Westlife’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration
Date: March 14 and 16, 2024
Location: Boston and New York
After 25 years, Westlife, the popular Irish boyband, made my wildest dreams come true. The group announced they would finally come to North America as part of their Wild Dreams World Tour.
The North America leg included shows in Toronto, Boston, New York and Chicago during Saint Patrick’s Day weekend. Unsurprisingly tickets sold out within a day! Because of the high demand, Westlife had to add a second show in Toronto. Nicky mentioned they wanted to also add a second night in New York but Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available.
As a devoted Westlife fan, I was excited!
Westlife - The Band
Westlife originally formed in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland. The band was composed of Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Brian McFadden. Their debut single “Swear It Again” went to number one on the UK and Ireland charts as well as number 20 on the US charts. They released four studio albums: Westlife (1999), Coast to Coast (2000),World Of Our Own (2001) and Turnaround (2003).
In 2003, Brian decided to leave the group to focus on his family and his own solo career.
Nicky, Kian, Mark and Shane decided to continue on as a four-piece. They released two cover albums: Allow Us To Be Frank (2004) and The Love Album (2006) in addition to Face to Face (2005), Back Home (2007), Where We Are (2009), and Gravity (2010). They broke up in 2011 and reunited in 2019. They released their album Spectrum (2019) and Wild Dreams (2021).
Throughout their career, Westlife achieved multiple number one and top 10 hits including “Flying Without Wings”, “Queen of My Heart”, “World Of Our Own” and “My Love”.
MGM Fenway Hall and Radio City Music Hall
My friends and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and attend two concerts in Boston and New York. We were extremely lucky to secure great seats at this sold out tour.
The Boston show took place at the MGM Fenway Hall next to Fenway Park. This is my second time at this venue. The last show I saw was Louis Tomlinson’s Faith In The Future tour. We were fortunate to get third row seats with a great view! At some point during the show, Shane definitely waved at me. I even met his beautiful wife, Gillian in the crowd!
The New York show took place at the historic Radio City Music Hall. As a first-timer at Radio City Music Hall, I can say that the venue is as grand as seen on TV.
The Show
Although both concerts started 30 minutes late, Westlife delivered an action-packed show with 1.5 hours of their greatest hits, a mixture of up-tempo songs and ballads. The show was simply magnetic! It was incredible to witness Westlife sing live for the first time. Shane, Nicky, and Kian were truly excited to be performing in America.
Unfortunately Mark had to miss the tour due to health issues. The boys had to adapt the choreography, setlist and vocals with Mark’s absence. And I will say they executed their performance flawlessly. You couldn’t tell there was supposed to be a fourth member in the group if you saw Westlife for the first time and have not heard of them.
Westlife opened the show with “Starlight”. They continued the show’s momentum with “Uptown Girl” , “When You’re Looking Like That” and “Fool Again”. I know “Uptown Girl” is a Billy Joel cover. However, I am biased. Westlife’s version is better!
Their setlist also included “I Lay My Love On You” and their cover of Daughtry’s “What About Now” .
I surprisingly enjoyed their performance, “If I Let You Go.” It is one of my least favorite Westlife songs. Always thought “If I Let You Go” was a sleeper song. In contrast, the live version was more upbeat and animated. The audience was definitely dancing and singing along. In addition with Shane’s tender vocals, Nicky and Kian’s voices shine in the song and truly connect with the audience.
Another notable highlight was Westlife energizing the crowd with their top 10 hit song, “World Of Our Own”. They really got us moving in our seats. Though Westlife is not famous for their dancing, their simple choreography was definitely in sync as they strutted across the stage. We were obviously swooning when Shane, Nicky and Kian turned their backs towards us and shook their behinds!
My favorite parts of the concert though were ballads. Honestly, the ballads are what Westlife is most famous for. Especially the performance of their debut single, “Swear It Again”. Watching Westlife perform that song live was truly special, particularly with the live band playing the chords. Shane’s voice truly pulled through specifically at the end when he goes off script and does his runs and ad-libs the lyrics. It was breath-taking. He truly knows how to engage with the crowd. His vocals also stood out during their performance of “My Love”. I swear Shane was looking right at me when he sang that song!
Shane’s voice continues to shine on their cover of Barry Manilow’s “Mandy”. I have to give him props during “Mandy” cause he had to sing both his solo and Mark’s solo. He had to cover Mark’s solo too during “World Of Our Own”. I admired how Shane can balance his breathing while singing! Nicky also really impressed me with his vocal range as he sang the bridge of “Mandy”. He clearly worked a lot of effort into his solo.
Westlife continued the show with a medley of ABBA songs. Honestly, I did not enjoy this part of the show. The setlist would have been fine without it. I know that their rendition of “I Have A Dream” was their Christmas number one song in the UK. They did a great job of the song live ad-libbing “I believe in Boston/New York” to the lyrics. I would have been happy with just “I Have A Dream”. Westlife could have replaced this segment with their own songs in the catalog. Or they could have sang longer versions of their songs, “Queen of My Heart”, “I’m Already There”, “What Makes A Man” and “Unbreakable”. Instead of meshing them into a medley.
The major moment in the concert was the performance of their number one song, “Flying Without Wings”. Starting with Shane singing the first line “Everybody is looking for that something…”, the performance was breathtaking and brought so much love and nostalgia. I was so moved. Similar to “Mandy”, Shane sang both his solo and Mark’s. And his vocals were flawless! He also brought so much emotion and passion which accentuated the performance even more.
During the concert, Westlife had three costume changes. They first started the show with shiny black suits. They later donned silver vests during their ABBA medley. They later changed to blue suits when they sang their famous ballads and “World of Our Own”. Shane, Nicky, and Kian clearly looked very distinguished and handsome in the suits. During the encore, they wore green jackets in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. There was a definite swagger about them.
They closed the show with “Hello My Love and “You Raise Me Up”. The Irish pride was definitely in full display as they brought out both an American flag and an Irish flag. “Hello My Love” definitely re-invigorated the crowd as Westlife moved about the stage. Kian and Nicky’s vocals clearly stood out as they played off excitement from the audience.
“You Raise Me Up” solidified Westlife’s as vocalists. Admittedly, I prefer their version to Josh Grobain’s. As with their other ballads, Shane, Nicky, and Kian showcased their talents with a great deal of enthusiasm and fervor. Even though the crowd was singing along with them, their voices still rose above and filled the room.
Overall, I truly enjoyed both Westlife concerts. Kian, Shane, and Nicky truly provided two beautiful nights of amazing singing and entertainment. I admire the chemistry the bandmates have. Their years of friendship and brotherhood was truly evident onstage especially when Nicky placed a supportive hand on Shane’s shoulder when he was singing the last notes of “Swear It Again”.
I love the fact that each bandmate had a role to play during the show. Shane had the lead vocals. Kian played the role of additional solos and back up vocals. His voice particularly stood out during “Starlight”. Nicky was the lead Master of Ceremonies and would talk and engage with the audience during the show. In the middle of the show, he had the audience do a ripple light up of the venue with their cell phones. It was awesome!
I wished the show lasted longer by another 30 minutes. They should have added more of their famous releases such as “Home”, “Us Against The World”, “Seasons in the Sun” and “Amazing”. I understand they had to consider the setlist with Mark’s absence and be selective of songs.
Nicky hopes that his band comes back to perform in the US with Mark. He is hoping that they get to upgrade their concert to either Fenway Park in Boston and/or Madison Square Garden in New York. I hope so too!
If Westlife does show up at a city near you, I highly recommend you check out their concerts! You are in for a real treat.
