#and then whoever showered with them on the way over and whoever does their yearly health inspections

[attractthecrows]

im being fully a hater right now but i fucking hate when people ignore the context and implications of a setting in order to shoehorn in whatever theyre after

[thepersephonecabin]

A Very Adamo Family Christmas

Happy holidays! This is my gift for @foxesonstilts for the 2019 @festivebastion gift exchange. They requested Adamo/Laure, snapshots from their life at the Greylace estate, and Adamo and Royston being bros.

So this is the story about the wild circumstances surrounding the birth of Adamo and Laure’s first child. Sorry, it isn’t as Adamo/Laure centric necessarily as it could be, so much as it’s... general chaos from the whole crew, but I hope you like it nonetheless!

read on AO3

-

The problem with living in a remote top secret military base disguised as a farmhouse an hour from Thremedon, Laure realized, was that when you went into labor in the middle of the worst blizzard in a decade you would inevitably find yourself snowed in with only a group of the biggest idiots from here to the border as midwifes.

She supposed it was lucky at least that it had happened after their yearly gift exchange for the winter holidays so at least she had Hal and Thom to help bring the collective IQ of the house up, she reasoned, gritting her teeth as another contraction hit her.

Owen was helping her up the stairs to their bedroom, one arm around her waist, the other hand clasped in hers. “It’s okay, breathe through it,” he told her soothingly.

She was trying to, but it was kind of hard with the cacophony that was occurring behind her in the rest of the stairwell.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Raphael was cursing, “How the fuck are we supposed to deliver a baby?”

“Don’t look at me,” Luvander said, “I haven’t seen a vagina up close since secondary school.”

“I GOT A TOWEL,” Toverre announced from somewhere beyond the bottom of the stairs.

“Thrilling. Did you hear? He got a towel,” Ghislain said to Luvander.

“Are you sure you don’t want me carry you?” Owen asked her, gently.

She looked over at him, and let herself focus on him, “Are you sure you can?”

“I’m sure I can try,” he laughed. He let go of her hand so that he could bend slightly, and hook his arms under her knees, lifting her up into his arms and carrying her the rest of the way. A clattering of footsteps let her know the others were following.

As her husband deposited her on the bed, the others filed in, and Adamo turned on them in full chief sergeant mode. “Right, you all can’t be in here or you’ll just wreak havoc.”

Everyone began arguing, shouting about who should get to stay. Laure began dedicating her entire remaining concentration on the arduous task of removing her soaked underwear, an act that she normally wouldn’t have performed in front of everyone, but one that she didn’t see the point in concealing under the current circumstances.

“We can handle this, right boys?” Raphael said to the other first wave members. “I mean, we’ve taken down catapults and taken down tons of Ke-han assholes, fought in countless battles. Delivering a baby? How hard can it be?” Then he caught sight of the pair of panties Laure had just finished removing. “Is that? Bloo-“

He didn’t finish, because he’d fainted. Luvander and Ghislain took a solemn moment to look down at him and not help in any way whatsoever.

“As Adamo’s best friend, obviously, I’ll stay,” Royston was saying.

“Yeah right,” Luvander said. “A fantastic idea. Let’s just put a person known for accidentally exploding things when he gets stressed out in the birthing suite, I’m sure nothing could go wrong there.”

“Well, you know how much it pains me to say it, but Luvander has a point,” Adamo began.

Royston gasped, “Et tu, Owen?”

“Maybe you could try using your powers to get through the snow outside,” Thom suggested. “Then, we could sent Rook or Ghislain out towards Thremedon for a medic.”

“Nope, not going,” Rook said, shouldering his way into the room, carrying a bucket full of towels in one hand and a bowl of water in the other. “Her water already broke, and contractions are less than ten minutes apart. Not enough time in this snow to melt our way out, get to Thremedon, and get back. I’m staying here. Send Ghislain if you want someone to check up on her after it’s over.”

Everyone went quiet, looking at him as he made himself at home at the foot of the bed and began rolling up his sleeves. Luvander gaped at him.

“Hillary, get over here, make yourself useful and pull her hair back as much as you can,” Rook said, pulling a hair tie off his wrist and letting it hang off one hand angled back towards Thom without looking. “Then do mine.”

Thom exchanged confused glances with everyone else, but slowly complied.

