You never might know what happens right across the morning, but I love people sharing stories like yours. 60:11 Regards to you and to Rebecca, the cousin, all right? Take care for now. 60:15 Perfect. Thanks, Neil. Lovely stuff. 60:18 Lovely stuff. Katrina, good morning. 60:20 Morning, Neil. 60:21 How are you? You went to Yankee Stadium to see him. 60:26 I sure did. Myself and my best friend Sinead back in 2016. 60:30 Were you living there at the time? 60:32 No, no, no. Absolute. Just super fans. Oh, my God. On the bucket list. And we just always wanted to do it. Always wanted to do it. 60:41 So tell me all about that trip. 60:44 So, well, obviously we made a little holiday out of it while we were there too. But Gareth was the highlight and we got our ticket and we arrived at the stadium. And of course, us being the fans and super fans that we are, we kind of dressed up in Western gear with our boots and our cowboy hats. And we had gotten, my now mother-in-law had actually gotten us Irish flag ponchos. So we were wearing them and we were strutting around the place delighted with ourselves. 61:15 And the fella came up to us and he was chatting away to us. And, oh, you're from Ireland. We were like, yeah. And he was like, I can get you up the front. Now, where we were, we would have had a nosebleed. So we were like, who's this weirdo? So he said, stay where you are and come back to you. And we were like, all right. 61:32 Yeah, right. Yeah. 61:34 He came back and we were down right in front of the stage. 61:38 So, that was our introduction to Garth the first time we saw him. 61:45 Why would he want to do that? Do you feel sorry for you or what? 61:48 No, she was fabulous. Oh, the bother. 61:52 But sure, everybody else is probably wearing Stetsons and cowboy boots. 61:57 No, he spotted us a mile away. There was nobody as excited as us. 62:00 Were you the only two Stetsons in Giant Stadium, are you trying to say? 62:04 What? 62:04 Were you the only two Stetson wearers in Giant Stadium? 62:09 No, but we were probably the only two lunatics singing and skipping around the place where we stood out like a sore thumb. 62:14 You should have dragged him off the stage if you were that close. 62:19 Oh, I'm telling you now, it took everything in me not to actually grab the leg and pull him straight down on top of us. Were you that close? I know that sounds rude. That close, yeah, yeah. That close, like. It was like... Unreal. We were so, so lucky and we know how lucky we were. 62:35 Okay. 62:36 But we were so excited as well to be there. 62:39 Did you love the man or you loved the music? 62:42 Both. 62:43 And did you go to Croke Park as well then? 62:46 I know we were lucky to get tickets. I'm telling you now, I'll have no limbs left outside the stage. I'll be selling everything off. We got to see him in 2022 and go back and just another amazing gig. Like, actually, the one in Dublin... 63:01 I don't know, is it the crowd that was there as well? It was just, just unbelievable. It was just unbelievable. 63:09 Yeah, I mean, like, nobody around you at that gig, I'm told, was a stranger. You know what I'm saying? 63:15 No. Oh, we made 10 million best friends that night. Yeah, it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. So the fact that he's coming to Cork now, this would just be... 63:28 I actually can't even explain. 63:29 Well, you are a super fan if you travelled all the way to the Yankee Stadium in 2016 to see his gig, because that's not a cheap thing to do. That's an investment of time and an awful lot of money. The Croke Park gig, you want it to be third time lucky on Leeside. There'll be fierce excitement, won't there? 63:45 This would be just... 63:46 I think, just the pinnacle, to be honest, to be honest. And we both grew up listening to him as kids and, you know, it's just he's always been in the background. 63:58 Any favourite song? Because I'd like to know what people would like me to play. 64:03 Okay, mine is a bit random. 64:06 It's one called The Wolves and I just remember my dad playing it in the car when I was younger. 64:11 Okay, with all due respect, I would suggest you play it in the car for yourself. 64:15 All right. Thanks, Neil. 64:16 No, no. I don't mean that in an insulting kind of way, but I'm looking for maybe everybody's favourite song. 64:26 Oh, sure. They're all brilliant. Like, how could you even pick one? 64:30 How could you even pick one? Now, Thunder Rolls is probably up there, to be fair. 64:37 Oh, yeah. That's it. 64:38 Stay listening, Katrina. 64:45 Looking at Garth Brooks super fans this morning, including Katrina, who went all the way to Yankee Stadium. But hold on a second. Where did John go? John, good morning. 64:55 Morning. Where did you travel to, friend? 64:58 Las Vegas. When? 2011. 65:01 Oh, my God. That must have been one heck of a trip. Who did you go with? 65:05 My wife. We got married in 2010. 65:09 And we had a trip booked to New York in 2011. And then released that. He was playing that weekend. We had booked to go to New York. He was playing that weekend in Las Vegas. So we went into TripAdvisals, swapped our flights, and boom. 65:25 Wow. 65:25 That must have been some gig in Vegas, though, was it? 65:29 It was just incredible. It was a small intimate theatre. 65:33 He went through from when he was young what he... Grew up listening to it then through his music career. It was fascinating, fascinating. 65:41 I'm kind of half curious with an intimate gig like that in Vegas. Would they have been expensive tickets? Is there dinner involved or what? 65:49 No, I think it was $150 a ticket. It was just for the show. 65:56 But it was absolutely worth it. Wow. 65:59 A trip of a lifetime then. 66:01 It was incredible. We actually took a trip to Grand Canyon then to fill up the space for ourselves. 66:08 Another great trip. 66:10 I'd love to see the Grand Canyon. I don't think I'd be a fan of Vegas, but I'd love to see the Grand Canyon. It's a bit like not being a fan. People go to Dubai. I've never seen the attraction to that. But wow, all that way. Have you ever seen them in Ireland or anything? Did you try any of the Irish gigs? 66:24 Yeah, I had tickets to two of the gigs, to two of the five council gigs, and then I actually got up to see them when they came back for the Sunday night. 66:35 Isn't it amazing? I see a lot of texts coming in this morning. There was a chap texted me earlier on. He said, words to the effect that he says that he's a mega Elton John fan, right? But he said on the subject of Garth Brooks playing in Ireland, he said, my advice is to anyone listening, get tickets, go see the concert. This is coming from a mega Elton John fan. He says, I don't think I'll ever love anyone the way I love Elton John's music. But even Elton John would admit that Garth Brooks puts on one hell of a show. And he says, I don't know who enjoyed it more, the concert goers or Garth Brooks. 67:06 That's what comes across. He's enjoying himself. You could even go without being a fan and still love it. Would you agree with that? 67:13 Absolutely. I mean, the buzz. I mean, when we were up in Dublin, obviously, I'm guessing there was loads of people that weren't fans, but it's the whole... 67:23 you get it's the music it's the story behind the songs it just grabs you in and it's just like it's an incredible it's a ritual experience a ritual it's actually it's just it's just the atmosphere amongst other things but you have an you have the complete anthology of his life do you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He released them. I can't remember now when he released them. He released them year after year. There's six of them there. That's like the first five years of the first book, the second five years. 67:54 Next one, then his book board, the tours he did. Then it was retirement. We need the first five years when he came back. And then when he finished the stadium tour in Ireland... it finishes there and it covers his life, basically. 