Northern Exposure

When news started to trickle out via various social networking sites that multi-platinum selling mega star Rihanna was coming to the sleepy town of Bangor on Monday, September 26 to shoot a video for her new single ‘We Found Love’, the obvious reaction was to assume it was a wind-up.

However, it quickly proved to be anything but. A few days before her scheduled appearance at the Odyssey in Belfast, the Barbadian beauty was indeed scampering round a cornfield in Northern Ireland in a state of glorious undress. Crowds gathered to watch. Papparazzi. it seemed, were there in even greater numbers.
Bangor resident and blogger for theworldofkitsch.com Claire Smyth was as surprised as anyone that the ‘Umbrella’ aficionado chose the seaside resort town to film her latest clip.
“I’m fiercely proud of our little town, but I wouldn’t have put it in MTV’s ‘Top Ten Swaggest Video Shoot Locations’,” Claire admitted. “I was wondering would she pop across the field to the local Garden Centre and have an overpriced slice of pavlova and a cuppa afterwards?”
I’m not sure the pavlova would be allowed; after all, Rihanna’s got to keep that body beautiful. But she might just be tempted by the local plant life...
As things often do in Northern Ireland, intrigue rapidly turned into outrage. It’s hard to know who was the more outraged, however: local farmer and DUP Alderman Alan Graham (owner of the field in question), who nipped Rihanna’s semi-nude frolics in the bud by politely requesting that she desist from despoiling the country by running around with no top on, or the fans who were left frustrated and gagging by the singer’s disappointing acquiescence.
According to reports, the 61-year-old grandfather had only just agreed to let the film crew occupy his property on the morning of September 26, but he quickly changed his mind when he happened to pass by on his tractor and caught a glimpse of Ms. Fenty topless.
“I thought it was inappropriate,” the tractor-driving Alderman ruminated. “I requested them to stop and they did. I had my conversation with Rihanna and I hope she understands where I’m coming from. We shook hands. From my point of view, it was my land, I have an ethos and I felt it was inappropriate. I wish no ill will against Rihanna and her friends. Perhaps they could acquaint themselves with a greater God.”
Perhaps they could. Then again, they may be on regular speaking terms with him already.

IN A TROLLEY WITH BEER
While some locals supported Alan in this so-called “storm in a B-cup,” others, such as Bangor native and singer/guitarist for Comply Or Die, Michael Smyth, viewed the whole situation differently.
“Well obviously one local made his opinion very clear about her, but I don’t get it,” he said. “It’s always good to be naked and she can get away with it – so why not? I bet that guy still bought the paper the next day to see her photos…”
Never!
“The farmer who rented out his field got his knickers in a twist about Rihanna getting her baps out,” added Claire Smyth. “Lots of locals thought he did the right thing, but I reckon if Rihanna is paying you to use your land, you’ve got to expect some rolling around in your hay for your dollar. Being a DUP Alderman, I think he was just annoyed Rihanna hadn’t asked for prior permission from the Northern Ireland Parades’ Commission to exhibit her glorious wares in north Down.”
Well, she certainly looked a lot more attractive than a man in a bowler hat and a sash!
As the news fast became one of those wonderfully ludicrous laugh-a-minute world entertainment stories for which tabloid newspapers were invented, the singer promptly took off to North Street in Belfast where she filmed in local fast food eaterie The Chippy. There, she danced on top of tables (thankfully they have strong legs, those same tables – made locally I believe) and subsequently ordered a whopping 75 fish suppers for her crew. Don’t say the, girl hasn’t got class.
A few hours later, Rihanna was pictured being pushed around in a trolley – an excellent form of transport, by the way – with cases of beer on her lap. She was visibly pleased to have arrived at the end of her working day (although she wasn’t yet back at her hotel).
On Tuesday September 27, Rihanna took up a residency of sorts in the New Lodge estate in Belfast. Freelance photographer Ramsey Cardy (shoottothrill.co.uk) was there to capture all the action first-hand.
“On Tuesday she didn’t seem too happy,” he recounts, “and that was probably due to the huge crowds that turned out which delayed the shoot significantly. It was a surreal experience seeing Rihanna walking around the New Lodge estate. She arrived in a vehicle with darkened windows and was escorted into a house where she waited for the crew to finish setting up.”
At one point she was in the back garden, jumping on the owner’s trampoline. Lucky trampoline.
“At the end of filming, she took the megaphone from the director and spoke to the crowd to thank them.”
She also met fans, signed autographs and behaved like a proper pop star.
Taking via her Twitter account, the singer was ebullient about the succes of her Northern Ireland romp.
“#WFLvid I really can’t stop thinking about this video we just shot! EASILY the BEST video I’ve done thus far! Definitely my fav 1, very powerful.”

THAT SHIT CRAY!
Fast forward a day and the performer was preparing in earnest for the first of her three sold-out nights at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Staying in the nearby Fitzwilliam Hotel, a source claimed that Rihanna hired four beauticians during the week (including one bikini waxer, who apparently visited her at 2am) to ensure she looked the part for the first show of the European leg of her tour.
One has to admire her zeal – indeed overall Rihanna comes across as a good egg. But that didn’t stop some commentators from speculating about her state of mind when she did finally hit the boards at the Odyssey.
On her opening night (September 29) she certainly arrived onstage late and, according to some reports, was – to put it politely – ‘inebriated’. Concert-goer Gavin Short counters that claim however.
“No, I personally didn’t think that Rihanna was drunk,” he maintains. “Calvin Harris finished around 8.20pm and Rihanna did not take to the stage until 10pm. From 9.30pm onwards the crowd started to vent their anger and booed every new song that played over the PA system.
“The wait did take its toll and people left early,” he added, “but I felt that the concert itself was worth hanging around for as it featured hit after hit, and no expense was spared on the stage and the pyrotechnics.”
Things ran a lot more smoothly for the singer oover the following two mights and, clearly charmed with her week-long stay in the North, she tweeted: “3 SOLD OUT shows in BELFAST back to back to bak!!! That shit CRAY!!!”
With rumours abounding that Rihanna will return to Belfast on November 6 for the MTV EMAs, it would seem that the songstress isn’t quite finished with NI just yet.
Let’s just hope she doesn’t bring Alan Graham as her plus-one, though. We can’t have him spoiling two parties...