Part One Part Two Part Three
I woke up to the sound of a knock on my door.. I got out of bed, and went to answer it… it was Nicky.
"Morning Nicky," I said.
"Morning Eilidh, just wondering if you would like to join me for Breakfast?" replied Nicky.
"Sure, just give me a few minutes to get dresssed" I said, quickly getting my clothes on, and quickly using the bathroom.
As we went down to breakfast, I asked him where were the others, and he simply replied "still asleep, I guess!"
"So, do you usually have breakfast alone?" I asked.
"Sometimes, but usually the other lads joins me later, when they bother to get up." He replied, as we sat down.
We looked at the menu, and ordered. Nicky ordered a cooked breakfast, while I ordered Bacon and Banana Pancakes with Maple Syrup.
Just then with the arrival of the food, both Shane and Kian arrived, joining us.
"Morning Guys, Sleep well?" I asked, tucking into the pancakes.
"Morning, Yes, I did, thanks!" Kian replied.
"That’s good!" I replied.
As Bryan and Mark turned up and they ordered breakfast, we all just sat there chatting about what we had planned for the day…
"So Eilidh, what have you planned for today?" asked Shane as he started eating his cooked breakfast.
"Well, I’m meeting up with my friends later this afternoon, we gonna grab a bite to eat, and then probably head over to the concert venue." I replied, pouring another cup of tea.
"Cool, so you looking forward to tonight then?" asked Shane.
"Yup, definitely..." I said happily.
"What have your guys got planned for the day? "I asked, finishing my drink.
"Actually, I’m not that sure." Said Kian, looking at his watch. "I think we have to go and do sound-checks soon…and some radio interviews!"
Just then Anto walked in, and came towards the table.
"Good, you’re all up. We have to get over to the venue, for sound-checks and a few last minute rehearsals. We’re leaving in about 10 minutes!" Anto said, grabbing a Coffee to go.
All the lads except Nicky stood up and went .
"Eilidh, I better get going. I’ll no doubtly see you tonight at the concert. You’re in the front row? Right!" he said, as he stood up, not before leaning over to plant a kiss on my forehead.
"Yeah, front row. I’ll see you later then." I replied.
As the lads all left the hotel. I went back up to my room. As I sat down on the bed, wondering what to do, I thought I’d check my mail…
As I loaded up my yahoo messenger…I could see a few people were on-line. And that I had about 50 new messages…mostly westlife ones and few sgml and 4 in my inbox… I quickly clicked to my inbox…and there was 2 e-mails from a N.Byrne. I opened the first one…"Hey Eilidh, I’m sorry about tonight, I totally wasn’t expecting her to turn up.. I thought she was in Ireland… but she flew over to tell me that we were through, and that she’d found some other guy that wasn’t always away…so that’s why I was grumpy before… but seeing you in that bathrobe, did help to make me a little happy!! Well, I’m of to bed. Le gra Nicky xxx
The other was "Hey, just forgot to mention that you’re invited to the after-party tonight…Mark just told me that he mentioned it to you…..and he wasn’t too sure if you were still coming… hope you have a great afternoon…see ya later.. Nixs xxxx
I e-mailed him back "Hey Nixs, Yes, I’m definitely coming tonight, wouldn’t miss it for the world.…so I’ll see you later…bye for now. Eilidh xxx
When I arrived at the café later that afternoon, a few of the girls had already arrived, so I joined them.
We sat there, all chatting away about the concert and other things, waiting for the rest of our friends to come, we then studied the menu, and ordered..
We were totally excited about the concert, wondering what songs they would sing, and who was opening for them, as no-one knew who it would be, and the BMG wasn’t letting on who the special guest would be…. But we hoped that whoever was opening for Westlife would be good!
An hour later, after having something to eat, we all made the move towards the venue, but not before waiting for someone to have a toilet stop. We all groaned when she told us all that she needed to pee..
We found an area to wait outside the venue until the doors opened. The doors didn’t open until 7pm then the opening act was on at 7.45pm for 20 minutes, and then it would be a 25 min wait for the main act…Westlife.
We entertained ourselves by singing Westlife songs. By then, more members from the NZWLML arrived, and more introductions were made. So we thought we’d sing some more to get us ready for the concert.. what we didn’t know was while we were singing IILYG, looking out of the 2nd floor opened window, were Westlife, looking directly in our direction. And when we had finished, we could hear this clapping, and it was from the Westlife lads who had witnessed our singing.. Most of us were totally embarrassed, but some of us, having sung IILYG in a Taxi a few months back, were delightful that finally someone enjoyed it and had showed their appreciation in return!!