68:12 I remember talking to him a few years ago, but tell me what you think as to... Why did he come back? Why did he retire and come back? Did he think that was game up or was he tired? 68:22 No, he was tired to look after the family. And when the kids... He always said when the kids were growing up, if the music wanted him, if people wanted him, he'd come back. And he was dipping his toe in every now and then doing Charlie Gies and the late, but then when he fully came back, he was just like, in place of mental, mental. 68:42 And how are you then with, say, for instance, vinyl, CDs, any of that? 68:47 I've, I've, I've, all CDs actually have the CDs on a memory stick that's plugged into USB in my car. And when, when Raven is just played on the loop, I have VHSs, DVDs, I have vinyls. It's just like, my wife thinks I'm crazy the amount of stuff I have. 69:05 So, do you only listen to Garth Brooks' music? 69:09 No, no, like, if I'm in, say, when I see the car, when I drive to work, I'm dropping the kids to school, all that type of thing, it's, it's, the Garth Brooks is in the car, obviously, Garth Brooks is never, you know, my wife does love them as well, as much as I do, but... There's only so much she can take, like... Yeah, but when I play with the kids in the car, then, like, Daddy can you turn off Garth Brooks? LAUGHTER 69:33 I'm not getting in the car with him when you drive me. 69:35 Yeah. They listen, they like a couple of songs, but then if the song comes on, they don't like it. 69:40 Oh, man, what a great story. But she still went to Vegas, though, to see him, in fairness. 69:45 Yeah, she did, and she enjoys more. You don't have to be a Garth Brooks fan to enjoy the concerts. They're just... 69:53 It's an experience, but if you are a friend, it's just... That's why there's fierce excitement and people are on red alert for Thursday morning, of course, and you amongst them this day week. 70:03 So tell me, do you have a particular favourite? 70:07 I have a couple. His version of To Make You Feel My Love, my wife and I had as our first dance. I can't sing, but I sang and wrapped up in you at our wedding. 70:19 And then... 70:21 Live Ways and going down till the sun comes up will be my favourite Live Ways. 70:27 So it's best for me not to ask you to sing a few bars, is it? 70:31 The people that start switching off is to help me sing the... 70:37 We can't have that. No, no, no. No, we can't. You can actually do nothing else with going up and then you might get a ticket. 70:45 Well, give me a few, give me a few, give me a few, give me a few lines. I can't do that. I can't. Ah, yeah, you're a coward. 70:52 How badly do you want these tickets, man? 70:54 If you've got a two-minute ticket... 70:56 I can't guarantee you. I can't make that deal. I think I'm Donald Trump, the art of the deal. No, no, no. We have to keep this live for a little while yet. But, I mean, I won't force you. 71:11 You know what I mean? Yeah. Well... I'll give you a verse of the song I sang to my wife at the wedding. It's wrapped up in you. And excuse... The voice, no, can't sing, but I love to sing. Damn. How do I love you? Let me see. I love you like a lyric. There's a melody maybe completely wrapped up in you. 71:41 You know something? You know what I have to tell you now? We should face our fears and you certainly did. It took a lot of courage to do that in fairness. 71:50 And you can hold a song in fairness. So well done. That was a brave move. Shows how desperate you are for tickets. 71:58 All right, John. Stay listening, my friend. All right. Take care for now. Much obliged. I'll tell you what. In fairness, he did it. 72:07 You could say I was out of desperation, but he did it. 72:11 Now. 0818 104 106. The Neil Prenderville Show. 72:17 Oh, people really did travel. Oh, please, please give me the tickets. Garth Brooks' massive comeback was scheduled for five shows in Croke Park in 2014. There was war, if anyone can remember it, as it went down from three to five shows, five to three, and the residents weren't happy. So it all got cancelled in the end. 72:34 He kicked off the tour in Chicago instead. I went to Chicago on my own. I'd love to get you on the air to find out what that trip was like. Wow, that's amazing. So Vegas. Joined Stadium in New York and Chicago and you travelled alone. That's another serious Garth Brooks superfan for sure. Anita, good morning. 72:54 Good morning, Neil. How are you? Great. So you go back 34 years to the point. 72:59 I do. I do. And what a show. And what a performer. And he still is. 73:05 Yeah. And that was the early days, Garth Brooks, though, aren't they? Early days. Very early days. 73:10 I was in love since the first time I saw Garth Brooks. heard his voice, I was saying, who is he? Because I do like country music. 73:17 Yeah, yeah. Did you go to the Zach gig down in Parky Creek? I couldn't get tickets, no. That was mental, wasn't it? 73:24 It was, it was. Because I lived fairly close to it and I could hear it. 73:29 So, but I didn't get tickets. But there's nobody ever going to be as good as Garth Brooks, to be fair. 73:35 So who did you go to the Point gig with if you were in love with Garth Brooks? You weren't in love with your boyfriend, no? 73:41 I was with my husband. 73:43 Was he your husband then? 73:44 He was, yeah. We were married quite young, but yeah, we went to Garth Brooks. I just had such a love for him and I needed him to drive. And? 73:57 We went up and when I saw... Why did you need him to drive? 74:01 I needed him to drive because I didn't drive at the time. How was I going to get to Dublin? 74:04 Do you drive now? 74:06 I do, yeah. 74:07 Were you too young to hold a licence or something? 74:10 Well, I was just above the age, but I just never got around to driving. 74:14 Did Garth Brooks blow a kiss to you? 74:18 He did. He did. We were sitting on the balcony in the point. 74:24 And on the side of the stage, we were row one, seats one and two. Of course, I was in seat one. So, of course, I was hanging over the glass balcony, taking photographs with my camera. 74:37 I had my camera with me. 74:39 No smartphones in 92. 74:42 Brick, basic bricks. 74:45 Oh yeah, I still have those photographs. But as I was leaning over taking photographs, he moved across the stage and he stood right down below me and I was getting jittery. I'll be honest with you, I was getting very jittery and I was saying, please look up, please look up in my own head. And next he looked up, he tilted his hat and he blew me a kiss. I nearly went weak at the knees. 75:09 I mean, it's a beautiful story, right? And I don't want to burst your bubble, but how do you know that he wasn't just blowing a kiss to the thousands of people in the balcony? 75:21 Well, he was looking up at the balcony in the corner where I was standing. I was the only one standing there. 75:27 That was most definitely, oh, you stood out. 75:29 Oh, yeah. I was like Rapunzel there on the balcony. 75:33 Look, you didn't fall over it. 75:34 I was the only one he saw. No, I was the only one he saw. I nearly died, says she. I nearly died. I did. I did. And I was so excited. My husband actually said to me, for God's sake, Anita, sit down. You're a married woman. 75:50 I thought it was, for God's sake, when you sit down, you're mortifying me. 75:56 You're a married woman. And your ma'am, God rest her soul, was she a big fan as well? 76:01 She was a huge, huge fan. And her favourite song of all time was The Dance. 76:08 And she died shortly after that gig. 76:12 Isn't it terribly cruel that someone's ma'am would die at 52? 