Boyzone performing The Final Five Tour at The Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Thursday 17th October 2019

Images and Review Kevin Cooper

Earlier this year Boyzone came to the Motorpoint Arena on their Thank You And Goodnight Tour which saw many emotional fans saying a fond farewell to a boy band that has all grown up and decided to go their separate ways. And last night Nottingham was given the opportunity to do it all over again for the very last time.

Special guests were 5West, a quartet hailing from Nashville, who first performed live at The President’s Ball in Cape Town South Africa. Showing no sign of nerves before this packed Arena they delivered a set list that contained their latest single, the anthemic Stars About You, and as they left the stage leaving behind a very impressed crowd, they may well be another band that will stand the test of time.

As Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Michael Graham and Keith Duffy descended on a ledge from the roof of the Arena; it was hard to hear the opening lines to Who We Are as the screams from the crowd reached uncharted decibels. With the elder statesmen breezing through a performance that had all of their hits with a comforting ease that only a band that have been together for 26 years could do, they performed as young lads embarking upon a musical journey, and not one that is bringing it to an end.

With every song instantly recognisable, the crowd sang along to a set list that took them on a wonderful trip down memory lane. There was the up tempo Love Is a Hurricane which showed that their dance moves have improved little over the years, an awesome cover of Tracey Chapman’s Baby Can I Hold You whilst You Needed Me showcased their still wonderful harmonies.

Undoubtedly the centre piece of the show was a tribute to the late Stephen Gately, who passed away ten years ago. Dream, a song featuring Gately’s vocals was performed around a symbolic column of light and was a powerful tribute.

With Keating still at the top of his game in the vocal stakes, Every Day I Love You, Key To My Life, Words, and When You Say Nothing At All were particular highlights.

With each member being given their own solo spot to address their fans, Lynch took it one step further as he left the stage to meet some of them, even making sure not to miss out some who were in the tiered seats. With selfies being taken and hugs abound, it was with some reluctance that he came back to the stage, but as the remaining three were entertaining with mass sing along, Love Me For A Reason, he joined them for When The Going Gets Tough and main set closer, A Different Beat.

Back on for the encore, Life Is A Rollercoaster was followed by Picture Of You as the fans said their emotional goodbyes. And when an audience member displayed a T shirt bearing the words ‘Westlife Is The Best Life’, the crowd were quick to disagree as this farewell performance left a glimmer of hope that Boyzone may just do it all over again.

Boyzone performing their Thank You And Goodnight – The Farewell Tour at The Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Tuesday 29th January 2019

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Boyzone bid a rousing but emotional farewell to their fans at the Motorpoint Arena last night and left many of their adoring fans in tears.

A seventh and apparently final album, Thank You And Goodnight, released last year marked the 25^th anniversary since their first appearance on The Late Late Show, and whilst their dance moves have not improved much, Ronan Keating, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy can still captivate a packed arena.

Entering the stage from above, on a platform like window cleaners working on a tall building, they began the night with Who We Are.

Except for two glamorous backing singers, there was no band, just the four of them singing and having a laugh as Isn’t It A Wonder was quickly followed up with Coming Home Now. Their famous covers were given an airing with the likes of Baby Can I Hold You, You Needed Me and Father And Son which received a particular rapturous reception.

Half way through the show, a video was played on the huge screens where they shared their memories of the late Stephen Gately who passed away suddenly in 2009. Dream, a new song featuring Gately’s vocals from a salvaged demo was performed from an island in the crowd with a specially lit smoke pillar representing their missing fifth member.

Making their way back to the main stage with a walk through the audience, the screaming reached record breaking decibels and once back a sofa saw them seated for new song, a lovely ballad, Love. Other new songs including Because by Ed Sheeran with its clever lyrics worked well with Keating’s honeyed vocals.

Keeping their classic hits coming, the crowd stomped and cheered all the way through until No Matter What and A Different Beat closed their set.

For the encore, they returned for a glorious rendition of When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going, a blistering Life Is A Rollercoaster before Picture Of You, finished a night that encompassed everything that the fans wanted and everything that a farewell concert should be. In the end they seem to be having so much fun, you suspect Boyzone may well be back.

Shane Lynch, singer song writer with Boyzone, chats with Kevin Cooper about Boyzone’s 25th anniversary, being a petrol head, wanting to record a Boyzone hip-hop album and playing Derby’s 3aaa County Ground.

Shane Lynch is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor and professional drift driver, but is best known as a member of Boyzone. In recent years he has taken up auto racing, participated in reality shows, and appeared as a judge on The All Ireland Talent Show.