As 7pm approached, the crowds got a bit excited and waited for the doors to open. As we all got through the doors, most of us quickly bought up large at the merchandise counters. Buying programmes, more T-shirts, banners etc, before heading to our seats. We all found our respective seats and we all were near each other.. so we all flicked through the programme, looking at the gorgeous pictures(laughed at a few!), and chatted with those around us…
At 7.40pm, the lights went a bit dimmer, and we all didn’t know who was gonna be opening for Westlife. The music started. And boy did we get a shock, It was the start of Life is A Roller-coaster, which meant the man himself, Ronan Keating was opening for them... Then Ronan came bouncing onto the stage, wearing a white T-shirt, snakeskin pants and a denim jacket..
"I bet you weren’t expecting me, were you!!" none of us were, we were all going omg!!! And cameras started flashing…..
He sang ‘Life is a Rollercoaster’ and then ‘when you say nothing at all’ and then the music started playing ‘I love the way you love me’ which has to be one of my favourite boyzone songs. I wondered whether Ronan would sing it all by himself, or was Stephen hiding backstage to help him.(which was so unlikely as Stephen was on tour in Europe, promoting his new single(a duet with Eloy called "if I don’t have you!"))He sang it by himself. Then Ronan finished off with Life is A Rollercoaster, and hoped that we all enjoyed the main act!
Then it was a 20 min wait for the main act, most of us were still on a high from seeing Ronan and his snakeskin pants or laughing at the pants!
On the big screens, they were showing various pictures of all the lads, everyone screamed at their favourite member. Then it changed into a clock, showing us how many minutes remaining. There was not many minutes to go….
"5, 4, 3, 2, ONE…. From Ireland, comes Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Bryan McFadden and Nicky Byrne, you know them better than WESTLIFE!!!……" screamed the voice over the loud speaker.
As the music for ‘Open Your Heart’ started, we could see the lad’s silhouettes standing on some steps and then the song started, they came out into the light. They were wearing grey/white clothes (like the clothes that they wore on TOTP for Fool Again). They all looked great, and excited to be here. Through-out the opening song, the various members incorporated waves (Shane doing the most!) and smiles to the crowd. As OYH finished, Mark announced the next song. " Hello New Zealand, We are so glad to be back here, I wonder what would happen… IF I LET YOU GO!"
As per usual, this song with its sliding moves was brilliant – Mark nearly fell off the stage, but he carried on, Nicky had a big grin on his face, and you could see he wanted to laugh but he didn’t…
Then it was Shane’s turn to introduce the next song, "I must confess that you all are gonna be the stars in MY PRIVATE MOVIE" he said cheekily.
The dance routine to this song was pretty funky, and we could see that they hadn’t perfected this routine yet, as there were a few minor instances that one member was out of time, but managed to catch up, making it a very good performance.
The lads sat down on the steps. It went Shane, Nicky, Kian, Mark, Bryan.
Then Bryan spoke, "We thought we’d sit down for this one, this is SEASONS IN THE SUN!"
As the lads sat on the steps, they looked down unless they were singing their verse. When each member sang their bit, there was screaming for each of them, and then the song finished, and the lads ran off the stage.
After about 2mins, Bryan returned alone to the stage, wearing a black shirt and dark trousers.
"Well, as you can see, I’m all alone…because we are all going to be doing a solo song for you tonight…the song that I’ve chosen, is a Tom Jones song…and sadly it’s not sex-bomb! But it is…’It’s not Unusual!!’ So here goes!"
The music started and Bryan started dancing and singing! Most of us were very impressive about Bryan’s performance. If this was a taste of what to come, then no doubt the rest of the lad’s solos would be just as brilliant.
When Bryan finished, we all clapped, screamed in appreciation!
We wondered who would be next, it was Kian. He came wandering onto the stage wearing a deep brown short-sleeved shirt and tan trousers and carrying his guitar.
"Well, what can I say? Wasn’t Bryan good? The song that I’m doing, is a song by a band called Take That. Its ‘back for good’! enjoy!" he said.
As the backing music started, and Kian started playing his guitar, we all stood there totally spellbound by Kian’s musical ability. And when Kian started singing, we were all speechless. Kian’s voice was lovely and it was finally great to hear him singing more than just one verse of a song.