“Rook, I’m sorry, I think it might be time for me to get my ears checked again, but are you being reasonable right now?” Balfour asked.

“Shut up, Balfour,” Rook snapped. “I’m delivering, obviously. I have the most experience.” He said it as if it pained and exhausted him to even have to say it.

“Is this really time to brag about how many girls you’ve fucked?” Laure said through gritted teeth.

Rook gave her a warning look and snarled, “It’s not about how many girls I’ve fucked, it’s about the fact that I’m surely the only person in this room who’s helped deliver a baby before.”

“When the fuck did you have time to do that?” Luvander asked. “Thom, when did he do that?”

Thom sighed and began pulling Rook’s hair and braids into a ponytail. “I don’t know, Luvander. I’ve told you, I’m not his keeper.”

“To be fair,” Ghislain said, “You are putting up his hair like a lady-in-waiting right now.”

“Okay, stop,” Adamo said. “Rook, do you really know how to do this or are you talking bullshit?”

Rook looked exasperated, “Do all of you just think the whores in Molly just have doctors waiting on their beck and call? No, they don’t, and even if they did, it’s a tad hard to pay them in sex when you’ve just pushed a baby out of yourself. You just make do with whoever’s there, and you can hardly call yourself a Mollyrat if you haven’t pulled a baby out of someone. I mean, Hillary’s standing right there, isn’t he? Who do you think pulled his whiny ass out of our Mom? Mom? Though, if I’m being honest, if I had known how much of a pain in my ass he’d be I might’ve been more keen to just leave him in there.”

“Wow, love you too, big bro,” Thom muttered sarcastically. No one else really seemed to know how to respond to this statement because Rook and Thom’s shared parentage was somewhat of a touchy subject that no one felt that safe commenting on with any level of seriousness.

Rook seemed to notice Raphael lying on the floor for the first time, “What happened to him?”

“He saw the bloody underwear and just gave dead way,” Balfour said.

Rook looked at the unconscious body for a moment, and just said, “Pussy.”

Adamo was pinching the bridge of his nose, “Okay, obviously Raphael can’t stay. Luvander is out because by his own admission he doesn’t know jack shit about the female reproductive system. Royston, how about you use your explosions to push the snow and work on trying to clear an exit to the stables, and once we get out there Balfour can see if his girl is willing to melt a path for Ghislain to get a horse out to the road.”

“That won’t be a problem, the problem will be getting her to stop,” Balfour promised.

“Well, as long as she doesn’t set the house on fire she can melt as much snow as she wants, there’s certainly enough of it. Laure, are you okay with Rook doing this?”

“Honey, I cannot express to you how little I care about who takes it out as long as someone does,” Laure said, resting against the pillows and closing her eyes. “Not Toverre, though. Love him, but I’m already stressed out enough. I can’t worry about how many sheets I ruin right now.”

“Fair enough,” Adamo said. “Rook, how much help are you going to need?”

“Maybe one other person,” Rook said with a shrug. “Besides you. Your job is to keep her calm. I don’t care who else stays as long as they stay out of my way. Just make a decision so I can look at her. I doubt your bride wants me to flip up her skirt with everyone here.”

“Okay, Thom, help him since you know how to handle him,” Adamo delegated. “Hal, why don’t you stay so you can pass on every scintillating detail to your husband. We can pass anything dirty to Toverre as they come to keep him busy and make him feel included. Everyone else, you have your jobs or you can standby for one.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Luvander said, with a mock salute, and lead the way out.

 The first child of Owen and Laure Adamo, was born at nearly one in the morning, and Bastion-blessed, she was a big one. “The fattest fucking baby I’ve seen since Thom came out,” according to Rook, in fact.

And she was. 12 pounds, 2 ounces, with chubby, little cheeks and rolls upon rolls of skin, but she was completely and utterly perfect.

“I don’t know that she’s necessarily fat,” Luvander said, leaning over Toverre’s shoulder, though he was definitely talking to Raphael. “I think she might just be built like a square like Adamo is.”

“You think?” Raphael asked.

“Can you two please quiet down? I’m having a bonding moment with my niece,” Toverre complained. He was leaning over the bathroom sink where the baby was squirming in the baby bathtub he’d gotten Laure as a baby shower gift. It was supposed to be the best baby bath on the market, and Laure had honored him by giving him the task of washing the baby for the first time since he’d been so excited about the gift.

