A half hour you will never forget: how an unknown singer was suddenly plucked from a hotel bar to open for Take That

An unknown singer from a hotel bar in Glasgow has had the night of his life. Half an hour before the Take That concert, he was told that he could be the support act if he got there on time. It earned him praise from Gary Barlow himself.

Gary Barlow and the other members of Take That were at a loss on Friday evening. Just before their concert at the Glasgow Hydro arena, filled with 14,000 fans, their support act Olly Murs announced that he could not play. He also posted this on social media around 7:15 PM local time, an hour before he was supposed to start. “Sorry to Take That fans. I have been at Heathrow airport since 10am this morning, but due to delays and an incident I can’t get there,” he wrote on X.

(read more below the tweet)

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With only 40 minutes to go, it was already too late to look for a replacement with some familiarity. The rescue came unexpectedly from British presenter Ross King. The band would announce this at the start of their concert, and fortunately he had gone for a drink moments before in the bar of the Radisson hotel directly opposite the arena. There he had heard the unknown Scottish singer Daniel Rooney sing beautifully, and he convinced Barlow and co. to make that man their support act.

No doubt

Rooney was given thirty minutes to get into the arena, even though he actually still had 45 minutes to play in the hotel. “But when you can do something like this, you don’t hesitate,” he says DailyRecord. “Luckily they are very happy for me.” We even managed to have a chat with the gentlemen from Take That. “We went over which covers I could perform, and then I had to be on stage. It was fantastic and hard to let it all sink in. It was surreal.”

The singer received a lot of applause from the fans and sang some well-known covers, including Stuck in the middle with you from Stealers Wheel and Candy by Paolo Nutini. Then he returned to the hotel to play some more. A great experience richer. “It was an incredible evening. I hope it gives me the opportunity to also show what I can do with my own music.”

All members of Take That also showered him with praise afterwards. Gary Barlow posted a photo of him on Instagram. “This guy saved us,” he wrote.