As we are all now painfully aware, Kanye West is (almost
) honeymooning in Cork with his new wife, Kim Kardashian.It seems Kanye has a bit of history with the Rebel County. No only has he played in the Marquee venue twice but in 2009, he made a surprise appearance at a venue in Cork's city centre.
Stevie Grainger (also known as Stevie G) is a well-known Cork DJ who works with local radio station, RedFM. He also helps run the Pavilion nightclub - where US group NASA and rapper Kid Cudi were playing that night.
Speaking to breakingnews.ie, he described how the night unfolded:
"Kanye was playing at the Marquee when I got a call from his record company, saying that he might be calling into the Pav where his mates NASA were playing a gig. They wanted to would they be able to get access. At this point, nothing was confirmed so I just quietly told some of the staff."
Stevie was concerned that if word got out, the venue would be flooded with people, or worse, Kanye wouldn't actually show up.
Stevie told breakingnews.ie that there were some cloak-and-dagger manoeuvres involved in his entrance to the club.
"I was told by the record company that if Kanye did come, five black SUVs would pull up outside the venue and that Kanye would be in the third car," he said.
"At 11.30pm, after his gig in the Marquee had ended, I got the call saying Kanye was on his way. I walked outside, went to the third car and brought him in."
For the first few hours, Stevie said that no one even knew that Kanye was in the building.
“Kanye sat inside, minded his own business. His security kept him apart from everyone. He was chilling out after his gig so our staff made sure no one bothered him. As the night went on, rumours started spreading around the club."
Then, towards the end of the night, Kanye jumped up on stage, to the surprise and delight of the crowd.
"Around 1am, he jumped up to perform two tracks - Day and Night with Kid Cudi and another with NASA. There was a great buzz and you could see the faces of the crowd - they couldn’t believe it".
Kanye wasn’t anything like the Cork DJ expected.
"He was nothing like his public persona - really chilled out, played it cool, just a really nice guy."
And while Stevie obviously has no idea of what Kanye plans to do while he's here, he can see why he and Kimmy decided on Cork for their honeymoon.
"There’s so much Cork has to offer - it is one of the best places for food with loads of amazing restaurants," said Stevie.
"There are also some great music venues and lots of talented musicians who would be dying to work with him.
"East Cork is very underrated as well - they should go for a romantic walk on one of the beaches.
"And, of course, if he wants to visit the Pav, he can always give me a call!"