76:16 Yeah, it's way too early, way, way too early. And she's so much to live for. Oh, you can be sure of it. Yeah, and she just loved the dance. And the meaning of it meant a lot about her life. You know, and the chance she got and she got to live the dance as such. She just related to that song. 76:35 Is she long gone? 76:37 She's 31 years gone. Yeah, yeah. She died not long after that gig. She died in 1993. 76:45 I'll play the dance for you between now and... Oh, my God. I'll play the dance for your mum. What was your mum's name? 76:51 Nancy. Nancy Robinson. 76:53 Oh, I just love that name. John Greeden's a daughter called Nancy. It's a beautiful name. 76:57 I love that name. Isn't it a gorgeous name? 76:58 It's beautiful. Is it popular anymore, Nancy? 77:01 It is. I've got... My cousin in England, her little girl is called Nancy. Oh. I have heard it around. It is... And Nancy is actually a pet name for Anne. 77:12 I did not know that. 77:13 Yeah, it's a pet name for Anne because my mum's actual name was Anne. But she never, she was only Anne on the official forums. There's something very beautiful about that name, Nancy. There is. 77:25 I always think of Nancy being a kind of a free spirit, you know? 77:29 Yes, and she was. She was that, like, you know. 77:32 Don't you find that sometimes people's names suit them? 77:35 It does, yeah. And then, like, she called me Anissa because... Nancy is also a pet name for Anissa. 77:43 Get away. What a beautiful, beautiful woman. 77:46 Yeah, she was one of the best. 77:48 Nancy Robinson. A strong surname as well, incidentally. 77:51 Oh, she was the real Mrs. Robinson. 77:54 I'm so glad you called. Before our president. 77:58 I'm going to play out with a couple of songs and I guarantee you we'll finish up with the dance in memory of Nancy Robinson, the beautiful woman. 78:05 Thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. 78:08 All right, girls. Stay listening. I'm glad you called. Hang in there. Hang in there. Nice talking to you, Anita. And best of luck to you with regards to the tickets, whatever happens. Meanwhile, Sinead. 78:18 Okay, we've got people. Can you hear me, Sinead? 78:21 Yeah, hello. 78:21 Okay, so we've got people who've travelled all over the world. We have people who said that they would donate an organ. We have people who said that they've got tattoos on their arm. 78:29 You would get a tattoo, yeah? 78:32 I'd get a tattoo of you, Neil. Oh, I thought it was the case that you were going to get Garth Brooks tattooed on my face. You would get a tattoo of my face. 78:42 Of your face on me, yeah. 78:44 Listen, woman, I would rather buy you tickets myself than inflict that cruelty. 78:50 If you want to do that now, look, we can start that as well. 78:52 Rather than inflict that kind of cruelty on you. 78:54 Oh, my God. Are you that desperate? 78:57 I'm that desperate. I love Garber. 79:01 You would live with that on your face for the rest of your life? 79:04 Absolutely. Absolutely. 79:08 I get one of you angers. 79:09 Okay. When do you want to get it done? 79:12 I don't care who you tell me. 79:14 I'm not talking about a removable one or one that fades on macchiato. 79:20 A real tattoo. 79:21 For the rest of your life. 79:23 For the rest of my life, yeah. 79:25 You need to think this through, Sinead, before I accept this. 79:28 I've thought about it. I've thought about it. I do wish for the Garbrook ticket. 79:32 And what about if you spent the rest of your life with people saying to you, what are you doing with your man's little anger's face on your forehead? 79:41 I think he got me a Garbrook ticket. 79:45 But I can't do this to you because I can guarantee you, the gig will be over. You'll be trying to get on with the rest of your life and you will regret it. 79:52 No, if I get it on my arm or something, or my leg. 79:56 No, you said, oh, anywhere on your body. Do I get to choose where? 80:02 You get to choose, yeah. 80:04 Okay, it would be your top right forehead. 80:07 No, no, from the neck down. 80:11 So you want to hide it, so no one would see it? 80:13 No, sure, I'll have my arms out, so if you want to get it on my arm. 80:16 I suppose if it was small enough after the gig, you could put a plaster over it or something. 80:22 but you can pick the face as well. 80:29 All right. I have free access to any particular body part that I wish to put a tattoo on, but it must be from the neck down. 80:36 From the neck down. 80:40 Oh, my God. 80:42 I'm kind of half tempted, to be honest. 80:44 You cannot say no to this offer. 80:47 I kind of, the level is so high this morning and the calls are so great. I'm starting to half regret this because it's going to be a difficult call. 80:56 Like Malcolm's wife, Malcolm's wife now has sent me a photograph of the tattoo of the lyrics of, what are the lyrics of? Because it's backwards here. I can't read them. 81:07 The dance on her arm. 81:08 Yeah, but that's only lyrics. This is a tattoo of your face. 81:17 You don't have to check with anybody. You don't have to get permission from anybody else, no? No. My body, your body. Is there a partner in your life? 81:26 No. I'm all good. 81:29 Up to myself. 81:31 Okay. I'll consider it. 81:34 I'll consider it. Really think about this now, Neil, because you'll never get this off her again. 81:40 Are you sure of it? I hope not. 81:45 All right, let's see what happens between now and midday. Anybody beat that with their Sinead or indeed Malcolm's wife? Their tattoos are plenty. They're flying left, right and centre. 81:55 That's an interesting proposition, I have to say. 81:59 Maybe it's I should be checking as to whether people in my life are happy with that, particularly my own wife. 82:06 If I know my own wife, she'd say absolutely. Back after 11. Oh. 82:16 Thank you. 82:37 So you have all of these flights around Europe that are being diverted, amongst them an Aer Lingus plane from Dublin, multiple threats, I should say, grounding flights across Europe. Isn't it so easy to make a threat like that and cause so much fear and chaos? An email, a text, a post or something like that and The world is just changing so, so quickly. Listen to me, I've got to tell you, I was looking at All About Cork this morning, they were reporting that there was a 60-year-old man in his 60s, lucky to be alive. He was hours stranded on the rocks and the mud down near, you know, the old Yawl Bridge down in County Cork. 83:14 In fact, I know people were passing by and ultimately a motorist spotted him. It's very interesting because I got a voice note on that very topic this morning. Have a listen. 83:23 Lads, I hope everyone's okay. There's a car that's going off the pair there on the far side of the Yard. Trying to go off the bridge on the far side of the Yard there. 83:30 On the right-hand side, you can see across the water. There's a car that's going off. There must be a 25-foot drop down onto rocks. 83:35 I can't see anyone there. There's about five fire-bigades. There's ambulances and everything there. 83:40 Again, I have to see if anybody's injured or not. It's probably, but it's okay until people be careful if they're heading that direction. 83:44 You're absolutely 100% right, because there was a motorist travelling in the direction of Cork, lost control of his car. This is all about Cork this morning. Lost control of his car, crashed through the wall, and then the car and everything dropped 15 feet onto the mud 4 o'clock this morning. He was travelling to Cork, apparently, for a medical appointment. lost control, crashes through the wall. He managed to get out of the wreckage, right? And got rather desperate from there. He was crawling along the mud and the rocks trying to get to safety and eventually collapsed from exhaustion. 84:16 Now, he's a very lucky man because hours later, just like, say, for instance, that voice note I just played for you, a member of public spotted the crash car and then discovered the man lying nearby, unconscious, about half eight this morning. 