My three greatest 'Irish' moments: in 3rd place

Every year we endure an event called the Eurovision Song contest. This is broadcast live around Europe and the basic format is that each country performs a song specially written for the competition and then, after everyone has performed and during an interval item, expert panels from each participating country award points for their favourite song and the country with the most points wins.

In 1994 Ireland had the dubious pleasure of hosting the final of the contest in Dublin. The songs were the same basic Eurotrash rubbish we'd come to expect (but love) over the years, but this final stood out because of the normally insignificant interval item. This was the night that RiverDance was first performed to an audience anywhere in the world, and what was intended to be the 'half-time entertainment' turned out to be the show stopping winner.

I was watching it with a crowd of friends and gradually the chat in the room stopped as we were caught up in the magic of the spectacle unfolding in front of us. Frankly, it was the most amazing thing any of us had ever witnessed and mouths were literally hanging open as we watched.

Two things I still remember very clearly about that night;

1: the noise of the cheer from the live audience in Dublin when it finished, and
2: the complete silence in the room as we were all completely and utterly lost for words afterwards

This is a clip of the first and original performance of an Irish phenomenon that has, and still is, sweeping the world 14 years on.

Listen for that cheer.