Raphael gave him a mock apologetic look, and said, “Oh, so sorry.” Then he stage-whispered to Luvander in the most obnoxious way he could manage, “I HOPE FOR LAURE’S SAKE THE REST OF THEIR CHILDREN AREN’T THIS BIG.”

Luvander gave him a wicked grin. “WE SHOULD BET. HOW LONG BEFORE THE NEXT ONE AND HOW MANY THEY END UP WITH?”

“IT’LL BE RAMANTHINE TWINS FOR SURE. I MEAN WITH THEIR FREQUENCY OF LOVEMA-“

“Okay, that’s it, get out!” Toverre yelled at them.

“Or what?” Luvander asked.

“Or I’ll tell Adamo the way you were talking about his wife,” Tovere said.

They got out.

Back in the bedroom, Thom was staring at Rook again.

“What the fuck are you lookin’ at?” Rook hissed at him, shoving dirty sheets into a basket, then doing a double take. “What are you smiling at?”

Thom blushed, looking away. “It’s nothing. It’s just… you know, the last time I saw you with blood up to your elbows like that it was in the desert after you massacred that tribe with Kalim.”

“So?” Rook asked.

“I don’t know. I just thought it was nice to think about. It’s like you’ve graduated from taking life out of the world to bring life into it.”

“I’m gonna take you out of this world if you don’t shut up.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Thom sighed. “But seriously, you did good. I’m proud of you.”

“Do I get any gold stars or special points, Professor?” Rook snarked in mock happy voice.

“Rook,” Adamo said from the bed beside Laure, “you were doing so well, don’t start being an asshole now.”

“Bold of you to think I ever stopped.”

It was then that Toverre re-entered the room with the baby in his arms. “Well, she’s all clean, even though she did splash me about a million times in the process.” They could see his shirt was covered in dark marks from the water as he went to sit at Laure’s bedside and pass her daughter to her. “She’s beautiful, Laure. She’s perfect.”

Laure smiled, “Thank you, Toverre.”

“What will you name her?” Hal asked.

“Well,” Laure said, looking at her husband. “We needed to talk to Rook and Royston about that.”

Rook paused for a moment at the mention of his name, then shook his head and passed the basket of soiled linens to Toverre for him to take care of.

“I’ll, uh, take these downstairs and send the Margrave up then,” Toverre said awkwardly. “If you need anything, just yell.”

Rook leaned against the window, looking out at the snow for the sake of not looking at Adamo, Laure, and the baby, which he had privately decided to called The Interloper. In the distance he thought he could see a light down towards the end of the driveway. Seemed like he’d been right about them not having time to get a healer if Ghislain was just starting to get back.

It didn’t take long for Royston to bound in. He’d gotten a quick glance of the baby with the others, but they all knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until he was able to take her on a whole damn uncle-niece shopping spree. Sure enough, he was grinning ear-to-ear when he came in with barely contained excitement. “Congratulations,” he said, giving each of the new parents big hugs, then staying attached to Adamo with an arm around his friend’s hip.

Thom went by the window and elbowed Rook until he went over to the bed.

“Well, Laure and I talked about it extensively before tonight,” Adamo began giving his wife a smile, “and against our better judgement, we decided to ask you two, Royston and Rook, to be her godfathers. Royston, you’ve been my closest friends since we were pieces of shit in college together. You were really the one person who encouraged me to go after Laure, you officiated our wedding. And we agreed that neither of us would be here, holding our daughter, if it weren’t for you. And Rook, since the day Amery dragged you into my office you have been nothing if not a pain in my ass, but you’re also maybe the strongest and bravest son of bitch I’ve ever met. And I know if there was one person I could count on to protect my daughter if for some reason Laure or I couldn’t, it would be you.”

“So for those reasons, and in thanks to all your help tonight, we decided to name her Royce Rook Adamo. Rory for short,” Laure said. She looked at Royston. “Do you want to hold her?”

Royston laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. “Of course, I do. What kind of question is that?”

Finally, now that she was in his arms, Royston had a good look at her. She had Adamo’s brown skin, and the croppings of what promised to be curly red hair. He thought she might also have her mother’s smile and cheeks, but a wider nose like her father.

“I’m in love with her already. You know, I rather have a feeling that she’ll be a marvelous handful, this one,” Royston said with a soft laugh, carefully moving away Rory’s tiny fist as she tried to grasp ahold of his beard. “And a fighter to boot. I hope you’ve both gotten your beauty rest.”

