Sandwiched in a boy band

Through a freak of airline ticketting, on the flight to Belfast on Tuesday I sat sandwiched inside a boy band, namely G4.

There was Ben to the right of me, and Matt, Mike and Jon to the left of me. Fresh from their appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, these triple-platinum album sellers were on their way to play the Waterfront in Belfast on Tuesday night and the Olympia, Dublin last night. It was exhilirating to be in their testosterone-soaked company.

The event was made all the more interesting because I didn't fully know who they were, and could therefore be rather detached. I vaguely recognised the blonde one, Jon, as he walked down the aisle. But I thought no more of it. Then someone asked them for their autograph and only four of them signed it, and I thought they were G6, dimly remembering them from The X-Factor. So I thought it couldn't be them, there are six of them, not four. So I thought they must be some other band. They mentioned the Waterfront. So I had to actually walk two miles to the Waterfront in Belfast to look at their poster to confirm who they were.

It was amusing to observe them from a detached viewpoint. They seemed fixated with a game they called "Lookalikies" where they went through the inflight magazine and shouted out page numbers and photos and who they looked like. Laugh? They nearly.... I can't say their enthusiasm for this game rubbed off on me, but I wish them great success.