As Kian finished, we all yet again gave him screams and clapping.
2 down, 3 to go, who’d be next……
It would be Nicky…yet another who’s voice we hadn’t really heard. As Nicky walked onto the stage, my heart melted, he was wearing this tight white v-neck T-shirt and these blue shiny pants.
"Hello, hope you’re enjoying these solos that we are singing, still to come is Shane and Mark… but before them, its me...the song that I’m gonna sing is called ‘Amazed’, hope you like it.."
As Nicky started singing, his voice was so amazing( ok excuse the pun) he sang the song so well, okay so I had fantasised about Nicky singing this song…and well, its come true!!
Then as he finished, he looked around and saw me smiling, and he smiled back and then walked off the stage to the crowds applause.
Who would be next we wondered, Shane or Mark…
Out walks Shane, looking gorgeous in his white shirt and dark grey trousers. He goes and grabs a stool and brings it to the centre of the stage.
"The song I’m gonna do is an old Leo Sayer classic ‘when I need you’ As Shane sang, everyone swayed their arms. Shane did a beautiful rendition…
Shane finished and then it was Marks turn….
None of us were quite expecting what song Mark would do…so when Mark bounces onto the stage wearing this nice long sleeved t-shirt and these funky baggy pants…we all knew it wasn’t a ballad…
"saving the very best for last…yup it’s me!. The song I’m going to be doing is a song that you’ve all probably heard before…a couple of bz tours ago, boyzone did this song as part of a medley…..it’s ‘blame it on the boogie’ so hope yas like it…. " As Mark sang and danced, it was totally not what we were expecting…but it was obvious that mark was one hell of a good dancer…
After he had finished, Mark ran off , waving…
The lad were soon back wearing black…..thankfully Nicky didn’t have his glittery sash thing on…
Kian started talking "well, I hope that you like that solo-section bit…well, the next song is Fool Again" this song was great, with the spunky dance-routine as well better than the sitting on stool version..…
The next song was supposed to be introduced by Bryan, but instead he simply just open his arms and we all knew then it’s flying without wings…
So we all sang along to it and did the actions…and when Shane started ‘bouncing’ we all bounced too..
Then it was on to No No, with its spunky dance-routines and the lads were still full of energy.
After No No, Shane spoke.
"This is the last Westlife song of the evening, this is the song that made us what we are today, and its Swear it Again"
At the end of Swear it Again, the lads ran off, obviously changing into their outfits for the encore.
Moments later, the lads walked back on stage, all dressed in these sexy black leather pants, and long leather coats, you couldn’t really tell exactly what tops was under the coats. They all looked very gorgeous..
Nicky started talking, "Well, we have a little surprise for you all, as our encore, we’ve decided to pay tribute to the bands that have influenced us… First up, this song was first done in 1974 by The Osmonds, and then it was re-released by Boyz One in 1994, and now we want to pay tribute to Boyz One with our "sort of boyzone" version of Love Me For A Reason"
As Nicky started singing Ronan’s Bit, the crowd screamed. And then when Shane started Stephens bit, most of the fans who knew the boyzone LMFAR dance routine, knew that at the end of Stephen’s verse, he did his "Gately-wiggle" and boy did the crowd scream, when Shane’s hand got into position and he did the "Gately-wiggle" very well.. Some of the fans nearly passed out with that.
After that song had finished, it was Bryan’s turn to talk. "as you know, our influences are Boyzone and the Backstreet Boys, so we’re going to do a Backstreet Boys track now. Its I’ll never break your heart."
As they broke into the song, everyone was screaming. The whole concert so far had been brilliant, they sang their songs, and their solo stuff were all brilliant..
Then the lads went to the side of the stage and removed their jackets, revealing these sort of black see-through tops. Everyone screamed…..
Kian spoke, "sadly this is the last song of the night. We would like to thank all of you guys for coming tonight, without you – the fans, we wouldn’t be here, so thank you. And we thought we’d go out with a bang, this song is by Boyzone, and its When the Going get Tough!"
The guys were full of energy, and their boxing moves were great! And then the song finished, the lads said thank-you and goodbye, and left the stage..
And then the concert was over, the overhead lights came on and everyone made their way out.
After the concert, after we all found each other, we stood in a group, talking about the concert, and where to from the venue. Some of us wanted to go out on the town. I said that I wasn’t up to hitting the town, and that I might head back to my hotel…