84:31 There was a big rescue operation, obviously, immediately launched and emergency services from all over rushed to the scene. He had y'all fire brigade, y'all ambulance crews, emergency personnel came from Ardmore. The guards were there. Coast Guard helicopter. He was found alive but suffering from hypothermia. He's a lucky, lucky man. that somebody spotted him when they did because ours would have made all of the difference there. The fact that he was discovered when he was, has been described as absolutely crucial to saving his life. So that's being reported on All About Cork. 85:02 He's a lucky, lucky man. I hope that he'll make a full recovery. He's in good hands now, but sadly suffering from hypothermia. But he'll recover, fingers crossed. 85:12 That was a close one, wasn't it? Either way, text 0868 104 106. Pick up the phone on 0818 104 106. So many texts this morning. I'll stop down and do some of the texts in a few minutes' time with regards to Garth Brooks' superfans. If you're coming late to the party... 85:31 For those that don't know, he's announced an Irish tour for next year. Starts in Belfast for two nights in May, then Galway after that, then Kilkenny, then Limerick and then finishing up in Cork. And what's interesting about this is he leaves some time between all of the different gigs. He leaves four or five, he leaves four days on average before he moves from Belfast to Galway to Kilkenny. So he's going to do a lot of travelling as well. And he said that last time I spoke to him. I don't mean to sound like a schnat saying that, but he loves Ireland as well and wants to travel around and see lots of different parts of the country. 86:02 So he's going to be here for quite some time. There'll be fierce excitement when he's here. There really and truly will if this morning is anything to go by. So Jessica's standing by. But first up, Angie, good morning. 86:13 Hi Neil, how are you? 86:15 I'm good. 86:16 It's amazing because the stories keep getting more and more bizarre as to the extremes that people went to. Do share please. 86:23 OK, well I queued on the street and It was a storm forecast. I sent all the pictures to the WhatsApp page. 86:36 I have pictures of you on Merchant's Quay. 86:39 Not out in the open, though. Go ahead. 86:41 Oh, no, no, no. I bought a beach shelter because we knew it was going to be inclement weather. So I brought the beach shelter with me and we camped out outside Merchant's Quay. I think I was third or fourth in the queue. 86:55 Like all the people around us, we had great fun with them. A couple of my friends came in because I was actually getting tickets from my friends. So they came in to keep me company, but I was the one that sashed it out. I think we were about, I think it was about maybe, I said to the other guy about 48 hours, but it was the morning before we went in and started queuing. 87:16 In 2014. Now, you made the news, the TV news at the time. 87:22 Yeah, Paul Byrne was there and he came up. I presume it's because we were at the start of the queue, you know. And he interviewed a few people along the queue and I was one of the people he interviewed. And it was just five seconds of fame for Garth Brooks back in 2014. And we had such a great night. I was explaining it to the girl that I was chatting to that there was a pizza company actually brought down boxes of pizzas to us. 87:51 Wow. 87:52 In the middle of the night, two, three o'clock in the morning. That's very kind. And, you know, it was, I can't remember the name of the pizza company. I presume they're still in the city, but we had, we had a great, you know, it was a great atmosphere. We were singing. There was, you know, and of course my beach shelter drew everybody. 88:10 If it was country and Western music, it probably would have been Apache pizza, I suppose. 88:17 Well, yeah, that's true. The Cowboys and Indians. Because it's 16 years ago and I wouldn't have an ocean. 88:24 But tell me this, was it 48 hours you stayed there? 88:28 I went in, my friend dropped me in in the morning time, like early morning, and we queued on the street the whole day, the whole night, and we got the tickets the following morning. 88:38 Okay, so we'd say 24 hours. 88:41 Man, that's a long time. 48, Neil, to be honest. What? 88:45 You would have stayed 48. 88:48 The wind and the rain was howling and we were on the quay and that time, you know, the quays used flood. 88:53 And I was saying, oh, my God, we're going to be in there. We're going to be floating down Riverley with the beach shelter. 88:59 I have to tell you, because when I used to work in the city, I worked up on Wellington Road and the studio windows looked down. It's a fabulous view, actually, from there. But over the years, we used to literally look down on Merchant's Quay and there always would be hundreds of people queuing. 89:17 all the way down the quay. I was listening to the other guys while I go about Pro Musica. We were about 12 hours into the queue when this lady goes, I'm not doing this anymore. There's hardly anybody over on Oliver Plunkett Street outside Pro Musica. And I said, what? With the Pro Musica selling them too? So the queue, I know the queue was way smaller on Oliver Plunkett Street. Like for Merchant's Quay, it went the whole ways down, around and up the street nearly up as far as I think the old caches. 89:48 Was it a case back then? Were you guaranteed a ticket in the queue or was there no online purchasing back then or what? 89:56 I think there was online purchasing, but I think we missed out because they sold out. And then I said, I'm not taking the chance. I think he released more tickets. I know. And sadly, the gig was cancelled anyway, wasn't it? But he released more tickets and I said, I am not taking a chance. I'm going in and I'm sitting it out. And I got my six tickets. Six of myself and five of my friends were going. And I got the six tickets and I was so happy. And then heartbreak, heartbreak. After all the effort. I think it was at Crow Park, the residents of Crow Park picked up or something. 90:29 After all the effort. And all the effort. 90:32 Well, they wanted more gigs, right? And they tried to work out some kind of a deal with the residents of Crow Park. And the deal was then to reduce it. And I think Garth Brooks had said, or his people said, that it wasn't financially viable or something at that stage. Wasn't that the case? 90:46 Yeah, there was something. Do you know what? I was so devastated, you know, after making such an effort. And I wasn't the only person on that queue. But like, you know, I just kind of said I left my children. Well, I won't be getting a tattoo of you on my face, Neil. Anyway, that's one thing. 91:10 Well, maybe not. No, listen, I would never. I'm a humble guy. 91:16 I'm a humble guy. I wouldn't want that at all. But if it were to happen, it would be on a place that wouldn't be seen by the public, obviously. 91:24 Well, I have no tattoos and I have no intention of getting one, so you're out of luck with that. 91:28 Ah, listen, don't worry, I won't lose any sleep over it. And don't you either. Don't you either. But hang in there and let us see what happens. Do you still have the tent awning, I'm wondering? 91:39 Would you believe I do? Fair play. You're like me then. You're a hoarder amongst other things. 91:43 Well, I'm a bit of a hoarder, yes, but for camping and beach stuff, I have everything. So I actually still have that beach shelter. 91:52 All right. Lovely stories this morning. Thank you, Angie. Thank you so much. Text 0868 104 106. And I will get to some of the texts and calls after the break. 91:59 Get on to Prenderville now. 0818 104 106. The Neil Prenderville 92:07 Lots of different texts here. Absolutely. Yeah, it was the point that Garth Brooke played in 1994. 