Westlife Call Boy-Band Breakup 'Strange'

With more than 45 million albums sold worldwide, 14 #1 singles in the United Kingdom and 10 studio albums, fans of Irish boy band Westlife are still in shock that, after 14 years together, the members decided last month to go their separate ways.
Yet, Westlife did not go quietly, having one of their most successful years to date. In May, they were crowned champions of MTV News' Battle of the Boy Bands. Following two weeks of intense matchups and more than 12 million votes, Westlife beat out music's most-famous boy bands to take home the coveted trophy, which is now in their possession.
"Thank you very much. We were very proud, what an amazing thing to win," Westlife member Nicky Byrne said to MTV News via Skype. "It was really really special. It's sitting proudly now in my trophy cabinet amongst a few others we were lucky enough to win."
Last month, Westlife concluded their 12th and final concert tour, the Greatest Hits Tour. Traveling through Asia and Europe, the group celebrated their remarkable career with their fans, ending the trek with a homecoming concert in front of 85,000 fans in Dublin.
"It was a long tour: We did the whole U.K. and wrapped it up in Ireland," Byrne said. "It was the best way we could have expected or wanted to finish. It was two nights in a huge stadium, 85,000 and typical Irish crowd. One night, it rained, and one night, it was sunny, but it didn't dampen any spirits. It was emotional, it was real adrenaline, it was a great night all around."
And even though it's been a few weeks since the tour has wrapped, Byrne admits that it has yet to set in that he will no longer be a part of Westlife.
"It's a bit strange still, obviously. We were together for 14 years. We did a lot of long tours and big tours," he shared. "At the moment, it feels a little bit the same — that you have just wrapped up a big, long tour and you're on time out, but I think every night going to bed or when I wake up first thing in the morning, it just hits you that you keep telling yourself that we are not going to do this again, I'm not going to be back recording with the lads. It's just strange. That's the best way to explain it."
Unfortunately for all those Westlife fans, there was no discussion on the road of getting back together, even if it might have crossed their minds.
"Definitely through the tour, different crowds, different cities, there were times mentally in your head you went and said, 'Is this the right thing?' We never really spoke, that was the funny thing: We never really talked to each other and said, 'Have we made the right decision?' I think our egos wouldn't allow that," he said. "So it was strange when we made the decision, which was probably coming for maybe two years on and off, we felt it, and then once the decision was made, that's the decision now, there's no going back."

 

Westlife come south - to the big screen

POPULAR Irish boy band Westlife gave their last performance at Croke Park in Ireland on June 23.

Westlife had a 14-year career in which the band sold more than 45 million albums worldwide and had 14 No 1 hits in the UK alone.

No wonder then that more than 85 000 fans crammed into the stadium to catch a last glimpse of the favourite four crooners.

Well, the money-making continues and we haven’t even reached the DVD stage of the marketing yet.

Westlife – The Final Concert is coming to a cinema screen near you, courtesy of BBC WorldWide.

The commercial arm of the BBC struck a deal with Sony Music and Westlife to co-produce a live film of this last concert and channelled it through alternative content provider BY Experience to screen it at cinemas worldwide.

Tickets to that final concert sold out in five minutes and more than 50 000 additional people attended live screenings across Europe.

Now SA fans can watch the live concert screenings in a cinema.

This concert screening follows the success of the international theatrical screening of Robbie Williams at the Electric Proms and the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.

When Williams kicked off his comeback in 2009 with an appearance at the Electric Proms, BBC WorldWide licensed the live show to more than 250 screens in 23 countries, setting a Guinness World Record for simultaneous live screenings in cinemas.

That concert was subsequently screened in Australia and SA – the southern hemisphere countries don’t get the live screenings simply because of timing issues.

While many cinephiles will dispute Ster-Kinekor Nouveau’s claim that it shows art films, the “art house” chain does try to deliver alternative content and it regularly screens concerts, opera and theatre productions and documentaries we would not otherwise see.

The positive response from audiences will hopefully see it expanding its range beyond the commercial Hollywood fare local distributors dish up.

The cinematic experience has changed drastically over the past few years as home-viewing digital platforms become more widely available to South Africans.

If the local cinema chains are to survive they need to provide an alternative and better experience than people can have in their living rooms.

This means not only excellent content but also a different experience with all the bells and whistles, such as excellent sound and picture quality beyond what a big TV can deliver.

It also means access for the audience. Whether this means bringing in good African content or building cinemas where the people are, as opposed to only in cosy malls, there is no easy answer to that conundrum.