BACK IN SEPTEMBER, an 80-year-old Galway man called Tom Grealy wrote a letter to The Irish Times that tickled a few funny bones across the country.
I have often wondered how I have managed for most of my 80 years without receiving a text message. I have just received one from Three telling me that Kasabian will be at the 3Arena in Dublin in November. I can’t wait.
Jennifer Zamparelli, Bernard O’Shea and Keith Walsh from Breakfast Republic on 2fm were huge fans of Tom’s letter – they decided to get in touch with him, and to no one’s surprise, he turned out to be a bit of a tonic:
An aunt of mine once told me that anybody who writes letters to the papers has nothing to do or they’re cranks. As I’m fairly busy I must be the other one.
They offered him the chance to go and see Kasabian with Jen, and he didn’t take much convincing at all: “Yeah, I would of course.”
Yesterday was the big day, and sure enough, Tom arrived up for the gig with his daughters in tow.
Speaking on this morning’s show, Jen said they all had a whale of a time:
We met at the VIP bar and we had a few drinks, he was brought backstage, he was on the 3Arena stage… We had a great chat, we had great seats, we had a great time. The tie was off after the first song.
What a legend. Getting text messages, going to rock’n'roll gigs… maybe this will be the start of a new era for Tom?