92:13 I'm working with a huge Garth fan. She hasn't done a bit all morning with the excitement of him coming to Cork. So she went to see him in Dublin but never got to see him. You may ask why. Firstly, the boss got a puncture going to Dublin but they still made it in plenty of time. A quick drink before the stadium. She tripped on a step and burst open her head. 92:31 Ended up in hospital. They wouldn't leave her leave as she had concussion and torn ligaments. 92:37 She was also getting married in Spain. She's also getting married in Spain next year, so this would be a great early wedding present. Her name is Elaine. 92:44 Answers to the name of Lucky. 92:47 I would definitely... No, I said that. Thanks, Carol. Appreciate it. I would definitely be up there as a Garth Brooks superfan. I skipped my English pre-leaving assert exam to get tickets to the first set of cancelled concert. I was first row in 2022. I'm a ball of anxiety all morning thinking about the tickets sorted out for me, says Molly. A massive comeback was scheduled for five shows in Croke Park in 2014. There was war, if anyone can remember. It went from reduced, reduced and they just weren't happy. So eventually the whole thing got cancelled and he kicked off the tour in Chicago instead. 93:19 I went to Chicago as well and I went on my own. So the lengths that people will go to. It was fierce disappointment then. That's not going to happen now because everybody's on board for these gigs. And bear in mind, there'll be a lot of interest in the gigs from people who aren't from the areas of the country where the gigs are taking place. Like there is no gig planned as of yet anyway. Certainly no announcement with regards to Dublin. So they'll all be travelling, right? One wonders whether Donna and her dad will be. Donna, good morning. 93:48 Good morning, Neil. OK, so I know very little apart from your dad being a superfan. 93:55 Yeah, my dad has been listening to Garp Brooks Jesus since before I was born. So I've been reared on him. And I've also been reared with the story about having my dad when he went to the point in the 90s. 94:10 So he saved with his brothers and they got the tickets and he went on his travels. 94:16 And when he got to Dublin, they went into the point and they were obviously waiting for Garp Brooks to come on stage and they got the opening act and it was all fine. 94:26 Next thing, Garp Brooks sprung from the floor, strummed the guitar once and my dad hit the deck. He collapsed from being so starstruck. 94:37 He fainted. 94:39 He fainted. Yeah, completely blacked out. Yeah. 94:44 because he was such a fan of Garth Brooks he collapsed and his brothers being his brothers just left him just left him on the floor Did anybody come to his aid security first aid St John's Ambulance so he ended up having to go to first aid because he obviously bashed his head when he went down he missed the entire concert being in first aid he got maybe the last two songs so yeah so when he left and obviously he couldn't give in to the fact that he was so starstruck but he fell he came up with this brand new story about how the woman in front of him was wearing this really strong perfume that knocked him out because he was allergic to the smell and 95:29 That's a man thing, isn't it? We can never take the blame for anything. We have to either find a reason or someone to blame. 95:37 That's it. And he keeps saying to his brothers, like, no, you just didn't smell it. And they're like, no, there was no woman standing in front of you. You got starstruck and you shook the deck and you fell. 95:48 You swooned. You swooned. 95:50 You swooned over a cowboy. 95:54 kind of thing you'd much prefer to bury and keep a secret right and here we are all these years later talking about your dad who I suppose should remain nameless yeah oh 100% like I'm already probably going to be disowned because he's listening to this at home screaming at the radio knowing that it's about him I'm loving these stories and the lengths that people will go you'd even shop your dad 96:15 I would. The only reason is because when he came back in 2014, we got him tickets and then obviously it cancelled. So I was like, now this is your time. This is your time. You can go. 96:25 You can finally see it. I couldn't send your dad. He's much older now. He's at risk of a coronary. 96:32 I'm saying, I'm going to have to have a defibrillator with me or something. 96:34 I'm going to have to have something with me. Absolutely. You'd have to have a full suite of medics with him in case something went wrong. 96:40 Like every family reunion, you know, his brothers are, like, they're all in their 60s, no 70s, and they're all still slagging him, slagging him about it. Like, so I think I need to give him a chance to kind of get there and prove that it wasn't a screaming over the cowboy that did it. 96:56 I'd say it could be here all day taking stories like yours. They're absolutely fabulous this morning. Okay, so stay listening, Donna, will you? Let me just clip ahead if you don't mind. 97:05 The things that people will do and the things that people will give up, right? Have a listen to this. Adrena, good morning. 97:12 Hi, Neil. How are you? 97:13 OK, so one would assume that you are a real super fan, right? And your husband's an even bigger one. So have you got... Tell me the story. Have you got agreement for this? What are you about? 97:25 I just told him there before he walked out the door to go collect our child from school. And he's like, OK, whatever you want. 97:32 And so we are pregnant again. So this is probably big news to all our family because we were planning on telling them this week. 97:39 Oh, hang on a second. Is this a public announcement for the first time? It's a public announcement. OK, let's do this properly. Adrena and who? Martin. Are pregnant and are expecting a baby when? 97:53 in May next year okay is it a boy or a child we don't know it's it's still early so and it's our fourth so whatever whatever we'll be given we'll be happy all right what have you got already two and one one and two or what two boys and a girl okay so to all of the friends of both of you they now know because up until now okay yeah all right have you a name for the baby next year Yes, I'm going to use the middle names and call it either Garth, if it's a boy, or Trisha after his wife, if it's a girl. 98:26 So I'm really into this. People can get tattoos and all this, but this is going to be a names walk in her own child. 98:33 When did you, okay, so when did you decide that? Either to call the boy Garth, or if it's a daughter, Garth's wife, Trisha. When did you decide that? 98:43 Today, because we're big fans and we cannot wait because I actually went to his gig. We had the original tickets. I bought them back in 2014. And, you know, the gigs got cancelled in Dublin, so we were devastated. 98:56 And then I bought tickets again in 2021. And then I found out a few weeks later I was pregnant. 99:02 So I actually went to the gig at 36 weeks pregnant in Crow Park. Fair play. With my maternity bag and my maternity folder in case I went into labour. 99:12 I nearly got stuck in the turnstiles. 99:15 I literally had to kind of be hoisted up to get over them. 99:18 Anybody tell you that might not have been a great idea? 99:22 Looking back now, it was brilliant. But the security came over to me and they were so nervous in case I'm into labour. They're like, please don't go into labour tonight. And I was like, no, no, I'm OK. I've got like four weeks left. But I had my little boy three weeks later. And they were like, are you sure? And I'm like, yeah, I'm OK. And there was one security guard actually stood on the steps near me for the couple of hours that we were in there. Isn't that so lovely? In case I needed him. 99:45 Yeah, yeah. 99:45 It was. It was so lovely of him. And then we were leaving. I'm like, thank you. He's like, no, thank you. 99:49 Thank you. Goodbye. Thank you. Bye-bye. 99:51 Off you go. Thank you. 99:53 Good luck. 99:53 Yeah. So now that he's coming back next year and I'm doing my baby in May, so I'll be recovered to hopefully attend the gig then in June. 100:02 OK, all things going well and I'm sure that they will. So what do we know now? You decided this morning to use either Garth for a boy or Trisha for a girl because you love Garth Brooks anyway or is it to try and snaffle a couple of tickets from me? 100:16 I love him and I love you too. 100:19 You don't have to say that. Don't be telling lies now. 100:23 No, no, no. I listened to your show even back at night time. My eldest is, he'd be 11 and a half now and he used to call you Papa Neil because he used to listen back to your show so much. And he used to keep me going during all my nice days over the years. And he's like, oh, Papa Neil's on. 100:40 Oh, that's so cute. 100:41 I know. I mean, that's lovely. 