Dublin’s The Script offer a bridge between Ireland’s rich musical past and contemporary pop successes. The trio’s soulful radio-ready pop owes as much to Van Morrison(Opens in new tab) and U2(Opens in new tab) as it does to The Coronas(Opens in new tab), Snow Patrol(Opens in new tab) and Ronan Keating(Opens in new tab).
The band was formed in Dublin by Danny O’Donoghue (vocals) and Mark Sheehan (guitar) after their boyband Mytown split in 2000. The duo headed out to LA to gain experience as producers but eventually headed back to Dublin and linked up with drummer Glen Power to form The Script.
First single We Cry got things off to a promising start, quickly followed by The Script’s 2008 self-titled debut album. The Script landed at No.1 in both the UK and Ireland and yielded three Top 10 hits in the band’s home country. A host of high-profile support slots followed, including Take That, U2 and Paul McCartney.
The Script’s second album, Science & Faith, repeated the double No.1 feat on release in 2010. It also gave the band their first UK No.1 single (For The First Time) and saw their fanbase swell further as they made inroads both in the US and Australia. Their Irish tour sold out in just 40 minutes. Their massive show at Dublin’s Aviva stadium was later released as the concert film Homecoming.
O’Donoghue became a household name in 2012 with a stint as a judge on the BBC talent show, The Voice. Fellow judge will.i.am guest starred on their third album, #3, which proved to be another international success for the trio. Another huge, sold-out tour followed, as well as a US jaunt alongside OneRepublic.
No Sound Without Silence continued The Script’s remarkable run of hit albums, kicking off yet another massive tour that took the band all over the globe. However, a long run of intensive touring took its toll and the band went on hiatus in late 2015 while O’Donoghue recovered from throat surgery.
The Script returned in 2017 with a brand-new album Freedom Child. It became their third to top the album charts in both the UK and Scotland. It was followed two years later by the relatively moodier but still effortlessly catchy Sunsets & Full Moons. True to form, the band embarked on yet another hugely successful tour.
In 2021, The Script announced a greatest hits album called Tales From The Script, due for release in October 2021. To support the album, the band also announced a huge European tour with a string of UK dates in May and June 2022.
In 2023 Mark Sheehan tragically passed at the age of 46. After a couple of months grieving, The Script played two intimate shows.
"We need it," reflects O’Donoghue. "As much as I wanted to just go into a room and cry for the rest of the year, we realised that his life has affected a lot of people for good. It wasn't a tribute concert, but just a way for us all to get to a place and feel emotion together. And it just felt like a place where our fans could come and show their support and cry it out together.”
The Script were always going to carry on: "We built this together, continues O’Donoghue. "And for me to now tear it down because Mark’s not here?” He shakes his head. “That's an insult to his memory. Better to carry on the thing we’ve built together.”
That's exactly what they did. In 2024, the band released Satellites, their seventh studio album and first without Sheehan, which The Irish Times called "a collection of songs with emotional depth and purpose."