In 1993, music manager Louis Walsh, held auditions in Dublin to find a new boyband to rival British group Take That. Lynch was eventually selected, and before even recording any material, he and five other successful hopefuls made their infamous appearance on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne. Although their performance was criticised by the Irish press, the band became one of the most successful pop bands in Ireland. Lynch quickly became the most distinctive member due to his body piercings and tattoos

Whilst Boyzone never officially disbanded, they failed to release a single after until 1999, when they completed a 29 date reunion tour in 2007 and released their comeback single in 2008, Love You Anyway, which was followed by a Greatest Hits album entitled Back Again… No Matter What released on 13 October 2008.

Lynch has become an actor in recent years. In 2004, he played Eli Knox the chairman of Harchester United in the Sky One football drama, Dream Team. He has also appeared several times in pantomime.

A keen motor racing enthusiast, Lynch raced a Marcos, TVR and then Mosler from 2002 to 2006 for the Eclipse Motorsport team in the British GT Championship, and is now involved in drifting, competing in the British Drift Championship.

Whilst busy preparing for some autumn gigs with Boyzone, he took time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Shane good morning, how are you?

A top of the morning to you Kevin. I’m very well thank you, how are you this fine morning?

I’m very well thank you and let me just thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

My pleasure indeed, thank you sir.

And just how is life treating you today?

I have got to say that life is pretty wonderful right now. I am feeling fresh from the sunshine having just spent the last couple of months over in Portugal on holiday. I am now back in the UK; me and the boys are back in rehearsals getting ourselves ready for the upcoming gigs so I have to say that it is good times right now.

You have mentioned the forthcoming gigs; you will be playing The 3aaa County Ground in Derby on Saturday 16^th September, are you looking forward to that? Is it always fun when you and the boys get back together?

Yes it is. We have been hanging out together over the past couple of days working through songs in an attempt to put together a set list and I have to say that it just keeps getting easier (laughter). We jumped into the rehearsal studios yesterday and before we knew it we had got a ninety minute show all sorted out. We only had to play it twice and we all knew exactly what we were doing. It was so easy, it’s brilliant (laughter).

What can the crowd expect?

I have to say that from my point of view the performance at The 3aaa County Ground in Derby will be nothing short of spectacular. We will be performing all of our hits including No Matter What, Love Me For A Reason, Words, Father And Son, All That I Need, Isn’t It A Wonder, Baby Can I Hold You, Picture Of You and many more. We want the crowd to come along, singalong, feel good and go home with a smile on their faces. If they do that then we will have done a good job.

I have to tell you that I have photographed you three times now and I enjoy the show every time that I see you.

Thanks for that; it’s always good to hear that we are doing something right. However, I have to own up with you and say that we often get very silly and very giddy especially on photo shoots so let me apologise for any nonsense that used to go on because once we are together for more than three hours it all starts to get very silly and from that point we don’t get any constructive work done actually (laughter).

When I was reading your biog I was shocked to see that next year 2018 will be the bands twenty-fifth anniversary. Can you believe it?

(Hysterical laughter) I have to say that I don’t particularly feel as though I have been in the music business for twenty-five years (laughter). I really don’t feel that at all. Boyzone was a blink of an eye back in the 90s for sure, and then rummaging through the noughties into what we are now, the teens and now before you know it next year we are coming out with this twenty five years of Boyzone. It has been a crazy kind of journey for sure and it really doesn’t seem that long at all.

Have you enjoyed the ride?

I think that like any life there should be lots of highs and lows along the way both within the musical side of things and in life in general. But I guess that you can’t really appreciate and understand the highs if you don’t know what the lows feel like if you know what I mean. You have to appreciate both sides of your living and certainly when we lost Stevo back in 2009 there were lots of questions that the rest of us had to face; should we continue or was that the end of Boyzone.

Looking back to 2009, Boyzone continuing without Stephen (Gately) was that the right decision?

It was a very hard time for us when Stevo passed away. It was definitely hard for the rest of us to make that decision. If we decided to carry on then just what was the right way for us to do that. However, I personally am delighted that we went forward as a four piece and continued Boyzone and in our eyes Stevo will always be there; he will always be with us. Regardless of whether you see him physically standing with us on stage or not, he is still very much in our music.

I recently asked Ronan (Keating) about Stephen’s passing and he said that in his opinion it came very close to calling time on Boyzone.

Yes it did, it really did. We were all just so unsure what life without Stevo would be like. It was a very difficult decision for us all to make.

Would I be correct in saying that it was Stephen himself who finally helped you make the decision to carry on?

