WESTLIFE

Have you ever loved a band so much that you followed them their whole career and I mean from day 1 when they were a support act to the last day of their farewell tour? I have, along with thousands of others.

That band were called Westlife.

1998 and I am in the SECC to see Boyzone and on walk "Westside" lets just say they got a bigger reaction from the crowd than the headline band!!  I was hooked from day one.

After that it was a blur of buying all their singles, album and waiting for their first tour but before that I went to see them on the Smash hits tour.  

When they announced their first tour I managed to secure front row centre seats. I could not believe my luck.  The night of that show came and I stood in front of Westlife and was so nervous and excited I really had no idea how to react, especially when Nicky sang "What Makes A Man" towards me.  Yes my legs turned to jelly lol.

I went to their concerts 2002 and 2003.  Sadly from 2004-2008 I missed out on their tours for reasons I won't go into here. I still bought their albums, dvds and singles.

2009 after a years break my boys were back!!  New album AND a new tour.  My fab husband bought me tickets and I was hyper from then until May 2010 when me and my friend Maria went to see them.  The lights went out and they walked on.  I was in tears. All the excitement was too much.  The whole show went by in a blur.

Their next album, Gravity, came out and another tour announced.  I saw them twice that tour at the SECC then at Hamilton Racecourse.  Yet again I was not disappointed.

3 months after I saw them at Hamilton thousands of hearts broke, including mine, when Westlife made the following announcement.

After 14 years, 26 top ten hits including 14 number one singles, 11 top 5 albums, 7 of which hit the top spot and have collectively sold over 44 million copies around the world, 10 sell out tours and countless memories that we will forever cherish, we today announce our plan to go our separate ways after a greatest hits collection this Christmas and a farewell tour next year. The decision is entirely amicable and after spending all of our adult life together so far, we want to have a well-earned break and look at new ventures. We see the greatest hits collection and the farewell tour as the perfect way to celebrate our incredible career along with our fans. We are really looking forward to getting out on the tour and seeing our fans one last time. 

Over the years Westlife has become so much more to us than just a band. Westlife are a family. We would like to thank our fans who have been with us on this amazing journey and are part of our family too. We never imagined when we started out in 1998 that 14 years later we would still be recording, touring and having hits together. It has been a dream come true for all of us. 

Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane 

I couldn't believe what I was reading.  Then I really gave it some thought.  The guys are the same age as me and had been in Westlife since they were teenagers.  They were grown men now and it was all they had known.  As much as I was upset my favourite group would be no more I 100% understood why they decided to disband.

May 27th 2012 and I am at the SECC watching my 4 Irish lads on their farewell tour, which the fans nicknamed the The Tissue Tour.  I was not too bad that night I managed to hold it together.

June 19th 2012 and my fave band done something for me that I will never ever forget and am so grateful for its hard to put into words.  They put me on their guestlist. Yes you read that right. After I was scammed (don't ask) the newspaper had contacted Westlife and told them I had been a fan since 1998 and explained what had happened. When I got the phone call I broke down in tears. I was stunned utterly stunned.  I remember sitting in the crowd that night thinking this is it the last time I will be at their concert.  I cried a lot that night.  That is when I realised it was all over.

23rd June 2012 and I am sitting in a local cinema watching their last ever concert at Croke Park.  It came to the speeches and that was me. I was gone.  After that concert finished I was actually ok.

Westlife gave the fans many happy years of fun, excitement and amazing memories.

From the bottom of our hearts we thank you xxxx