Bryan McFadden was guarded by men in black last night as he signed records at HMV in Dublin. But not the Christian Brothers this time, whose alleged brutality is the subject of his latest single.
No, these were members of the notorious order of rock 'n' roll minders and record store security staff, a group whose strict disciplinarianism has made life miserable for generations of journalists.
When they weren't busy ordering us out or ushering us about, they formed an impenetrable cordon around the former Westlife star. Appeals to his tour manager, Mr Paul Higgins, were rebuffed with a firm, "No interviews".
A proposal that we would just ask a quick question about the video for Irish Son, which upset staff at a Christian Brothers school in Dublin, were scorned: "There's been enough controversy about that already."
Maybe we media people should write a song about how brutalised we are by the record store signing experience. If we'd been able to talk to the star, he might even have given us tips, as he did to Róisín Lawton (13), one of the first to meet him. "I asked him how I could learn about being a singer and he told me to log onto www.thevocallab.com" she said, beaming with happiness at meeting her hero.
Most of the happy fans wore forlorn faces. Some wore school uniforms, and as they shed copious tears and screamed frequently, they looked more like they were waiting outside the office of a particularly severe headmaster. Stacy Donohue from Ballinteer Community School really was upset. She queued from 7 a.m. for an arm-band she believed would secure her a place at the top of the queue, only to return after school to find herself relegated to mid-line obscurity and only a few snatched moments with Bryan. "But I still love him," she said.
