When New York band the Fun Lovin' Criminals came to Dublin for two concerts in the Olympia Theatre earlier this week, they loved it so much they decided to do a third one. So the funky, rapping three-piece asked their pal, Dermot Doran, if they could do a late-night "lounge" show in his pub, Eamonn Doran's in Temple Bar. The band struck up a friendship with Dermot when they used to hang around Eamonn Doran's in Manhattan, and they looked him up as soon as they got to Dublin.

Word got out about the secret gig, however (might have had something to do with singer Huey Morgan announcing it onstage at the Olympia), and Doran's was packed to the rafters.

The band played an ecstatically received set, finishing with their hit single, Scooby Snacks.

The Criminals also made friends with U2 when they supported the band on the east coast leg of the PopMart tour, and at the Edge's invitation, the trio stayed in U2's Clarence Hotel during their Dublin visit. "I think it was in Edmonton that we fell in love with those guys," said the band's multi-instrumentalist, known simply as Fast. "U2 threw a party for the crew, and they asked us to play. So we're playing our 'lounge' set, and Larry Mullen comes up and starts playing tambourine, Adam was sitting in the back doing his thing, 'cos he's got the style, god bless him, Edge is dancing, bless him for that, he's a great dancer, and Bono came up and started singing We've Got All The Time In The World. Then these 50 pizzas arrived for the crew, and Bono starts singing, 'we've got all the pizzas in the world'. It was amazing."