The man who was there...

The ligerati were out in force on Easter Monday when Billy Bob Thornton played to a packed Vicar St.

Spotted in the crowd by our Showbiz Correspondent were Brendan Gleeson, Colin Devlin, Cate Blanchett, Jim Sheridan, Ali Hewson and Elvis Costello who jumped up on stage for an encore version of 'Lost Highway'.

Other highlights included storming covers of 'Game Of Love' and 'California Dreaming', the self-explanatory (and congratulatory!) 'Angelina' and 'Starlight Lounge' which found B.B. doing a very passable Tom Waits impersonation.

Talking afterwards to hotpress.com, the Hollywood A-Lister enthused, "I wanted to start this tour in Dublin because there's such a strong storytelling tradition here, and you didn't disappoint! It's rare to find an audience that'll dance on the tables one moment, and then sit down and listen with total concentration to a slow song the next. I'm also blown away by the fact that I was standing on a stage that's been graced by Slash, Ronnie Wood, Bob Dylan and Cheap Trick. That's good company to be keeping."

Thornton was also in Vicar St. on Saturday night when he joined Elvis Costello and The Strokes on the Monkees' guest-list.

"Those guys were part of the soundtrack to my growing up, so, yeah, it was good to see 'em still walking the walk."