George Harrison couldn't make it to U2's Dublin concerts this weekend, being otherwise engaged in slagging off the band in a recent issue of Le Figaro, but R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe was at Lansdowne Road on Saturday night, watching with bewilderment as The Edge led the audience through the karaoke chorus of All Kinds Of Everything.
"Is this specific to Dublin?" the singer was heard to ask about Dana's 1970 hit record. When informed that the song had won the Eurovision Song Contest, Stipe seemed no less puzzled.
"Is that a big contest around here?" he asked. When told that the Eurovision was "kind of a tacky event", Stipe nodded his head in understanding. "I thought so," he said.
Stipe was not the only celebrity to get an exclusive preview of Ireland's new National Anthem; also attending the concert on Saturday was supermodel Christy Turlington, looking pretty in black. There was some added raciness with the presence of Damon Hill and his wife, Georgie, and Eddie Irvine.
For a while it looked as though Dublin's social set would have nowhere to be seen because the organisers weren't sure if they had planning permission to build a hospitality tent. Eventually, however, the licence to lig was granted and the beer tent was filled with U2's friends, associates and hangers-on.
Nearby, Paul McGuinness hosted a private bar for family and close friends, including Elvis Costello and his wife, Cait; Paul Brady; Radio Ireland supremo John McColgan; Gate Theatre's Michael Colgan; author Colm Toibin; playwright Tom Stoppard; and film-maker Ned O'Hanlon.
After the gig, it was all back to U2's place, the Clarence Hotel, where the guests partied all night in the Kitchen nightclub downstairs.
However, the most exclusive event was happening at the Berkeley Court hotel before the gig, where the concert's promoter, Oliver Barry, threw a reception for the residents of Lansdowne Road, providing them with free drinks and hors d'oeuvre to alleviate any discomfort caused by PopMart's intrusion on their weekend.