100:44 People don't have to go to the extremes as much as you've done. 100:47 But that is lovely to hear. Thank you. You really do. 100:50 You really do listen. So maybe it should be Garth Neil. 100:56 Perfect. I'll do it. 100:58 I will double barrel him yeah I will if it's a good boy and if not then you can pick out an extra girl's name as well if you want for the Trisha we can double barrel in that way as well Garth Garth Nell perfect We can sort it. 101:13 I wouldn't do it to you. I just wouldn't do it to you. Firstly, I wouldn't even suggest it because it's a vain thing to do. I'm only having a laugh with you, to be honest. 101:23 I'm jumping on board. I'm like, yeah, I'm in. 101:25 But even though I'm having a laugh with you, you're up for anything I'm suggesting, which is interesting. 101:31 Yeah, I am. I am. But I'm just so, so excited to have him back here in Cork of all places. I don't have to travel to Dublin. And trying to find a babysitter for hopefully a five-week, six-week-old baby. 101:43 And have you said to Martin, isn't it? 101:46 Yes. Yeah, Martin. Okay. Have you said, are you okay if the boy's born, we call him Garth? And if the girl is born, we call her Tricia? 101:56 He's very, very happy. And I was like, yeah. I said, because we were humming and hawing over names. 102:01 And I was like, how about these for the middle names? And he was like, that's grand because he's the biggest Garrett Brooks fan. 102:06 Oh, yeah. It's the second name, is it? 102:11 The middle names, yeah, because we kind of have some family-ish names for the first. 102:16 Oh, a second now. That kind of dilutes the My Waddy a bit. 102:21 Okay, okay. We'll pull back. We'll pull back. I'll put him as the first name. 102:26 You're mad, you know that? You're absolutely barking. 102:30 Yeah, I've been told that. You're certifiable. 102:34 I've been told that by many people, so don't worry. 102:38 You'll go and have to check with Martin, though, before you agree to something. 102:41 He's happy because I'm the one that has to go through the labour, so he's more than happy. 102:45 But I'd have to get you to sign all sorts of official documents and everything to make this a binding contract. Because you could be off to the Garth Brooks tickets and giving me the middle finger, like... 102:56 No, I will happily go out to Red FM Studios and I will sign off anything and then the next time you see it will be on the birth chart. 103:02 But how do you know you'd have a son? Like, I have buddies. 103:06 One is called Garrett and another fella's called Gareth. They're lovely. I actually know two or three. But how do you know that your son, when he grows up, will thank you for calling him Garth? 103:16 Because he's going to be weird on the music. 103:19 So he's going to be like, yeah, I like this. Yeah. 103:22 How do you think he'll feel when you tell him the reason why he's named Garth and what you did? How you sold out his birthright for his name for a ticket for a concert? 103:32 I think at that stage he'll probably realise I'm a bit of a header ball so he'll just go with it. He'll probably be like, yeah, my mouth will. 103:38 There's nothing else I can do here to unconvince you to do this. I'm just doing my best. I'm just trying to make you aware of all of the potential hurdles along the way. 103:46 There's hurdles along the way but do you know what now? I'll be happy either way so... Yeah, anything for, you know, a bit of crack and Garth Brooks tickets, hopefully, and a happy, healthy baby. 103:57 Okay, you know the bit about Garth Neil or Trisha Nell. That's the joke. Yeah, I know. 104:07 I know, don't worry, Neil, I know. 104:08 Okay, so where are we at now this morning with all of the other ones? We know of those. So you are now saying to me, just to get this right, Adrena and Martin, when did you say he was born? May, is it? 104:21 At the start of May, yeah, with the help of God. So it'll be he or she. So we don't know yet. 104:25 OK, so he'll be born in May. The gig is on the 18th of June. Of course, you'll be able to go to that. Not a bother. Yeah. So I could take the tickets back off you then if you don't call him, Garth, because the gig won't be on for another month after he's born. 104:39 That's it, you see. You can take me at my word if you want, but when I give my word, I give my word. 104:44 Okay. Okay, so this is where we're at. We'll see where the rest of the morning... I'd love to confer, actually, with colleagues on these ones this morning because they're just way too good. You will surrender up your birth name for your son and you will surrender up your birth name for your daughter, Garth or Tricia, for two tickets for the gig in June. 105:03 Yeah, my husband's on board as well, so don't worry. 105:05 No, no, no, no. He was on board for the middle name. 105:08 Yeah. You've got to go and find out. You hear what I'm saying to you? You've got to find out is he on board for the first names. 105:15 I say he doesn't mind. He's happy but lucky because with our daughter... 105:21 I wanted like Rebecca Ellie and he was just like, yeah, go ahead with us. Oh, for God's sake. 105:26 Would you call the girl Rebecca Ellie and forget about all of this, would you? 105:30 He did. He said, you just gave birth to... No, no, that's my other daughter. That's my daughter's name. All right, OK. What's your surname? You give birth. Dunn. 105:36 D-U-N-N-E. Garth Dunn. Strong name all the same though, isn't it? I think so. I think so. Garth Dunn. Trisha Dunn. Very strong name as well. 105:47 I like them. 105:48 Garth Neil Dunn sounds good to me, doesn't it? 105:52 Even stronger, Neil. 105:54 Oh my God, we could be on a winner here. 105:57 I think so. 105:57 I'm getting very nervous here this morning because tattoos and naming babies after Country and Western stars. We'll have to see what the next 20 minutes brings. I'll see what happens, Adriana. 106:08 Stay listening, all right? Perfect, thank you. 106:13 What do you think? 106:15 I mean, this is fairly mad stuff now. 106:18 I don't know what to say. We're going to have to get other tickets. 106:21 This is mad stuff. Somebody who already has a tattoo of the lyrics is right up there. Another one who will get a tattoo of my bloody face. 106:29 Right off your head. That's the best ever. That's the winner for me anyway. 106:32 Somebody who will now change the names of their baby born next May. Boy, it'll be Garth. Girl, it'll be Tricia. After Tricia, you're with... 106:40 They're pretty big commitments, like. They really are, yeah. 106:43 But we'll see how the... We've 20 minutes left now. We'll see how the rest of it... My nerves. Nerves. 106:48 I'll shut up and you guys put up. Text 0868 104 106. 106:57 I'm a super fan. First time his tickets went on sale, I queued up outside Merchant's Key for 37 hours. I got the tickets, but I also got tuberculosis. Ended up in hospital for three weeks and on treatment for nine months. Mother of God, the price you paid. But boy, it was still worth it until I was told in the hospital by a doctor that the concerts were cancelled. He couldn't even help himself, but he didn't. But not to start laughing, but all was okay. I got to see him when he did come back, says Mags. But you paid him a serious price there, queuing for 37 hours. Mother of God, that must have been tough. 