Adamo laughed, “Really, I think you and Hal should get yours as well. After all, you’ll have to babysit her eventually.”

“Of course,” Royston agreed. “I’m sure you’ll be ready for some alone time soon enough. Airman Rook, would you like to hold her?”

Rook wasn’t sure what he’d like, but he could feel enough eyes on him that accepted he baby into his arms anyway. He had to admit, now that she’d calmed down and stopped crying she wasn’t so bad. But he wasn’t sure it made her not bad at all yet. It had been many years since he’d held a baby in his arms, and he wasn’t sure he was a fan of having someone to take care of considering Thom gave him enough trouble already.

“Well, Rory,” he sighed, “sorry your parents gave you such a shitty name, but I suppose I can try to make it up to you by teaching you a few swear words, and the important things like holding your liquor, winning bar fights, and maybe if you grow up and end up taking after me in other arenas I can show you the art of wooing ladies and by wooing ladies I mostly mean getting laid, of course. Now, if you really cooperate with me, we might be able to teach you how to say ‘fuck’ before anything else, and wouldn’t that show Mommy and Daddy?”

Rory responded by gurgling spit at him, which he took as a yes. Dumb bitch still doesn’t know how to talk, he joked to himself and almost laughed.

“Yeah, that’s about as good as I was hoping to get when we had this conversation,” Laure said.

“Honestly, I expected it to be much more vulgar,” Adamo confessed. “He could be losing his touch.”

“Rory, can you tell Daddy ‘fuck off’?” Rook asked the baby.

Rory gurgled some more.

“Fine, we’ll work on it some more,” he promised. “We have time.”

[venomsbabe]

Krystal/orchid x eddie/venom otp questions

Who does the cooking?: Both do. Eddie usually is the one to make breakfast and coffe in the morning though.

Who does the laundry?: both. Although krystal doesnt have to do much of Eddie's. Considering he doesnt have a lot of clothes. But she does have to clean his work out gear sometimes. Ick.

Any weekly/fortnightly/monthly/yearly traditions?: both celebrate holidays and birthdays of course. Both love to visit the new york rose botanical gardens every mid-late spring. That was the moment they really fell for each other. It was a very special moment. So the kinda made it an anniversary type thing.

Do they have a ‘song’?: too many they both love and have played for each other. But if krystal and eddie/venom have a song thats their song it would be after all by peter cetera n cher.

Do they own any pets?: krystal has a cat named kirby(a nod to the late jack kirby)

Who made the first move?: eddie/venom. There was always a bit of flirting between the two but nothing came of it until one day venom made a bold move.

Who said ‘I love you’ first?:eddie/venom did.

What do they most often fight over?: mostly eddie being overprotective,bills,and such.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon?: eddie/venom is big spoon always.

Any nicknames for each other?: eddie/venom calls krystal/orchid: peaches,doll,dollface,shortcake,baby,babydoll,darling,honey,their little orchid flower and kitten. Krystal/orchid calls Eddie/venom: eddiebear,vennie,ven,big guy,baby blues,brocky,daddy,fangs,babe,Mr.Brock

Who remembers the important dates?: usually orchid. But venom does too. But he has to put reminders most of the time.

Who ‘wears the pants’ in the relationship?: neither its mutual. (Although eddie likes to think he does some times)

Who proposes to the other? When? Where? How?: eddie/venom does, it took them a while but they do it actually ontop of the abandoned wearhouse where orchid and him first met. (But i haven't written that far these are still a w.i.p)

Who steals the blankets in the night?:eddie/venom. Orchid hate it. They both have to have separate blankets because of that.

Who is not a morning person and needs coffee before they are functional?: both. If you try to talk to either of them before coffee time. You better pray to god.

Who actually started the relationship?: i dunno. I guess venom.

Who uses all the hot water before the other gets a chance?: both like to take showers together. Saves water 😏

Who kills all the bugs?: venom...cuz ya know...he..hates...spiderman...? *gets brick thrown at me * . Eddie/venom actually. Orchid tries to get the bugs out but sometimes she freaks out.

Do they both get along with their in-laws?: well...eddie doesnt really have much of family and orchids parents are dead. So if they were alove However, Krystals parents would have loved Eddie/venom.

