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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

RTE legend George Hamilton belts out Billy Joel classic to the delight of live audience

George Hamilton proved he can sing as well as talk with the best of them on Wednesday night.

The veteran broadcaster was interviewed by the Second Captains podcast at their latest live show in Liberty Hall.

In a wide-ranging chat, they explored how music has been as instrumental a part of his life as football.

Hamilton is an expert on all things classical music to the extent that he hosts a show on Lyric FM (©INPHO/James Crombie)

For instance, the 72-year-old explained how he learned how to play the piano growing up which later led to him picking up the cello during his days with his school's band.

And it was with this notion of being a 'piano man' that he settled upon choosing the Billy Joel classic as his song to close the show out with a bang.

The Belfast native then drew a huge response from his audience with a rapturous performance that looked like an absolutely brilliant occasion to be at.

Pianist on the night Kieran Quinn wrote: "Some fun last night. That's George Hamilton belting out Piano Man and us all in the palm of his hand..."

While Ricky added: "I’m not sure what my expectations were for the Second Captains live show last night but George Hamilton belting out Piano Man definitely wasn’t one of them!"

And Kelvin said: "George Hamilton's encore of Piano Man almost made us miss our bus home.

"That would have been one hell of an excuse to try and spin."

And lastly Zaza tweeted an inside-joke among Second Captaineers saying: "PANDEMONIO at the Second Captains live show as legendary commentator, and crooner, George Hamilton, belts out Piano Man."

Hamilton shared a bunch of great stories from his long and distinguished career as the voice of Irish football.

One highlight was how he was sneaked into the hotel the Holland team were staying at during Euro 88 by a Dutch media friend.

He had to resort to such tactics to get an interview with the likes of Marco van Basten because their legendary manager Rinus Michels had banned his players from speaking to the media.

And when Hamilton got his interviews wrapped up he then had to make his exit via the window as the Ajax great was prowling around the hotel corridors by then!

You can read more tales like that one in Hamilton's memoir entitled 'The Nation Holds its Breath'.

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