107:28 TB, weeks and weeks in hospital. Keep those coming. Text 0868 104 106. My mum would love the ticket. She's been a Garth Brooks fan for as long as I remember. My memories of the 90s is having his music blaring in the car. She went to Croke Park two nights in a row the last time he was in Ireland. went to Hyde Park show in London during the summer just gone. I'm sure she's already planning to travel around Ireland next summer to go to each and every one of his upcoming gigs. Now, back to the emails we go. Jessica, good morning. 107:58 Good morning. 107:59 Now, you put a lot of effort into your email this morning, didn't you? 108:03 Yeah. 108:04 On behalf of your lovely dad, do tell me the story, will you? 108:09 So basically, my dad suffered a stroke during COVID. And before all that, we tried to get tickets for when he had to cancel the gigs. 108:18 So between the two of us, we camped out for, it was around the 20, 27 hours. 108:25 And unfortunately, that didn't go ahead. But I was very lucky to get tickets to see him then in Dublin. And my dad ended up having to get a bypass. 108:34 I know, I know, I know. 108:35 So he got a chance to... 108:38 Yeah, he didn't get a chance to go to that one. So I had my phone on me, so I tried to show as much as I could over the phone. But it's not the same. So when I heard that you were taking on stories today, I was like, look, this is true. It's a chance and I took it. 108:55 Because like you were saying that Garth Brooks and his music has been the, you put it as the soundtrack to our family life. From playing in the kitchen to filling the car and all of our journeys, they've woven so many happy memories with your dad. But your dad, did he have COVID or did he get a stroke during COVID? 109:14 So he suffered a stroke during COVID. He was actually waiting to go in and get the, like before it used to take nearly a week to go in and get a test done to see if he even had COVID at the beginning of all of it. So he was actually meant to go in and get that test done the day after he had the stroke. 109:31 And then he subsequently then went on and suffered a heart attack and had to have bypass surgery. 109:36 Yeah, he finally, so he went to rehab and everything in Dublin and it was when he came back from Dublin then, that's when I was in hospital myself then because I had my own surgery that I had to get done over having Crohn's and he then suffered the the hashtag needed the bypass it was just it was too much for him like even though i had the tickets to go to dublin just even getting the train up and then obviously staying overnight and getting to and from like he was wiped out from even doing an hour in rehab so it was just too much for him the only way of me being able to do it was going myself and ringing him when i was up there so you video called a lot of the concert back to your dad Yeah, and my partner then, he took a lot of recordings so that I could send them on then as well for him to look at through WhatsApp to my mum so that she could show them to him. 110:28 My God, that's a memory you'll never forget. How is he now? 110:32 He's doing really well, yeah. He's doing great now. And when I saw that Garrett was coming to Cork, I was like, this is even better again, chance for him because you know, he can rest up for the whole day beforehand. And, you know, it would just be mobility-wise, it would even be a hell of a lot easier for him. And look, even if we're not lucky enough to get tickets, I've said it already to you before, we will be sat outside the stadium. And we will just listen outside if need be. 110:59 There'll be loads outside the stadium. There'll be loads around Ballantemple. There'll be boats on the water. It's next summer. And there'll be punts and there'll be ribs and there'll be yachts and there'll be powerboats and all sorts of things up the river. People sitting there. It's just going to be so exciting. Not just one night, but the Friday and the Saturday night. It would be a wonderful thing. And your dad would love it too, wouldn't he? 111:23 Yeah, like he hasn't seen Gert since he was in, like he went years ago. It was somewhere sometime in the 90s. He said that was from the last time he saw him. Like I remember one of the Christmases, my mum gifted him a DVD and he was like so quick. I've never seen the man move so fast. 111:41 What's your dad's name? 111:42 Christian. 111:44 Christian? 111:45 Yeah. 111:45 What a lovely name. 111:47 Yeah. 111:48 Beautiful names this morning. Nancy and Christian. 111:52 Yeah, so straight away he turned it on so that he could find himself up the front row with his cowboy hat. And he still has that cowboy hat, so he said he's going to get him to another concert, hopefully. 112:01 He's going to dust down the cowboy hat. Yeah. The stories are great this morning. I wish to God I had dozens and dozens of tickets, which I don't, but I love people having an opportunity to share their stories. And as you say, Garth Brooks, for you and your dad, has been the soundtrack of your life together. That's a beautiful way of putting it. 112:19 Well, yeah, like, I can't, like, I can't remember a holiday or any trip without having a Garth Brooks CD on in the car. 112:27 I love it, I love it, I love it. 112:29 You know, it is drilled. I mean, like, my dad was such a fan. He even had the Chris Gaines album. 112:36 So, like, that was Garth Brooks' alter ego. It didn't really go down well. It wasn't a successful album. 112:40 No, I know. It's just something he did, you know? 112:44 Yeah, it was just, he wanted to make sure that, like, he had them all. 112:49 Well, listen, thanks for sharing the story. Stay listening, Jessica. It's lovely talking to you. You went to a lot of effort. You're lovely. Thank you so much. Michelle, good morning. 112:57 Hi, good morning. 112:59 What stories this morning? Now, you featured in a Garth Brooks video. 113:05 I did. I did. This was back in the 90s, I guess, when DVDs were becoming popular and they were still making videos and selling stuff like that. It was when he was back for The Point and I believe it was 97. 113:19 I was working in a pub up in Dublin called O'Shea's Merchant on Merchant Key. You may actually know it. Ned O'Shea's place. And right across the street from that was a pub called Brazen Head. 113:29 Oh, I do know that. I do know that one. I do know that one. 113:32 Right. You know the Brazen Head. So I was standing outside at the end of my shift and I was just, you know, hanging out outside or whatever, smoking a cigarette, shouldn't say that on air. Why not? 113:41 The security... No laws against... I'm embarrassed. Not a tall girl. 113:45 Not a tall girl. 114:06 I'm not going to lie, I wasn't a fan. I'd never heard of his music before, didn't really know who he was. So he got us in anyway and we were in the very small part, there was a very small bar inside the Brazen Head on the right hand side and I was standing behind the taps and there was only about 30 people in there and Gareth was singing and There was cameras set up and he said, does anybody have any Irish songs? And I was young and stupid and brazen. And I said, I know the seeds of Aspen, right? I couldn't carry a note in a bucket, but it didn't stop me. 114:35 Did you know the lyrics? 