Archive for the 'westlife related' Category
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RONAN McGREEVY
According to Pollstar, the top grossing act last year was Madonna, who brought her MDNA tour to the Aviva Stadium in July. She earned $296.1 million last year (€227 million) from 88 dates across the world. The second highest grossing tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with $210 million (€170 million). A regular visitor to Ireland, Springsteen played two shows at the RDS last summer and is due to play four more in Cork, Limerick and Belfast this year. Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters’ The Wall tour was third with a concert gross of $186.4 million (€142.9 million). He is bringing his scaled-up Wall tour to the Aviva this year. The Rolling Stones appeared on the top 50 despite only playing five shows last year to mark the band’s 50th anniversary. Their three shows at the O2 in London and two in New Jersey grossed $35.5 (€27.2 million), giving an average gross for each show of €5.44 million. They also had, by some distance, the most expensive tickets. The average price for a ticket to their shows, which attracted a great deal of flack for the band, was $529.51 (€405.50) each. A surprising edition to the list is English comedian Michael McIntyre who earned $33.9 (€26 million) from his UK and Ireland tour last year. Credit/Source: irishtimes.com |
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I’m not gonna lie, I still can’t believe that Westlife are not together anymore. It feels like they are on a break that is a bit longer than it normally used to be and that they will be back together on that stage. It’s already been one year since the lads announced their decision to take their separate ways. I will never forget that day but I don’t want to make us all feel down so I also want to say that everything feels very very exciting for each of the lads individually. We are already enjoying Kian and Nicky on our TV screens on a weekly basis and Mark and Shane will both release solo albums. I’m very proud of them four and love them all both as a band as well as individuals. Let’s all keep supporting them through each of their projects and keep spreading the word about them four!! Keep sharing the love and backing Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane all the way. <3 :') Love you forever lads, |
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Awww everyone, check out this incredibly creative video that Vietnamese fans made for Westlife. It’s their own version of Westlife’s CHOON “Beautiful World” thanking them for 14 years. Well done to everyone involved, you should be very proud! It brought tears to me and it looks like it wasn’t just me…
Credit/Source: Vietnam Westlife Fan Community / Twitter.com/v_westlife / twitter.com/MarkusFeehily |
… Such a sweet tweet from Marky to the creators of the video. Hopefully all the lads will see it. <3|
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By Melanie Finn LOUIS Walsh has revealed he hopes to see Westlife back on the stage – despite revelations by Nicky Byrne that the foursome fought like cats and dogs. The 33-year-old singer, who is competing in Strictly Come Dancing, said after 14 years it was right for the band to go their separate ways. “We battered each other, obviously not physically, but we argued like hell. Probably more so in the latter years,” he said. But Louis has revealed how he hopes fans haven’t seen the last of Nicky, Shane Filan (33), Mark Feehily (32) and Kian Egan (32). The X Factor judge said he reckons they will take to the stage again — but in ten years time. “I’m not looking for any band to replace Westlife because that’s just not going to happen,” he told the Herald. “Hopefully in 10 years time they will be back touring.” FAVOURITES The band hung up their stools for good last June following a sell out performance at Croke Park. Louis, who is back for his ninth year in the X Factor hot seat, is also looking to resurrect another of his favourites — namely Sharon Osbourne. He is backing Sharon — the wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne — in her bid to return to the X Factor, the Herald can reveal. Louis said he wants the diva back full-time in 2013 now that she has healed her rift with Simon Cowell. mfinn@herald.ie Credit/Source: herald.ie |
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By Mayer Nissim Ronan Keating has predicted that Westlife will reform in a couple of years.
