21/05/2012 17:35
Last night, Westlife performed the first of their three Farewell Tour dates at the LG Arena in Birmingham in what was an emotional but perfect goodbye.
For fourteen years, Kian, Shane, Mark and Nicky (and for five, Brian) were heroes to thousands of fans that have stuck by them through thick and thin. Unfortunately, last night the time had come for many fans to say goodbye to one of Ireland’s most successful boybands as they saw their heroes perform for one last time.
The crowd went crazy as the boys came onto the stage after four effigies of them were set alight. Starting with a stripped back set and their cover of Daughtry’s ‘What About Now’, Westlife treated us to over ninety minutes of some of their biggest ever hits.
In true pop tour style, the middle section of the show was dedicated to a medley of hits from the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Kings of Leon, Robbie Williams, Pussycat Dolls and Queen. I was also suitable impressed by the boy’s ‘shuffling’ abilities as they danced to LMFAO.
Westlife were on top form performing songs such as ‘What Makes a Man’, ‘If I Let You Go’, and ‘Queen of My Heart’ perfectly. The highlights for me were ‘Uptown Girl’ which ended with a little dub breakdown, an energetic and rocky ‘When You’re Looking Like That’ and ‘Ain’t That a Kick in the Head’.
The interaction between Westlife and the audience was some of the best I’ve ever seen; from reading out fans' hilarious banners (most of which I cannot repeat on here!), pulling up members of the audience for a ‘Westlife sandwich’, Shane signing a fan’s arm which she later plans to get tattooed and the Malteaser trick – the guys were charming and funny throughout. They even made sure those fans at the back of the arena got up close and personal with them as the flew over the crowd singing ‘Mandy’, ‘Seasons In The Sun’ and ‘Swear It Again’.
Ending with ‘You Raise Me Up’ before their encore, each member of Westlife individually took to the stage to say thank you and goodbye to their fans but came back for two more songs: ‘World of Our Own’ and ‘Flying Without Wings’.
TessaMeese from Twitter worded it perfectly:
"@thelgarena Fab night but sad too! The boys just get better.....life will not be the same without a Westlife gig to look forward to!!"
We’re going to miss the band terribly at the LG Arena. They first came here back in March 2001 when we were still the NEC Arena and have been here on every single tour since. They’ve left on a high though and to all those coming here on 4 & 8 June you’re going to have a brilliant night but make sure you bring the tissues; it’s an emotional rollercoaster of a show!
Copyright by : http://westlifeonlines.webnode.com/news/westlife-review-the-perfect-farewell/