114:37 I knew the lyrics. I knew the lyrics. So I sang that song for him and, you know, mortified that this was going to be like a thing. And afterwards he came up and he introduced himself and he was chatting to all of us. And he was wearing a Syracuse University baseball hat, which is a New York um state college and it's where i went to college and i said i like your hat that's where i went to college and he took it off his head and he gave it to me and when we went outside tracy who i was with was a huge fan and she said michelle i have an extra ticket please can i have the hat and i'll give you the ticket and i said why not i have never missed a concert since he is the best touring act i have ever seen in my life It introduced me to country and western, which is a genre that I would have never listened to. 115:25 I queued up on Merchant Key for the tickets when he went on sale. In Cork? 115:29 Did you move to Cork subsequently then, is it? 115:31 I did. I moved to Cork. I moved back to New York after that and I moved to Cork about 20 years ago from New York and I've never left since. My daughter at the time was only... five and a half months old and I was breastfeeding her and it was the first time I ever left her was to queue in that gale force weather along the Keys and I got tickets and he obviously the show was cancelled and I was lucky enough to get tickets to go and see him when he was here last year I suppose I don't I'm okay if I don't win tickets. 116:02 I'm going to try my best to get tickets. I'd be okay with that. But it's just the road that I took to become a fan. And he, to this day, is my favourite artist. 116:12 There's very few people can say that they sang an Irish song for Garth Brooks. 116:17 I did. I did. 116:19 In a setting like the Brazen Hedge, you know? Singing a song in an intimate setting, that's just a great story. 116:28 Hugely. And it's one of my favourite, favourite memories. I was standing behind the taps with Tracy and we were both bartenders and waitresses across the road. So I was pulling pints for the camera crew and I'm in the video. You can see there's a very quick flash. 116:43 So have you seen the resulting video of that and you're in that? 116:46 Oh, I have. I have. I have. I have. If you get a hold of it, I'm there and Tracy's there. Fab story. It's just such an incredible memory and The fact that he's playing in so many different venues, to me, shows that he is listening to his fans and he's going to try and make as many people happy. And that's what his music has always been about. And I know there's more deserving people of the tickets, but I just wanted to ring you up and say that your road to music sometimes cannot be what you expect it to be. 117:21 but he's just incredible, and I'm so glad that he's coming next year. 117:25 Oh, well said. You're very kind. Delighted. It's kind of you to say that there probably are more deserving stories, but yours is lovely nonetheless. Absolutely there are. And thank you for that. Absolutely there are. All the best. Take care. Thanks, Michelle. Take care, guys. Bye. Cheers, take care. Actually, the things that people would give up. John Long is in y'all and he says, and he sends me a photograph as well. I will swap you this Garth Brooks call card for two tickets to see him in Porky Queeb. Are they still around? Maybe they'll buy those call cards. You can have X amount of units on them. You stick them into the public phone and you can make a call. And his call card has Garth Brooks limited edition call card with Garth Brooks head on it, shoulders on it. 118:01 You know, the red and black tops that he wears and the big Stetson hat. Do you think that that's a fair trade now, my friend? Two tickets for Garth Brooks for your Garth Brooks call card. I think I'll pass on that. You could actually use that call card to call Baton Rouge. 118:16 The Neil Prenderville Show on Red FM. Conversation that matters. 118:21 Be part of the conversation. Text 0868104106. What we don't get to today, we will deal with tomorrow. So don't worry about that. Okay. 118:31 Pretty amazing calls this morning for two tickets to a Garth Brooks concert. Where do I start? Well, start at the beginning, I suppose, and then come through the story and end up as to where you want to go is the best way to go. So let me just do part one first. First, Sinead. 118:45 Hello. OK, so have we a deal then that you will get a tattoo of my face on any part of your body of my choosing? 118:56 Yeah, on the next day. 118:59 And that's the deal breaker is that it has to be from the neck down. 119:03 The neck down. Come on now, Neil. You know, we can do this. 119:07 What size? 119:08 Can I just have an idea? Are we talking a two euro coin or are we talking about the size of my fist? 119:16 You can pick that as well. 119:19 I just can't get it on my left arm because that's already covered anywhere else. 119:22 Okay. 119:23 I'll take that deal. 119:25 Okay. 119:27 Is it going to be colour or black and white? 119:30 What do you want? 119:32 Let me ask. Whatever is the most painful, Sinead? 119:35 That's what I want. Come on, O'Neill. I'll do it either way. 119:38 Okay, Ross Daly is the tattoo artist. He's at the Holy Cow Tattoo Studio in Middleton. Now, he did a Roy Keane portrait for us before on a listener's arm, I believe. And he's up for the job. Ross, good morning. 119:51 Morning, Neil. How's it going? I'm good, man. So my face, probably ugly face as it is, that's a tough job, right? 120:00 No, not at all. 120:01 I'm sure I can do a great job of rendering your beautiful face. How big will you make it? 120:08 Well, it can't be too small anyway to get all the little details in there. So I'd say we're talking kind of no smaller than kind of a lady's hand size. Oh, that's big, man. I do. I do it. We're going to do a portrait. 120:21 We're going to do it. You've got to do it properly. You've got to live with this now for the rest of your life, Sinead. 120:26 That's no problem. I have no problem waking up saying good morning to you every morning. 120:32 So it has to be on a place in your body that you can see. 120:36 My arm? 120:37 Your R, R, oh, arm. 120:40 Yeah. 120:41 What about the other part that starts with A? 120:43 I don't want you. 120:45 No one be seeing that. 120:48 I try to do you a favour, girl. I'll be looking at it for the rest of my life. 120:54 I don't mind, Anna. I'll do anything. 120:56 Okay, let's ask the expert. Where should it be, Ross? 121:00 Yeah, arm or leg would be good. 121:02 Yeah. 121:03 Yeah. 121:04 I'm not so sure I would want to be inflicting that upon your arm or your leg. It will be visible. People will be saying, what are you doing with that Langer's face on your arm? 121:14 We love you, Neil. I love you. Who would want that face? 121:18 I've done my very best to convince you otherwise, but if you're up for it, two tickets for Friday the 18th. 121:31 I hand this crazy lady over to your capable hands, Ross. 121:35 OK. Oh, my God. 121:38 Good luck. Good luck. Thank you. Good luck. 121:42 Oh, my God is right. Where would you be going? OK, I want to play out on a tune, as I promised I would, in memory of Vanita's mum, Nancy Robinson. But can I say, back on to Aitken Promotions at the moment, and I hope they have an update in the morning for Adriana and Martin, who will name their unborn child Garth Garth. done if it's a boy I'm not quite sure if it's a girl maybe you know Tricia as in Tricia Yearwood after Garth Brooks wife so hopefully fingers crossed because that's another cracking story and it's a great call hopefully and I have a good feeling about it Adriana and Martin your child is it to be a boy or a girl if it's a boy his name will be Garth whether he thanks you for it or not I have no idea anyway I love you and leave you But as promised, let's see how much of this we can get in. 122:33 This is for Nancy Robinson and Anita's mum. 122:42 At the end of a day, it's over. You have to follow a professional career. You are not a person to follow the expectations of waiting. Therefore, create a shopify shop on Sunday, make your first sale on Wednesday. Your office will be in any place. 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