IT WAS "the great lock out" of the 1990s as thousands of screaming Boyzone fans were prevented from meeting their pop heroes. Safety fears brought the group's record launch in a Graft on Street store to an early end.
Even as Mikey, Ronan, Shane, Keith and Steve were making a hasty exit in a windowless rental van from the back exit of the HMV store, the screams of adulation from the street had already turned to cries of wrath.
Dublin has never seen pop hysteria on this scale - and neither has it experienced the wrath of a mob of 5,000 pre pubescent and very angry girls. Burly gardai flinched and security staff were pressed against shop windows as the hordes stormed the barricades. Girls fainted, tears flowed, the recriminations began.
"We're all distraught, devastated. This has traumatised us for the rest of our lives. I can't believe how much they have let us down," said Ms Kadine Kierans (15) on behalf of a group from Swords. "They were supposed to be there until three o'clock; now it's not even one, and they're already gone.
The once screaming, hormonal fans now became articulate in their anger. "They obviously don't care for their fans or they wouldn't have let this happen. It was us, their Irish fans, that put them where they are, and they shouldn't forget that," said Amanda Collins, who had taken the 6 a.m. train from Waterford to see her favourite group yesterday morning.
Girls who had told The Irish Times that Boyzone were "miles better" than Take That their British rivals now reversed their views. "Take That wouldn't let this happen; they'd stay for as long as it took to see their fans," said Selena Hall, from Dolphins Barn.
Many of the lucky few hundred fans who did manage to meet "the Boyz" and buy an autographed copy of their latest single, Coming Home Now, had camped out overnight. From 5 a.m. yesterday morning they were joined by a steadily growing throng of girls, some as young as five.
They came from Cork, they came from Belfast and many points in between, steered by their parents or under their own steam. Many were missing school - one girl said she should have been sitting her "mock" Junior Cert exams. They were virtually all girls - Boyzone crowds are boyfree zones.
Tania Smith (15), from Finglas, encapsulated the wonders of Boyzone: "They're gorgeous, they're deadly singers, and they're Irish."
Everyone seemed to have a band member living around their corner or across the road from their aunties. Street sellers did a brisk trade in posters, headbands, scarves - any Boyzone memorabilia.
The Boyzone manager, Mr Louis Walsh, last night shrugged off the complaints of those left locked outside the HMV store. The Garda had pressed for the entire visit to the record store to be cancelled and had forced the curtailment because of safety fears, he said.
Mr Walsh promised the band would be apologising to the disappointed fans during their appearance on The Late Late Show last night. "It was a great success, but you can't please all the people all the time."