Who tells their family/friends first?: see above

Who cusses more?: ooooo thats a tough one. Surprisingly to some probably orchid. She is a feisty bitch. Eddie loves it tho.

What would they do if the other was hurt?: venom would cry. Freak out. Then kill whoever hurt his little cupcake. Orchid would try to patch up eddie even thohe can heal. She'd kiss it to make him feel better.

How do they cheer each other up?: eddie/venom and krystal/orchid make each other laugh or blush. Hugs and kisses are a must. And both just love to cuddle.

Who is the most protective of the other?: venom. All the way.

Who would rock the suspension bridge while the other clings on to it in fear, screaming at them to stop?: venom. Cuz he's an asshole sometimes.

Do they have any sleeping quirks? Does Person A find Person B’s quirks adorable or annoying?: nothing unusual. But eddie/venom loves to wrap himself around Krystal a lot. Also eddie tends to get morning wood. So yeah theres that.

Who is the most uncomfortable with Public Displays of Attention?: neither both love it. Eddie/venom is a bit territorial with orchid. And orchid isnt a shy gal...for the most part. She sometimes blushes and gets flustered but eddie knows when shes serious n when she's not.

Who has the more embarrassing music taste?:probably eddie/venom but both love the same music so its all good

Who is better with children?: both.

Who goes all out for Valentines Day?: eddie/venom. Dear god that man is too much sometimes.

Who is the stricter parent?: they both try not to be. But eddie/venom might be a bit more cautious than orchid.

Who is more likely to smash the other’s face into the wedding cake?: eddie/venom would totally smash that cake in orchids face.

Can they successfully put something from IKEA together - without killing each other?: this is yet to be answered.

Who controls the TV remote?: both.

Who takes the longest to get ready in the morning?: orchid.

Who would spin around in the squeaky office chair and who would glare at them until they stopped?: orchid would spin. Eddie/venom would glare....but then join in later.

Found these online.

[hemcountry]

THE BRILLIANCE OF C2C SHORTENS THE MILES BETWEEN DUBLIN AND NASHVILLE

Amazingly enough for a guy who’s not only a life-long country music fan, but also happens to be a country music writer, I’d never managed to make it to C2C before this year! Not even once. Not even close, actually. And I won’t lie, it does slightly shame me to admit that.

But it’s never been for the want of trying, you can be sure of that. The simple truth is that, life being life, a myriad of uncontrollable circumstances conspired to halt every attempt I ever made to make what, for tens of thousands of country music fans, has become a yearly pilgrimage to Dublin’s 3Arena for a weekend of Nashville in our own backyard. Work, no work (so no dollars!), sickness, death, weddings, births, you name it, and at some stage it’s probably played a part in keeping me away from the biggest American country music event in Ireland each year. They’ve each queued up to step in front of me and declare, ‘Thou shalt not pass!’

This year, though, this year I hoped would be different. Heck, this year I prayed would be different! And it was. So now, at long last, I can say it….I’VE BEEN TO C2C!

Buuuut…..only just! As the saying goes, planning is essential, but plans, well, plans are useless. So once again, with life being life, the plan that I’d be there for all three nights started to come undone almost as fast as it had finally fallen into place. Thankfully, however, salvation arrived at the very last minute and so it was that day three of C2C 2017 finally became my first ever experience of this glorious piece of Music City heaven transported to Irish soil.

So, was it worth the wait? Oh man, was it ever!!

Cliona Hagan – Sunday World Stage © Ken Cassidy

 Any show that features Reba and Darius Rucker at the top of the bill would, to be frank, worth going through hell itself to get to. Throw in a couple of opening acts like the utterly fabulous Dan & Shay, and the awesome Hunter Hayes, and you’re talking about a few hours of life where absolutely nothing else in the world matters because on the stage right in front of you, there’s an almost non-stop musical magic show taking place. And speaking of stages, it would be remiss of me not to note the Sunday World stage which saw Irish artists like The Honky Tonk Angels, Cliona Hagan, Barry Kirwan, John McNichol and Una Healy entertain fans between the sets on the main stage.

