Westlife fever hits Sandown Park Racecourse
Thursday 5th August 2010



Westlife fever is growing outside Sandown Park Racecourse.

The Irish chart toppers are due to play the Esher venue this evening, and adoring fans started queueing by the entrance to the venue on last night, to ensure they could get to the front of the stage.

One fan right at the front of the queue said she and her friends left her home in Grimsby yesterday evening.

She said: "I've been a fan for 12 years now. This is what we do, we camp out so I can to the front.

"They've got good voices, they're sexy, I just love everything about them."

Natasha "blown away"after meeting Westlife at their homecoming gig in Sligo




Date: 04 August 2010
By James Rogers
LOCAL woman Natasha Woods had a once in a lifetime experience on Friday when she got to meet her heroes Westlife at their homecoming concert in Lissadell House in Sligo.


The 27-year-old landed the dream prize after winning a competition on the Colm and Lucy show on 2FM.

Having made the trip to the North West with her best friend Amy Callaghan, Natasha admitted that she did not know what to expect but told The Dundalk Democrat on Monday that she was "blown away" by how nice Mark, Shane, Nicky and Kian were in person.

"I had a ball. It was absolutely brilliant," she said.

"I didn't expect it at all. Our seats were great and then about 7.45pm we were taken to the courtyard of Lissadell House where we met Louis Walsh. I think he was doing some filming for X Factor so one of the guys from Westlife must be a mentor.

"Then we met Jodi Albert and her band Wonderland who were supporting Westlife. They were really nice but we missed them on stage because we were waiting for Westlife.

"The lads were so nice to us. They had all the time in the world for us and posed for as many pictures as we wanted and signed anything we asked them to. They were so polite and must've given us about 15 minutes.

"They asked us all where we came from and made it feel quite personal. I explained that I had travelled over from Dundalk and Nicky said he had heard me winning the competition on the radio.

"Overall the whole experience was brilliant. I'll never forget it," she said.

Of course, the night didn't end there for Natasha who manages Exhibit in the Marshes Shopping Centre - as she still had the concert to look forward to.

"They were absolutely brilliant live.

"They started with Where We Are and it just got better from there on. I'll See You Again was amazing but my favourite song was Already There.

"It was just an unbelievable show, an unbelievable experience and I'll never forget it."

 

 

Westlife fans Unbreakable as they brave rain to see lads at STV

Hysteria descended on the STV car park as fans queued up to catch a glimpse of Westlife, ahead of their interview on The Hour.

27 October 2010

The STV car park was awash with Westlife fans this afternoon, as the boyband loving diehards braved the cold, wind and rain, to catch a glimpse of their idols.

And judging by the screams as the Irish stars
tour bus pulled up outside the TV studios, it was well worth the wait.

Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne and Mark Feehily had a quick smile for delighted fans, as they ran into The Hour for an interview with Michelle McManus and Stephen Jardine.

The pop favourites were doing a whistle stop tour of Scottish media organisations to promote their new single Safe, which is released on November 7, and their 11th (yes, 11th) album, Gravity, which is available from November 11th.

They also spoke about their forthcoming X Factor appearance and revealed they will take to the stage on November 14 scream!


As the fans made their way home sporting their diamante encrusted Westlife hoodies,
the smiles on their faces showed that catching a glimpse of the boys, certainly brightened up their day.

 

 

 

Lifelong fan Laura Butler on the day the music died as Westlife call it quits


Thursday October 20 2011

I LOST my heart to Westlife 14 years ago -- today I've been left broken hearted by Westlife.

The boyband was the teenage soundtrack to my life and the sad news that they are no more brings me back to younger days with fondness and nostalgia.

A besotted fan from the get-go, I first heard of the then five-piece group when they burst onto the scene in 1999.

As a first-year secondary student, I was holidaying in Connemara with pals, and we were instantly in favour of them and declaring them to be better than anything else in the charts.


dream

A welcome change from Boyzone and the Spice Girls, Westlife garnered lustful sighs from us as we listened to Swear It Again for the first time on the radio.

Animated debate over what their real name was -- "is it Westside or Westlife?" -- quickly followed and my friends and I promptly chose our favourite band members.

After buying their first single and taping my A2 sized poster of Sligo native Shane Filan to my bedroom wall, my adoration for the chart-toppers was firmly cemented when tracks If I Let You Go and I Have A Dream followed.

A year later, when I was 13 and they had almost become a household name -- I spotted them at the baggage area in Dublin airport.

Overcome with a fit of nervousness and the giggles, myself and my shy cousin indiscreetly wandered over in their direction to get a closer look at them -- and managed to find a pen and a scrap of paper to bring with us.

I couldn't have been happier to return from holidays, as I left the airport that day with four out of five autographs -- Brian McFadden failed to impress -- from the group before they were swarmed by excited teens waiting in arrivals.

I seem to have been very lucky when it comes to this band -- I managed to bump into them on a number of occasions over the years, from randomly seeing Nicky Byrne shopping on Grafton Street, to literally walking into Brian McFadden in a Greystones newsagents -- where he lived up the road with ex-Kerry Katona and that just confirmed how cool I thought they were.

