It was an emotional moment for Boyzone and their Malaysian fans last weekend during the Irish band’s first tour in the country after more than two decades.
Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch, and Mikey Graham kicked off their “Boyzone’s 25th Anniversary World Tour in Malaysia” with “Picture of You”, with fans enthusiastically singing along to the lyrics, “I had a picture of you in my mind, Never knew it could be so wrong, Why’d it take me so long just to find, The friend that was there all along”.
They followed it up with “Love You Anyway”, the lead single from their second compilation album, “Back Again… No Matter What”, that was released 10 years ago.
“Love Is A Hurricane” came next, their first single that did not feature the late Stephen Gately, who passed away in 2009.
For their fourth song, the band sat down to croon their 1997 cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You” to their crowd of fans. Standing up once again, with mic stands in their hands, the band sang two more covers, their 1999 rendition of Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me” and 1996 rendition of Bee Gees’ “Words”.
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| “I know Boyzone was your first love, mine too,” said Ronan Keating during the concert. |
Things got a little bit more emotional when for the next few songs, the band dedicated them to Gately. “We like to think that he’s still here with us in spirit,” said Duffy.
The quartet first sang “Gave It All Away”, one of the two songs off their fourth studio album “Brother” which contained Gately’s vocals, before performing a moving stage of “Everyday I Love You”. The four members linked arms and bowed their heads in solidarity as Gately’s melodious and powerful voice reverberated through the whole arena, moving some of the fans to tears.
There’s no decoding needed for “I Love the Way You Love Me”, the title says it all. The band then followed it up with “Ruby”, “Isn’t It A Wonder” and “Father & Son”.
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| Mikey Graham sheds his shy persona every time he performs on stage as Boyzone. |
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| Did you know that Shane Lynch is also a professional drift driver? |
It was not all oldies but goldies that the band sang at their concert, however. They also performed a single from their upcoming final studio album, “Thank You & Goodnight”. The song, “Because”, is written by Ed Sheeran and Ronan Keating.
Then it was back to the ‘90s again as they sang “Love Me For A Reason” and “No Matter What”, the latter, which originally featured Gately as the lead vocal, had the band’s background vocalist stepping up to dazzle the crowd with her strong pipes.
The band wrapped up with “Who We Are”, singing out loud “Every battle, every scar, We are warriors, Hear us shouting from our hearts, This is who we are”.
“Ronan was just 16, he was the baby of the group, when we started,” Duffy said during the concert, as he thanked their fans for sticking with them for the past 25 years.
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| Keith Duffy reminisced of the time when he debuted as Boyzone at the age of 18. |
Not wanting to let them go just yet, fans shouted for encore and the band happily obliged, returning on stage to perform “Different Beat” and “Rollercoaster”.
Boyzone will be touring UK and Ireland starting from January 2019 for their final album, “Thank You & Goodnight”. Ronan promised Malaysian fans that the band might take the tour to Malaysia too if they continue to show their love and support for the band.