Una Healy – Sunday World Stage © Ken Cassidy

But of course, in order for so many fans to enjoy the music, so much has to happen behind the scenes, and happen at the right time, and in the right way, too. And what struck me about C2C right from the moment I disembarked from the Luas at the iconic Point venue, was the superb organisation all round. The stewards outside were friendly, polite, and happy to answer any questions, and all of the staff working inside were exactly the same. I’m sure the good-natured atmosphere created by so many country fans who were just there for a good time and to enjoy themselves helped, but credit where it’s due, too, because no event of this scope and size could happen successfully without the people who keep such a machine ticking over. I tip my hat to each and everyone one of them.

And the event itself did run pretty much like a machine, too, with barely a breath between the action on the main stage ending and the music beginning on the Sunday World stage, with the same thing happening in reverse as the set of whoever was on the Sunday World stage came to a close. Again, as anybody who’s ever been involved in a big event will agree, these things don’t just happy by accident. It’s the result of planning, preparation, and most importantly of all, excellent teamwork.

Dan & Shay © Ken Cassidy

Dan & Shay kicked off the main event, and I’ll tell you what, these guys know how to get a show underway in style. As it happens, a good friend of mine knows Shay Mooney and had told me on numerous occasions that, in his opinion, Shay is probably the greatest vocalist in Nashville right now. With their debut album, ‘Where It All Began’ already in my collection going into this weekend, I knew I liked the guys’ sound, and yeah, I couldn’t argue with the fact that Shay can certainly sing alright. But folks, I have to tell you, until you hear him sing ‘live’, it’s hard to fully appreciate just how spectacularly majestic this man’s voice really is! Now I know exactly what my friend was talking about. And now, when someone asks me who I think the best male vocalist is in country music right now, I can answer without a second’s hesitation: Shay Mooney. Simple as that.

Dan Smyers © Ken Cassidy

Together with Dan Smyers, this duo had the Irish audience in the palm of their hands from the minute they bounced on stage, full of life, full of energy, and yeah, full of love for what they get to do for a living, and for the fans they were getting to do it for that night. And that love was reciprocated in kind as the audience thrilled a clearly delighted but surprised Dan and Shay by being able to join in with singing along to so many of their songs.

Shay Mooney © Ken Cassidy

  Hunter Hayes was next up and if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that he might struggle to match the blistering pace Dan and Shay had opened with, such thoughts didn’t last long. You get the impression that, much like Brad Paisley, Hunter must surely have been born with a guitar in his hands. It doesn’t seem possible that a human being could have such a connection with an instrument otherwise. Hunter plays with an ease that makes his guitar seem more like an extension of his own body than an actual instrument. Legend has it that he got his first guitar from the actor Robert Duvall when Hunter was only six years of age. A year later, Hunter was performing for President Clinton at the White House. In recent times he’s opened for two ladies whose talents have made them two of the biggest names in music in general, nevermind just country, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

What I loved about Hunter was the time he took to chat with the audience, and the fact that, as with Dan and Shay before him, it was clear to see he was genuinely excited to be in Dublin, and somewhat humbled at the affection being showered down upon him from all sides of the 3Arena. At one point, as he seemed to float from one end of the stage to the other, he remarked, breathlessly, ‘Dublin, I got to tell you guys, my heart is beating so fast right now!’ Cue more love and screams all around. An early highlight of the night was when Hunter decided to share a brand new song, one that hasn’t even been recorded yet. If memory serves, it was called ‘I’ll Try’, and when this gorgeous ballad finally is recorded and makes it onto a Hunter Hayes album, I’ll be one of the thousands happy to claim we heard it first in Dublin at C2C 2017.

In jeans, t-shirt, and a ballcap Darius Rucker came ready to party, and he met with an audience who came ready to help him make that happen, by being ready to adore him and having no qualms about letting their adoration be known and seen. And it’s so easy do that, to adore this performer. I guess it’s a combination of things, and no doubt part of it is the professionalism of being an entertainer for so long and knowing just how to get a crowd on your side. But with Darius Rucker, I always feel there’s more to it than that. He has this way of making a venue like the 3Arena feel so intimate and chilled that it might as well have been a family party more so than a concert from one of country’s biggest stars. I had the pleasure of seeing him open for Brad Paisley in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre a few years back, and that is an intimate venue. That gig still ranks as one of my all-time favourites. And my point is that Darius was able to create and generate the same love and energy and fun in the multi-thousand seater 3Arena, as he did in the Olympia, which holds only a few hundred.