From seeing them at the Childline concerts and cheering to turning on the telly to cheer them on at the MTV Europe music awards, their ballads failed to hit a sour note with their adoring fans, myself included.

Although my interest waned in their later years, I've always had a soft spot for their easygoing music, with -- admittedly -- Flying Without Wings in my top five favourites.

I still enjoy belting out a few of the cheesy numbers and tend to always revert back to them when compiling my Christmas playlist for my iPod.

When the lads announced the release of a greatest hits album last week, I had a sneaky suspicion that news of a split would follow.


Crooned

They've gone from being a fresh-faced boyband to a more mature looking manband and I suppose it was only inevitable after 14 years of a hard slog in the business.

And for those of us who grew up with Shane, Mark, Nicky, Kian and Brian, it definitely reminds you of your first dance at the local disco or pretending to be a backing vocalist with a hairbrush as your parents had to suffer Uptown Girl yet another time.

Teenagers now have the likes of Justin Bieber to scream and shout over, but no-one can compare to Louis Walsh's denim-jacket wearing, floppy-haired hopefuls who crooned their way into the lives of many Irish girls and seemed so down-to-earth that we thought we could always walk over and say hello.

 

 

 

Westlife fans queue for farewell tickets
From left, Westlife fans Rachael Cromarty (23), Vickey Lax (31), Michelle Watson (40), Nicola Hall (28).

Published on Friday 21 October 2011 12:14


WESTLIFE fans camped out for three days to get their hands on tickets for their heroes’ last live shows.


Superfans Nicola Hall, 28, her mum Sharon, 53, and friends Vickey Lax, 31, and Wendy Reed, 56, and her daughter Gemma, 20, braved freezing weather to camp outside Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena.

The Washington women heard of the Irish boyband’s split yesterday and that the tour in May would be the group’s last.

Care assistant Vickey, who has been to every tour and met the band, said: “We were keeping warm inside our tent when I saw on Twitter on my phone that they had announced their split.

“We were absolutely devastated. I understand they want to pursue other things, but it feels like the end of an era.”

Although the pals were first in the queue as tickets went on sale yesterday, they were told that the best seats had been reserved for fan club members.

Nicola, a care assistant, said: “It’s absolutely shocking that we haven’t been given the best seats even though we were the first in the queue.

“You would think that the first people would get the best, but we were told that all the front-row centre seats had been reserved for the fan club.

“We’re all part of the official Westlife fan club and we weren’t informed of this.”

Paul Tappenden, marketing director for the Metro Radio Arena, said: “Westlife tickets went on sale on Tuesday 9am to their fan club, and yesterday to previous Westlife bookers.

“The event goes on general sale to the public today, and tickets are sold on a first come basis, and are allocated best seats at the time of booking.

Westlife fan blames marriage break-up on obsession
The mother-of-two said she had spent thousands of pounds following Westlife A Westlife "super fan" has blamed the breakdown of her marriage on her obsession with the Irish boy band.

Jane Fogg said she had spent £30,000 on merchandise and tickets to see the singers perform over the past 10 years.

The 44-year-old pub cleaner from Forest Fields in Nottingham has nine tattoos dedicated to the band, including five portraits.

She said her relationship failed because she loved the band more than anyone, even her husband.

"I just love Westlife too much," she said.

"I love them more than I loved him. It is the biggest thing in my life."


Ms Fogg has five Westlife portraits tattooed on her legs Ms Fogg became a fan shortly after the band formed in 1998.

'Complete nutter'

She has seen Westlife perform live about 60 times and admitted her obsession had spiralled out of control.

"Once I'd been to my first concert I was gripped. The more I had, the more I wanted." she said.

The mother-of-two spent over £1,000 on tattoos on her arms and legs and said her house was like a shrine.

"My son says I'm a complete nutter. My daughter, she likes them as well, but she's not a super-fan like me."

Westlife have announced they are to split after their farewell tour next year.

Ms Fogg said the announcement had left her "truly devastated", but she added: "I have all those memories and no-one can take that away from me."

 

 

 

Fans were in tears when Westlife announced they were splitting, especially Jane Holmes – who knows a thing or two about break-ups.

Obsessed Jane, 44, ditched her second husband when he issued her with an ultimatum: “Choose Westlife or me.”

Jane’s skin has become a shrine to the chart toppers. She has eight tattoos of the group and has screamed her way through 60 of their concerts, spending £30,000 following them around the country.

Advertisement >>
The pub cleaner says she warned hubby Norman Holmes, 46, that the Irish lads would always be her biggest passion.

She says: “I think he thought I was joking but he soon realised I wasn’t. I always get stopped in the street and he couldn’t hack the attention I was getting.

“The concerts take up a lot of my time and money. Westlife are a really big part of my life. I’m completely devoted to them and the tattoos are my way of showing my loyalty. I like to think I am their biggest fan.

“It’s my only hobby. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, so Westlife are my only addiction.”


Jane, who split from Norman last November after a year of marriage, has not had a holiday for seven years because her spare cash goes on her love of Westlife.