Yes you would, that is perfectly correct. We were at that time in the process of making a new studio album and in fact we were mid-flow and had already recorded Stevo’s vocals. So we decided to finish the album in honour of him, completing the album which was eventually called Brother. Completing that album gave us all strength and we realised that we were in fact all better together and reminded us of all the great times that we have whenever we come together and all of the fantastic stories and memories being together bring. Nowadays we all get together for Stevo more than anything else. So in answer to your question I have to say that if we had not been working on a new studio album when Stevo passed away, that would have most definitely been the end of Boyzone.

And as you have quite rightly said, Stephen is always there with you.

Yes he is, he is always in our music and he always will be. Whenever I am in the studio I will always say “wouldn’t it be great to have Stevo on that part of the record” so yes, he is forever there.

Ronan assured me that 2018 is going to be a very special year for Boyzone, would you agree?

(Laughter) yes it is, it really is but I can’t tell you what (laughter). We are currently working everything out at the moment, exactly what we will be doing and let me assure you that the negotiations are in really good hands. There is a lot of really positive stuff being discussed at this moment in time. It was only the other day we did a photo shoot for the new album which we are currently making, so it is all going really well. We are pushing forward with a whole new Boyzone sound, Boyzone album, Boyzone tour and a Boyzone 2018 (laughter).

Will you be coming to see us here in Nottingham next year?

Listen, we will take in everywhere that we can possibly get. It’s easy for an artist not to come to a place but that’s not the case with Boyzone. The problem is that if the venue is not available then we can’t kick someone out. We love to play live and we most certainly love to play there in Nottingham. Our tours will continue as long as we can possibly make them but at the end of the day it all has to be logistically possible as well. In many ways the record industry has at this moment in time gone very silly and that is one of the reasons why it is difficult nowadays to tour. We love playing the arenas and if the arenas are available then we have to try to tour that year. However, if they are not available at that given time then unfortunately we cannot play those particular towns. That is why planning a tour can be difficult.

I know that you like cars but just how did you get involved in drifting?

Back in the late nineties I started to get back into my heritage. You have to remember that I was a car mechanic long before I got involved in music. I had received an offer from Ford Motor Sport to drive one of their rally cars and that kind of sparked my interest into getting into motor sport. However, I wasn’t particularly interested in rally cars, the car could certainly go faster but I personally didn’t really want to go faster. I was quite happy being at the level where I was, driving as fast as I felt comfortable and enjoying the experience. However, I knew that I was never going to win any championships so I left the rally cars behind, moved over to circuit racing and really enjoyed it.

However, when it came to the fun of motor sport, drifting came into my life around about 2005 or 2006. I have to say that it just blew my mind, the capability of a car and a driver, so that is what I have been doing now for the past ten years. It gave me great enjoyment together with great pleasure in the world of motor sport. There was no chequered flag business, it is the extreme of motor sports. It is a big show, a big party and it is crowd participation to the point where you are there to entertain, not just win but to entertain and I think that’s what I like about it.

So you really don’t mind being called a petrol head?

No, not at all, I was most definitely born to be a petrol head without a shadow of a doubt (laughter). I am a petrol head before I am a musician.

You have more recently been seen on National Geographic’s Supercar Megabuild and being a self-confessed petrol head that must suit you down to the ground?

(Laughter) yes it does, it really does and what a great opportunity for me. I appeared on Series One as a guest and the channel themselves really enjoyed my episode so much that they asked me to go along and appear in Series Two. And without a shadow of a doubt I grasped that opportunity with both hands. The experience of building cars for clients together with me having a boss was something that I loved doing and it was a totally enjoyable experience for me. I was totally impressed that the National Geographic Channel were prepared to take a chance on me. Here I am stood covered from head to toe in tattoos and I imagine that I am not their normal type of presenter for their clientele but it worked globally and the show has been a huge success.

It’s perhaps your ideal job when faced with life after Boyzone?

Yes most definitely. I think that cars are something that I will forever be involved with. I currently own a few workshops not just here in the UK but dotted around the world. I also build race cars and custom build cars for other people so that is what I kind of do.

On the subject of outside interests you have recently opened The Elk & Clipper, a 1920’s themed Barber Shop. How is that going?

(Laughter) that is going really well at the moment, so well in fact that we now have five branches of The Elk & Clipper. I also have an online shoe store called Amen Shoes and I am just about to open my own tattoo shop so as you can see at this moment in time business is good for me. I am forever getting myself involved in new ventures.

But I have to say that at this moment in time you are not a very good advertisement for your own product are you?

