Mumford & Sons in Phoenix Park

After a little lie in due to the long drive and late night the day before we headed on down to breakfast which was rather good, once again a full Irish breakfast was on offer. The morning was packed with sight seeing around the city taking in all it had to offer. Seeing Temple bar in the daytime (blipfoto).

We then bought a hop on and off bus ticket for two days which also included the ticket to the airport only €20, what a bargain. The first stop on our bus tour was Saint Stephens park where a few photos were taken whilst enjoying the glorious weather. A walk up the busy retail centre of Grafton Street, looking for extra memory for my camera but failed to find a single shop selling compact flash cards.

We stopped for lunch in a beautiful pub which was rather warm as the dining area was next to the open cooking area and the outside temperature reached 27degrees, It never rains in ireland?!?!? We both had a lovely Cajun Caesar salad in The Quays Irish Restaurant.

After lunch we headed back to the room so we could freshen up and get changed for the afternoon/evening concert in Phoenix park (Ben Howard supporting Mumford & Sons) which was a birthday present from my lovely girlfriend.

What can I say about the concert other than it was absolutely brilliant from start to finish. It was so hot and sunny we opted to stick with water which was a good decision as it was in the high twenties until the sunset behind the stage. Edward and the magnetic Zero's were the first band we saw as we missed the earlier band called Ham Sandwich. EMZ warmed the crowd up nicely and even though I'd never heard of them I was taken in by there sound so I think I will be researching their catologue when I get back. Next on set were the Vaccines who are not to my taste but entertained the crowd before one of my favourite acts came on. Ben Howard did not dissapoint and his new material sounded good too so looking forward to a new album sometime hopefully soon.

Finally the time had come for the main act Mumford and sons, who from the off got the crowd hyped up with their classic tunes. You can really tell by their smiles and attitude they love performing to their followers even though they must play the same songs over and over again.

Like so many concerts it was over before we knew it but not before Mumford & Sons getting all the warm up acts on stage for the final song which was the Irish classic, Gallway Girl which had the whole crowd dancing from the front row to the back gates of the sectioned off part of park.

What a wonderful birthday present and what a way to spend a Sunday night, everything was perfect and to think we considered taking wellies expecting Irelands wet weather. All that was left was our long walk to the hotel, we could have caught a bus, tram or taxi but opted to walk all the way. It really wasn't a bad walk as the temperature had dropped and the many thousands of the crowd seemed to be doing the same. It was only the next day we felt the full pain of a complete day and evening on our feet plus the walk back to the hotel.

Just one day left in the great city of Dublin left to go.