Keating again confirmed plans for a new Boyzone album and 20th-anniversary tour. Bandmates Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy had previously revealed plans for the jaunt and Keating added: “100%. We’re planning an album for the summer next year and then a tour at the end of the year, that’s the plan.” Credit/Source: digitalspy.co.uk |
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‘Westlife saved her life’: Programme from boyband’s gig helps shield fan from knife attack after show By Louie Smith A girl of 15 stabbed repeatedly by a crazed mugger on her way home from watching Westlife was saved by her concert programme. The teenager was walking from a coach station after a performance by the Irish boyband when she was attacked by heroin addict Stephen Williams, 33. He stabbed her up to six times with a 10in kitchen knife, a court heard but she managed to block some of the blows with the 36-page glossy book. Williams has now been jailed for seven years and four months. His victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, needed stitches but has recovered from her injuries. After the case, Det Con Graham Finney said: “The girl has Westlife to thank for saving her life.” He added: “This was an extremely traumatic experience for the young teenage victim who only hours before had been enjoying a pop concert in London. “The victim’s injuries could have been a lot worse had she not instinctively protected herself using the concert programme. “One shudders to think what would’ve happened if that hadn’t been between her and the knife. She was very lucky. “Williams committed this offence with no concern for his victim.” The girl and her 20-year-old sister watched Westlife perform at London’s O2 Arena during the group’s farewell tour in May and then travelled by coach back home to Norwich – but as they walked from the station to their house, Williams began stalking them. And when they took a shortcut down an alleyway he ran towards them brandishing the knife and yelled: “Give me all your bags,” Norwich crown court heard. Ben Brighouse, prosecuting, described the victim as “slight” and “petite”. He added: “They saw him running at them at speed. He was holding a large kitchen knife.” The terrified 15-year-old desperately tried to hand over her bag but it caught on her shoulder. Williams tried to stab her in the chest, abdomen and wrist but she used her £20 Westlife programme in a plastic bag to deflect the attack. She suffered a 5cm long wound to the side of her chest, a 5cm incision in her abdomen and a 7cm slash on her wrist. Williams, of Norwich, was arrested after CCTV showed him fleeing the scene. He admitted robbery at an earlier hearing before being sentenced. Recorder Alexander Milne QC said: “The fact that no major organ, artery or tendon was damaged was a matter purely of good luck, nothing more than that.” He made an order for Williams to remain on licence for an additional three years after serving his prison sentence. Pop stars Shane Filan, 33, Mark Feehily, 32, Kian Egan, 32, and Nicky Byrne, 33, disbanded Westlife in June after their final series of concerts. The group, who were managed by X Factor judge Louis Walsh and previously included fifth member Brian McFadden, 32, had 14 UK No1 singles. Credit/Source: mirror.co.uk |
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It’s already been two months since Westlife gave their last concert as a band at Dublin’s Croke Park on the 23rd of June 2012 in front of 85.000 people. The following performance of ‘Flying Without Wings’ from last year’s BBC Proms In The Park is one of my all time favourite performances of Westlife. <3 |
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CONGRATS to Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane as Westlife’s official Facebook page has passed the incredible 5.000.000 ‘Likes’ mark! x Villy |
Westlife may not be together anymore but people from all over the world keep showing their love to our four Irish lads. 
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I can’t believe it’s already been one month since Westlife’s Farewell concert at Dublin’s Croke Park… it still feels unreal to me and as if they are on their usual post-tour Summer break. They will always live on as aband in our hearts and through their music. ‘Thank you’ once again to the lads for these incredible 14 years, missing them already… Always loving and supporting them all. |
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 BIG BIG BIG day today as 14 years ago Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan formed a band which was meant to become the one and only… Westlife… <3 THANK YOU for 14 incredible years lads, you will always be in your fans' hearts as a band as well as individuals. You've achieved SO much and you've done yourselves, your families, friends and of course your fans proud. Thank you for the best times, thank you for the journey, thank you for making our lives more beautiful and less painful in many ocasions. Love you forever |
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So I’m back home after some incredible days seeing Westlife in Glasgow and Dublin… Words don’t come easy at the moment, mixed feelings and SO much pride for these four Irish lads that have given us 14 amazing years that we will remember forever. I’m so sad Westlife are not together anymore, it’s hard to stop the tears but I understand their decision and respect it. I am so thankful for everything they’ve given us, fans, over the years. Music, tours, laughs, tears and friendships that we wouldn’t have had, as well as helping us through hard days in our lives. Westlife will live on through all the songs, the memories, the videos, the pictures, the interviews and everything they’ve created those 14 years. My all time fear since becoming a fan of Westlife in 1999 was seeing the members of the band falling out with each other and losing respect for each other so I am relieved to see them going their separate ways as four friends, four people who will be looking back to their Westlife days with a smile and will be proud of what they’ve achieved and how they made sure they respected the relationship between them. What can I say about the last Croke Park concert… I’ve never seen a crowd so passionate about Westlife. You know, going to a Westlife concert there are many people who are huge fans of Westlife and there are people who are not necessarily ‘fans’ but love them and their music and go to see them. Croke Park felt like it was FULL of 85.000 FANS. Full of people who share the passion and love for Westlife, who know the lyrics to all the songs by heart and who wanted to give Westlife the biggest send off. It was all so emotional, so intense, I will never forget that night. Seeing the lads saying their goodbyes and hugging each other was heartbreaking, you could feel the energy of both the lads and the crowd. I have to admit when they first announced their split I was considering not going to their last ever concert as I didn’t know how I would cope. Truth to be said, I didn’t cope too well, a lot of crying during ballads but thankfully I had many lovely mates around me to give me hugs and I am so glad that I decided to go, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I know I would have regretted it if I wasn’t there. I’m extremely proud of Westlife and I will never thank them enough for everything they’ve given me. Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane, thank you for 14 years full of excitement, happy moments, emotional days, that’s more than half of my life. You are so talented and you are all lovely down-to-earth people as well, that’s why you’ve made all this work so well. I want to wish all four of you BEST LUCK with the new chapter of your lives, I hope it will bring to you even more than you wish for or dream of both in your personal lives and your careers. I have been a fan of you all from the early days and I will keep supporting each one of you in the future. You’ve made my Westlife dreams come true and I’ve lived moments I never thought I would in my life. I will miss Westlife, I already do… but if any of the four of you ever reads this, know that there is a girl in Greece (or anywhere I might be in the future) who loves and supports you all no matter what and I’m sure there are many many fans all around the world sharing the same feeling. Thank you my lads, |
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Just as the real thing are taking their final bows on their farewell tour, a successful Westlife tribute act are bound for Berwick and ready to create the same level of excitement as the lads from the Emerald Isle they emulate. In what surely must be the hottest ticket in a while for any fan of late 90s/early 00s pop, Westlife UK are joining forces with Ultimate Steps for Chartbusters at The Maltings next Friday, June 8. It’s the first time that the four lads from the North East have played at the theatre but if the reaction to their agency mates, Re-Take That, in the past few years is anything to go by, they can be assured of a very warm welcome. ‘The Guide’ caught up with Westlife UK’s very own Shane Filan, John Francis, last week and he said he was excited about the gig and keen to carry the Westlife name on after the curtain has come down on the Irish boyband’s highly successful career. “We’ve played in Berwick a few times before but never at The Maltings; northern audiences are always up for it so we’re hoping it’ll be a great night,” he enthused. “Westlife have been going for 14 years now so there will be people who come along to our shows that grew up with them and know every word to every song. “There is a bit of pressure to make sure we’re getting things as spot on as we can; one thing we don’t do though is the Irish accent. If would just sound really bad if we couldn’t get it right! “Vocally Westlife are quite a demanding group to emulate. I don’t think they get enough credit for how good singers they are – there are a few tricky high notes in some of the songs and you get a real workout on stage doing a full show of their songs.” In their earlier days particularly Westlife took a lot of flak for sitting on stools for most of their TV performances but to ensure that their audiences get the party atmosphere they come along for, Westlife UK put their own spin on a few of their famous ballads in their repertoire. “We have to try and judge how an audience is feeling on the night,” John continued. “If the audience is in for a Christmas party or something like that you can guarantee the people will be up for a good dance whereas when we play in theatres we tend to do some of the bigger ballads. “We have created our own dance versions of some of the more famous ones though just to keep the tempo up and there’s one album track that we’re really keen to do. It’s a track that appeared on a Westlife album a few years ago called ‘I’ll See You Again’, written by Nicky and Kian after their fathers passed away. “We’ve mentioned it on our Facebook page and a few of the hardcore Westlife fans seem really keen on us doing it.” As well as causing female hearts to flutter across the country, like Re-Take That, Westlife UK have also had a seal of approval from the act they take as their inspiration, with Westlife’s Mark Feehily a one-time gym buddy of John and a fan of the act. “Until recently Mark was going out with a lad who lived right near me in north Tyneside and when Westlife weren’t touring the UK or Asia, he’d spend a lot of time up here,” John explained. “I bumped into them at the gym a few times and when they played in Newcastle last year the band met up with them. “He wrote us a really nice letter saying what a good job we’re doing; I think he was shocked as how closely we try and replicate Westlife; our tour poster was almost identical to them.” Mark and his bandmates were last in the North East a fortnight ago when they played the Metro Radio Arena as part of their farewell tour and John said that although the show felt very final, he was glad Westlife were bowing out while they were still at the top of their game. “Going to the concert a few weeks ago was actually quite sad as it felt like it was the end of an era, particularly for us as we’ve been singing their songs pretty much from the beginning. “When Westlife first came out we were doing the clubs around the North East and a few people said we sounded quite similar to them. We were big fans of the first few songs they brought out and it just felt right to do a tribute. “Westlife have still got a huge following and the door will always be open for them to come back but in the meantime we’re definitely going to keep performing their songs. “People often say to me ‘you must get sick of singing Westlife all the time’ but you know what? I don’t. They’ve got some amazing tracks like ‘Flying Without Wings’ and ‘You Raise Me Up’ which mean a lot to many people.” See John and his bandmates Mea Dean, Jay Jamieson and Ian Bianchi on the stage on Friday, June 8 and see ‘The Guide’ next week for an interview with Ultimate Steps. Credit/Source: www.berwick-advertiser.co.uk |