Darius Rucker © Ken Cassidy

  But what best describes the ‘Rucker Effect’ more than anything is this: when he played that Olympia show, we (myself and my girlfriend, who’s not a country fan as such) were right up near the front, so close that we could see the sweat glisten on his forehead, in fact. At one stage, he happened to look down mid-song and meet her eye, and he smiled and winked at her. She still talks about it. And whatever about country music in general, THAT was the exact moment she became a Darius Rucker fan for life! I was sharing this story with my friend Ken (the man responsible for the cool shots which accompany this little account), and his response was that he couldn’t blame her, because he was only seeing and hearing Darius for the very first time and he was already in love with him, too!!

Darius Rucker © Ken Cassidy

For many present, Rucker absolutely stole the show. His version of his hit ‘Wagon Wheel’ struck a chord with all, as it’s become one of the most well-known songs in Ireland ever since Nathan Carter made it his signature tune. Even better than that, though, was when he began to introduce a song by declaring that no matter what anyone thinks, some songs are just good songs, this was a song that, for him, fell right into that category….’Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots…’ Que mass audience participation! He followed that up, quite unexpectedly, but most fantastically, with another tune which he said could only be described as another good song…and his stunning band kicked into a kickass version of the Blackstreet hit, ‘No Diggity.’

Darius ended his set with a performance that, well, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a song so packed with emotion that if it had literally brought the house down, it would have been accepted as the only thing that could have happened. He introduced it by dedicating it to all of the stars the world had lost in the previous year, Bowie and Cohen to name but two of those mentioned, and of course, Prince. The few minutes of ‘Purple Rain’ which followed will stay in my memory until my last breath eventually leaves my own body. And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in still feeling that way.

Darius Rucker © Ken Cassidy

I think there’s a lot of artists who would have been more than a little nervous about having to wrap up a show that had already seen Dan and Shay, then Hunter Hayes, and then Darius Rucker give masterfully crafted performances of such sublime beauty, raw passion, and sheer fun.

But Reba…..! Well, Reba was perfection. If you thought that no-one could possibly follow Dan and Shay, you would have been wrong, because Hunter Hayes accepted the challenge, took the baton, and kept things at the level set by the boys. Then if you thought it would have been tough for anyone to top Hunter, well again, you would have been wrong. But only because it was Darius who came next. And Darius… wow. Just WOW! Under any other circumstances his performance would have been the show-topper and show-stopper. Game over.

But Reba….! When Reba walked on stage and began to perform, the reception she received took the night out of Earth’s orbit and sent it heading for a place none of us had ever been before. To have been in the presence of a true living legend of American country music was indeed an honour, and certainly one I’ll never forget. Her performance doesn’t require any more than this: Reba was Reba. And we loved her for it.

Reba live at C2C Dublin 2017. © Ken Cassidy

But I will end with a story that shows you exactly why Reba is such an iconic figure, and one of the greatest country stars of all time. Back in 1999, I happened to be staying in Nashville with friends. And as luck would have it, they happened to have a friend who was working on Reba’s latest video at the time, for a song called, ‘What Do You Say?’ Being well aware of how much I loved country music, they very graciously and generously went out of their way to arrange for me to spend two days on the set, watching it all happen! I couldn’t believe it!

Reba live at C2C Dublin 2017. © Ken Cassidy

On the second day, Reba herself finally arrived to film her scenes. I was in the canteen on-site when she got there, and what happened next stunned me but has stayed with me ever since. And from this moment on Reba became the standard by which I judge all ‘stars’, whoever they are and whatever they might have achieved. Because, realistically, there are few ‘stars’ who are as big as Reba, or who have achieved as much.

Reba live at C2C Dublin 2017. © Ken Cassidy

Reba, together with her husband at the time, Narvel Blackstock, went around to every single person in the canteen, shook hands with them, and introduced herself. That’s right. Reba herself, actually made a point of taking the time to meet with and say hi to every single person in the room. As if anyone there would not have known who she was! But that wasn’t the point. The point was, that everyone mattered. And by taking the time to introduce herself, Reba was making sure everyone knew that they mattered.

Like I said, Reba is Reba. And that’s why we’ve always loved her. And why we always will, too.

Roll on C2C 2018! And next time – fingers crossed! – three days!!!

THE BRILLIANCE OF C2C SHORTENS THE MILES BETWEEN DUBLIN AND NASHVILLE was originally published on HEM COUNTRY