THE SUN shone, the star was in town, the crowd was ecstatic with anticipation. Everybody at Croke Park for last night's Celine Dion gig was having a great time.
Well, almost everybody.
"They put a bunch of tickets on sale today," said an angry tout outside the ground who was clutching a wad of tickets for the Canadian singer's supposedly sold-out gig. "Ruined it, they did, ruined it."
Across North Circular Road, seats were still being sold at the Ticketmaster booth for €127.50. "Extra release today," explained a seller.
At 7.30pm, a few minutes before showtime, the touts were taking a heavy loss.
"€60. Come on, €60. You're not going to get any better than that," said an English scalper.
"Alright, €50."
There were slim pickings for the touts, who seemed likely to make a big loss from the night.
The French-Canadian singer attracts intensely loyal following, most of whom had bought tickets soon after they went on sale, last December. This was a major event for them, as Dion's last Irish concert, nine years ago, was cancelled at the last minute. Fans were taking no chances on missing out this time.
"We came up in a pink limousine," said Louise Lynch, from Navan, Co Meath.
She and her friends, who were wearing pink cowboy hats and clutching plastic cups full of "God knows what", have no time for snobbish critics who deride Dion's music as sentimental, bombastic and formulaic.
"She's fantastic. Absolutely unbelievable," she said.
Jackie Brennan, also from Navan, said this was her first major outing since the birth of her son, Darragh, this year. "He's 10 weeks old and he's fantastic. And she's fantastic, too," she said.
About 80 per cent of the crowd passing through the Croke Park gates were women. They came in groups both large and small. Some had husbands and boyfriends in tow.
There were very few men going into the gig on their own.
Neil Higgins, from Cork, bucked the trend. He was a bigger Dion fan than his companion, Anne Murphy, he said. "Now I like Celine Dion," he said. "I think she's very unique."