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Westlife reunite, Boyzone release farewell single

By | Published on Friday 5 October 2018

Westlife

To be honest, I’d completely forgotten that Westlife split up. But apparently they did in 2012. Anyway, they’re back together again for their 20th anniversary.

Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan are all on board and they are planning to release new music as well as tour. Brian McFadden, who left the group in 2004, will not take part.

The reunion was announced in a video, which opens with four empty stools, which the band members then fill one by one before sort of announcing their return. There’s a pretty good gag about a key change, made all the better by the fact there’s no actual singing in the video.

Commenting on the reunion on Irish radio station Today FM, Boyzone’s Keith Duffy was quick to remind the band of their origins: “Ourselves and Take That always got on well, and in the early days ourselves and Westlife got on well too. I’m not saying we don’t now but the reality of it is, Westlife started as Boyzone’s support act. They started as our opening act, they warmed up our audience for us on our European tour and our first two UK tours”.

Boyzone, meanwhile, are about to release a farewell album and head out on their final tour, which will take them into next year. Given how well Westlife did after Boyzone’s first split, the timing seems perfect.

Speaking of which, Boyzone have just released new single ‘Love’, co-written with that Gary Barlow, presumably proving Duffy’s claim of good relations between those two rival groups. “Boyzone fans everywhere will love the sentiment and passion in this huge song and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it”, say the band.



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