The Killers: Mr Brightside sing-a-long at County Kerry wake goes viral By Ciaran McCauley

BBC News NI Published duration 28 March 2016

media caption The Killers: Funeral sing-a-long of Mr Brightside in Republic of Ireland pub goes viral

Rock band The Killers have paid tribute after a pub sing-a-long at a wake in the Republic of Ireland went viral.

Footage of the mass rendition of The Killers' song Mr Brightside has chalked up hundreds of thousands of hits on social media.

The videos were filmed after the funeral of Ger 'Farmer' Foley on 24 March.

The band tweeted that Brian O'Sullivan, who led the singing, could step-in for lead singer Brandon Flowers.

"Brian O'Sullivan, if Brandon ever needs a fill-in, we're calling you!," the band said.

"May we all have friends like this #farmersrule."

The sing-a-long happened at Falveys Pub, Killorglin, County Kerry after Mr Foley had been buried that day.

image caption The Killers tweeted that Mr O'Sullivan could replace singer Brandon Flowers

The 45-year-old had cystic fibrosis.

The video shows Mr O'Sullivan, perched on the bar counter, encouraging everyone to sing with the track before taking off his shirt and crowd-surfing across the pub.

'Good send-off'

Before launching into the song, Mr O'Sullivan told the crowd: "He was the salt of the earth, he will never be replaced and we will remember him forever in our lives.

"I think that the most appropriate song that you can get for this man is Mr Brightside."

Peter Teahan, who filmed one of the videos, said Mr Foley was a very popular member of the community.

"It certainly wasn't a normal Thursday night in Falveys," he said, "A lot of people had been getting up to sing, one person had a guitar and did Raglan Road.

"Brian was a good friend of Ger's, and that was one of Ger's favourite songs, so he got everyone going.

"Most people in the area knew Ger, he was very popular. It was a very good send-off for him," he said.