Music

Westlife bringing reunion tour back to Ireland in 2020

Tickets from €59.50 including booking fee go on sale this Friday

Markus Feehily, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne from Westlife at the announcement of their upcoming show in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork in August 2020. Photograph: Darragh Kane

Olivia Kelleher
Mon Sep 16 2019 - 10:35

Westlife are bringing their reunion tour back to Ireland with a gig at the €70 million revamped Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork in August 2020.

Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan were at the venue this morning where they spoke of their delight in following in the footsteps of U2 who were the last Irish act to play the stadium 27 years ago.

The band have performed at Live on the Marquee on numerous occasions but other than that “appearances” in Cork have included Nicky playing football for Cobh Ramblers and Mark representing Connacht in tennis as a young man.

Mark Feehily was in particularly joyful mood as he is eagerly anticipating the birth of his first child in just three weeks. Mark said he was delighted to head back to the “electric atmosphere” which Cork always delivers.

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Nicky Byrne said that their most memorable moment in Leeside was at a Marquee gig where they did a impromptu nineties dance set. Byrne jokingly recalled that after a particularly memorable rendition of Snap’s “Rhythm is a Dancer” he get a got a text from a prominent rugby player who congratulated them on bringing the house down.

“We started singing “Rhythm is a Dancer” and “Mr Vain”. The crowd lapped it up. It was a proper party. Ronan O’Gara was at the show and he texted me saying ‘that was the best thing.’ Maybe that will be our medley.”

Tour

Shane Filan said the recent tour involved a total of 51 concerts in Europe and Asia. He insists that the band are getting on better than they ever did. Shane said they were “reliving their youth” on the tour.

“We were away for so long that we started to miss the band and to miss each other. Since we have come back it is probably been the most enjoyable year in Westlife that we have ever had. We even went to the cinema together. We didn’t anticipate the level of success in the last year. The two Croke Park shows were the best we ever put on I think. It was overwhelming. We want to up that again. Páirc Uí Chaoimh is the next bespoke show.”

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr John Sheehan, welcomed the band to Cork and said that “half of Ireland was at Croke Park” with the gig in Leeside expected to be a sell out.

The band were presented with Cork GAA jerseys sporting their names in advance of the gig which will take place on August 28th, 2020. Their recent “Twenty Tour” sold 600,000 tickets across thirteen countries including two sold out shows at Croke Park with 150,000 tickets sold.

The group have promised to play their greatest hits including “Flying Without Wings” and “Swear it Again” with the gig due to last in the region of two hours. Last Friday Westlife announced they will headline Wembley Stadium in London on August 22nd 2020 making them the second only Irish act alongside U2 to achieve this.

Tickets from €59.50 including booking fee go on sale this Friday. The Cork concert will be part of a tour to support the band’s eleventh studio album ‘Spectrum’ which is being released on November 8th. It follows on from their two sell out reunion concerts in Croke Park last July. A second gig has not been ruled out.

Westlife are the the third major act to play the revamped Páirc Uí Chaoimh after Ed Sheeran played three sell-outconcerts in 2018 and Rod Stewart played a single gig there last May. The group reformed last October after deciding to take a break from recording and touring seven years ago.

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