(Hysterical laughter) for me I think that in terms of barbers shop’s I am forever changing my looks with my beard, my hair, going from a skinhead to long hair (laughter). With the greatest of respect in terms of my tattoo shop there is not much skin left on me to tattoo any more (laughter).

You are well known for your tattoos so I have to ask you, are there any that you wish you hadn’t had?

No, I really don’t think that there are any that I wish I hadn’t got. However, I am certainly tattooing over tattoos at the moment but that is generally to do with faded art work. I have been getting myself tattooed since I was fifteen years old so as you can imagine some of my tattoos are a bit old and out of date so I am just getting tattoos on tattoos now (laughter).

Will you be appearing in panto this year?

Yes I am doing panto this year which is up in York at the Barbican Theatre where I will be playing The Sherriff of Nottingham. This year is just a short run, I will be there from 20^th December until the 31^st and it is going to be so good.

Being based here in Nottingham I have to tell you that The Sherriff wasn’t all bad (laughter).

Well thanks for that advice (laughter). I have to tell you that I’m not all bad either (laughter). I played The Prince in panto for many years now; it must be fourteen years now so playing The Sherriff is not my first big job (laughter). I have been in them all, Snow White, Cinderella, Aladdin, Hook, all that kind of stuff but this is the first time that I have played The Sherriff of Nottingham so I am really looking forward to it.

What was the first record that you bought?

The very first album that I ever bought was Straight Outta Compton by the American hip-hop group N.W.A. back in 1988.

Who did you first see playing live in concert?

That was UB40 at The Point in Dublin around 1990.

What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?

Wow I didn’t see that coming. I have to say that I honestly don’t know. A lot of hip-hop doesn’t make you cry (laughter). I will let you into a secret, I’m personally not into that kind of love song kind of ballads even though I have been in Boyzone all my life (laughter). I don’t really get that stuff (laughter).

So now you have let the cat out of the bag Shane, will there be a change in musical direction for Boyzone, and will we be seeing a reggae or hip-hop album being released next year (laughter).

Listen, if I could get my way the boys would be coming straight out of the American hood (laughter). They would be deep into rock central (laughter). However, it’s never going to happen is it (laughter).

On that point Shane let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been fantastic.

Thank you so much Kevin, you have a good day. Take care and bye for now.

Boyzone, Shayne Ward and Only The Young perform at The Newark Riverside Festival on Saturday 20^th June 2015.

[See image gallery at www.ukmusicreviews.co.uk]

Images and review by Kevin Cooper

The Newark Riverside Festival held over three days promised family fun and great entertainment, and they did not disappoint. Whilst the weather forecast threatened to put a damper on proceedings, that would not have stopped this enthusiastic crowd. With Friday being handed over to various tribute bands, and Sunday designated the family fun day with the likes of the Brighouse & Rastrick Band and plenty of fireworks, it was Saturday that was the highlight.

Opening the music packed day was Only The Young; a young quartet who were eliminated in week seven of the recent X Factor finals, with Louis Walsh saying that we had not seen the last of them. Saturday’s performance showed why as they really got the Newark party started. With numbers such as Jungle Book’s I Wanna Be Like You, James Bay’s Hold Back The River, and their new single I Do, they got the audience on their feet and dancing in no time at all.

The middle spot was reserved for the winner of the second series of the same talent contest, Shayne Ward, who fresh from the announcement that he is joining the cast of Coronation Street, bounced onto the stage with his two female backing singers to his opening track, My Heart Would Take You Back. Showing that he had every right to be on the stage with the big boys, Ward’s great voice projected around the park as he treated us to The Way You Were, a brilliant version of Uptown Funk and I defy you to remain in your seat cover of Bob Marley’s Girl I Want To Make You Sweat.

During his set the brollies had to come out, but he promised sunshine and before he finished with That’s My Goal, the skies were once again blue. With a first class set, it’s time he was given a tour of his own, because on this showing he has made a whole bunch of new fans.

In no time at all Boyzone took to the stage to the delight of this screaming audience. Whenever you see this now man band, you can expect a slick professional performance and that is exactly what they delivered. All the familiar numbers were there; Love Is A Hurricane, Baby Can I Hold You Tonight, You Needed Me, Words and an encore of Love Me For A Reason and Ronan Keating’s, Life Is A Rollercoaster. There was a montage of pictures of the late Stephen Gately, a now familiar feature of any Boyzone set as they sang Why Why Why, a very moving tribute.

After delivering yet another effortless performance lasting almost ninety minutes, you do wonder how the organisers are going to top this next year, so good luck with that.