© The Mirror

As stated, I was never a Jedward fan, but I went to the concert yesterday in The Helix in DCU, Dublin City University's theatre and arts centre. It was a matinee show, if you'd like to call it that, and it was most certainly a very strange experience.

I entered the venue yesterday, and after we sent the little'uns to the merchandise stand so that she could spend her money on overpriced posters, expensive key rings and tacky cardboard cut-outs of Jedward's hair to wear, we stood aside and just looked around at the chaos that was hundreds of children, from the age of two (no joke, they were in parent's arms) up to the tweenage years, dancing, shouting and trying to contain their excitement before the Grimes' brothers entertained them.

Many Most of the kids had their hair, regardless of length, spiked up into the trademark style- the long spike at the front of the head, whilst they sported fanatical clothing- I Love Jedward was an on-going theme of the day- not to mention the large amount of home-made posters with titles like "You're the best!" and many more declarations of love and infatuation. Whilst we stood aside, standing out like a bunch of sore thumbs, a woman was beside us. "So, you're here dropping off kids too?", she said. "Nope, we're going to the show too...", we regretfully said. At this point another woman popped up and stated that she two was going to the performance, however because she had brought three girls (aged 10/11) she couldn't sit with them, because that "wouldn't be cool", she mimicked, the lady was seated on the opposite side of the theatre.

If you read the liveblog yesterday, you'll know all the bits and pieces in the run-up to the actual show: I'll condense that.

2.05pm - Lights go down. The X Factor theme starts; the host is mentioned and he comes out.

2.11pm - After six minutes of hopping around to music from the laptop, placed on-stage and controlled by him, we are treated to half an hour of him bouncing around and giving away Jedward posters and the "cardboard hair" to worthy fans who were dancing and shouting. At this point my ears started to kill me from the shrieks of the children all around me.

2.42pm - "Okay, so Jedward will be on in fifteen minutes", says the host. Lights go up, people leave. The show is not even on, and we've only been inside less than forty five minutes.

3pm - Support act, Ghetto Fabulous, come out and do their dancing show. They were very talented, and gave a medley of tracks to a variety of dances. Despite only having become known from The All Ireland Talent Show, they've got a lot of potential. (Ghetto Fabulous were to later act as dancers for two of Jedward's songs)

3.02pm - The Twins arrive.

The show was entirely covers of other bands and artists, and we travelled through songs including "Jump Around" by House of Pain, "Pop Musik" by M, "Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" by The Bay City Rollers, "All The Small Things" by Blink-182, "We Will Rock You" by Queen and "I'm Your Man" by George Michael, along with "Under Pressure"- which was performed twice. Let's not forget "(Hit Me Baby) One More Time" by Britney, which also made an appearance. In terms of the actual performance, it was just hopping around, but I didn't expect less either. In terms of singing, I wonder was it lip-synced? I wouldn't be far off thinking it was mimed, as they were terribly out of breath when talking to the crowd, but not when running around the stage.

And, being honest, as much as grown-ups don't really like children's shows or entertainment that may verge on irritating, I will say that the kids loved it- and rightfully so. As much as I may not particularly enjoy Jedward and sometimes question their talent, I know that they offered the youngsters an energetic performance. Sure, it may not be my cup of tea, but if they can make all these children as excited and thrilled as they were yesterday, kudos to them. They did give it a good bit of energy, and that should be said. I'm still not a fan, however.

Would I go back? Nope.

I'm just glad that this incorrectly placed sign never was required: