The Scottish singer who was drafted in at the last minute to replace Olly Murs supporting Take That has said he thought it was a “wind up” when he was asked to rush to the arena and perform.
Daniel Rooney was plucked from a hotel bar in Glasgow when Murs was forced to cancel his support act at the OVO Hydro on Friday because of travel problems.
Just 30 minutes before the show was due to start, he was asked to fill in by the TV presenter Ross King, who was watching Rooney play at the Radisson hotel opposite the arena.
“I’m halfway through my set, I’m on my break, I’ve played for about half an hour. Then one of the waiters comes up and he says: ‘Ross King wants to speak to you, he might have a life-changing opportunity for you,’” Rooney told ITV’s Lorraine show on Monday.
“Ross comes along with those words: ‘I have an opportunity that’s going to change your life, can you go and support Take That at the Hydro?’ I’m thinking, right, who’s trying to wind me up here? But he was telling the truth and I packed up my stuff – I had another half to go, but I said to the restaurant owner: ‘I’ve been asked to play the Hydro, I’ve got to go!”’
King told the programme he had been asked to fill in for Murs but he suggested Rooney instead. “We ran over and we got there and he went on and he was absolutely amazing. The boys saw him before and after and it was just a lovely moment,” he said.
“Daniel, you are such a star. He was so calm. Everything is as you hear in the story. Within 30 minutes we were running across to get to the Hydro. No soundchecks, nothing at all. I take my hat off to him.”
Rooney, who is from Cambuslang near Glasgow, said he had become a “massive” Take That fan after the experience and praised the group’s “incredible” show. Take That’s frontman, Gary Barlow, thanked him on Instagram over the weekend, saying: “This young man saved the day.”
Murs, who has been supporting Take That on their This Life tour, had had to cancel his performance after his flight was delayed and later cancelled. He then shared a video of himself being driven to Glasgow for the Saturday and Sunday shows.
After his performance, Rooney, a Celtic fan, was invited to perform at half-time to 60,000 football fans during his team’s match against Hearts on Saturday. However, due to a technical problem with the sound system, Rooney ended up not performing.
“It was surreal to be standing on the pitch telling everyone about my performance,” he told the Daily Record. “I had friends and family texting me about it because I hadn’t had a chance to tell anyone I was going to be there.”
Murs told Lorraine: “For the young lad to come out from singing in a bar. Imagine that, you’re in a bar 30 minutes beforehand singing to a few hundred people, that’s crazy! For him to then go: ‘Right, there’s 10,000 people that need entertaining.’ Fair play to him, that’s amazing.”
