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Glasgow fiddler late stand-in at Corrs' Hydro gig

The Corrs/Ella Germein Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín is in close up holding her black fiddle. She is smiling to the right of camera and is standing in front of a burgundy stage curtain.The Corrs/Ella Germein
Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín is an established folk fiddle player in Glasgow

A Glasgow-based fiddle player stood in with just a few hours' notice to play live with Irish pop band The Corrs at their Hydro gig on Sunday.

Folk musician Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín agreed to the performance after band member Sharon Corr was forced to pull out of the concert at the last minute.

Éadaoin had just one sound check to learn the tunes before appearing at the 14,000 capacity stadium.

She has described the gig as "absolutely unbelievable" and praised the band and their fans for their reaction to her playing.

The 29-year-old from County Mayo in Ireland lives in Glasgow and was contacted by a fellow musician on Sunday afternoon, after it became clear the show needed a stand-in fiddle player.

She went ahead with a planned folk workshop in Edinburgh before driving back to Glasgow to meet the band for the first time on-stage during their sound check.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime programme, she described listening to the band's back catalogue in her car during the journey to the venue, in an attempt to start learning the pieces.

"On the way I tried to listen to as much of the music as I could and take in as much as I possibly could," she said. "It was just boom, straight into it, into the whole thing.

"It was straight on stage. There was only about an hour left on sound checks so we just had an hour basically to just run through as much as we possibly could."

Éadaoin spent some more time running through the songs with the band's guitarist before playing in front of thousands of devoted Corrs fans.

It was the first time she had ever played any of their songs, though she was familiar with their back catalogue.

"I think there wouldn't be a person in Ireland that wouldn't have listened to the Corrs," Éadaoin said.

"I definitely recognised a lot of the songs but then again, when it comes to fiddle parts and stuff there's such specific things the fiddle does. I had never played most them ever before.

"A lot of it was new to me in that way. I just threw myself in and tried to do the best I possibly could."

The Corrs/Ella Germein Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín is on stage at the Hydro. She is on the left of shot, playing her violin on her left shoulder. One of women from The Corrs is in the foreground playing a tin whistle. Another woman from the band and the male Corr are sitting to the right of shot listening to the music. The male musician is playing an acoustic guitar.The Corrs/Ella Germein
Éadaoin filled in with the Corrs after fiddle player Sharon was unable to perform
The Corrs/Ella Germein Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín is on stage with The Corrs. They are seen from the back, facing the huge crowd in the auditorium. Six people stand in a row, Éadaoin Ní Mhaicín is third from right. They are holding their hands in the air, reacting to the applause.The Corrs/Ella Germein
Éadaoin (third from right) credited the band and supportive crowd for helping her get through the gig

The Corrs had enormous success in the late 1990s and early 2000s before taking a break between 2006 and 2017.

They have sold more than 40 million albums and are currently nearing the end of a year-long tour.

Éadaoin has nothing but praise for the band after her experience, describing them as "kind and welcoming".

And she loved every moment of her time on stage with them.

"It was absolutely unbelievable," she said. "I just totally lived in the moment and enjoyed it and I think they genuinely have some of the best fans in the world because you could even see the fans there were so kind and so welcoming.

"That made it so much easier as well, they were just an amazing crowd. I think Glasgow always has an amazing crowd."