An unsigned band that formed just two years ago has been chosen to support Bon Jovi tomorrow night.
The Fallen Drakes won an unsigned competition involving 430 Irish bands at Vicar Street last month following a competition by Radio Nova.
It is the second unsigned competition they have won. They also supported The Commitments in the O2 earlier this year and finished third in a competition to make the main stage at Glastonbury, but supporting Bon Jovi will be of another magnitude again.
Drummer Nabir Ali, also known as Nabz, confessed to being a “bit more nervous than I’m excited”.
He added: “The whole thing is crazy and surreal for us. We’ve all been to gigs in the RDS. To think within three months we’d have played Vicar Street (for the final of the unsigned competition last month), the O2 and the RDS is mental and we haven’t released anything yet.
“We’ve been watching Bon Jovi documentaries to get ourselves in the mood. It is a dream to play with someone that big.”
The band reflect the multicultural nature of Ireland. Nabir and his twin brother Hyder (24) are half-Iraqi and half Irish, guitarist and vocalist Michal Bartolen is Slovakia. The other guitarist and vocalist Brian McGovern is Irish.
The band will release their first single next month entitled Girl from New York City. They have put a few songs online most notably Masquerade which has got positive reviews and has echoes of both The Script and U2.
Bon Jovi play the RDS tonight and tomorrow night. The concerts have a combined capacity of 60,000 tickets and tickets are still available.
Bon Jovi were the world's highest earning band last year, according to Pollstar magazine with earnings of $200 million (€140 million).
