Review of Boyzone at The O2, Dublin – March 15th 2011
Review by Aisling O’Brien
Photos by Natalie Byrne
As myself and my friend sat in the bar around the corner from The O2 last Tuesday, I wondered what I had gotten us in to. With droves of cackling girls already quite well on and singing along to a DVD of a Boyzone concert which was about ten years old, at least. To give you an idea, Ronan seemed to be on a cowboy hat frenzy, each of his outfits comprised of a matching hat.
We rushed to our seats as the lads were half way through the opening song Love Is A Hurricane. As we climbed the stairs of the mighty venue and they launched in to Picture of You, there was a wave of piercing screams and I noticed a terrified looking little girl cover her ears.
The spotlight was on Keith as he welcomed the audience to the ‘Brother’ tour. All That I Need was accompanied by six dancers and what I can imagine is ‘interpretive dance’. The dancers and the boys didn’t really interact, and the fact that there were six dancers and only four lads was clearly not a coincidence after last years cheating revelations. It wouldn’t have made much difference to me if the dancers weren’t there but I suppose the nature of the show, they come in useful at intervals and the like.
Ronan charmed the crowd with “It’s well you’re looking Dublin!” Also telling the audience that “Twelve months ago, we didn’t think this would happen, we’re very proud of the album. This is Ruby.” Mikey was given lead vocals on this track, it was a bit of a lull for me, but as I look around, its hard not to notice that Boyzone clearly have a new generation of admirers. There were tons of kids in the audience, in the full concert uniform of flashy hairbands and Boyzone t-shirts. As Shane begins to speak he is met with a wall of screams, clearly the crowd favourite. “Rewind your mind mind back to 1996, it was our second album and first number 1..Words.”
As Dolly Parton’s 9-5 begins to play, the dancers provide costume change distraction with a secretary dance. As the lads grace the stage again with When The Going Gets Tough, I have to admit although they are using the same dance routine from the DVD I saw earlier, they are looking quite dapper in their suits.
A video of the lads paying tribute to Stephen was played. Followed by Stephen’s intro to Gave It All Away being played, the lyrics are ‘I will learn to live before I die.’ It all got a bit too much for some fans around me, as they couldn’t hold back the tears. The lads share some stories about Stephen with the audience. Keith tells the crowd how Stephen made them “the campest band in the 90s.” Also the nicknames he had for them, Keith was Kitty, Mickey was Michaela, Ronan was Rosaleen, Shane was Shanice, and Stephen was Stephanie. Ronan also stated that the last few years Stephen recorded some of his best vocals, which led to Better, with Stephens vocals being played.
Mikey is given the chance to show off his vocals with a solo song. Proving themselves as another distraction, four dancers emerge slowly from the stage on podiums for Love Me For A Reason. According to Ronan “nobody could hit the high notes like Ste” that leads to some banter with Keith trying to prove he can with Ava Maria. They decide to let the crowd sing Stephens parts of No Matter What. Followed by the lads singing You Needed Me, in a frame. Love You Anyway was met with rapturous cheers from the crowd. Loving Each Day had a bizarre robot video behind, there was an obligatory Irish flag thrown on stage, which Keith fashioned in to a skirt. A new ballady number Let Your Wall Fall Down saw us to the the Thank Yous, interestingly enough Ronan thanked the band, and Keith thanked the dancers.
As we waited patiently for the encore there were chants of one more tune and we want Ronan. Shane appeared from the darkness on a platform in the pit in a patriotic green velvet suit, he began to sing Right Here Waiting as the rest of the band walk through the crowd to join him. Keith brought his 12 year old kid Jack and some friends on stage to sing Happy Birthday and had a bit of banter with the crowd about them.
The penultimate song was one of Ronan’s ‘favourites’ Baby Can I hold You Tonight. Surprisingly they closed the show with one of Ronan’s solo songs Rollercoaster.
I have to say, considering my preshow reservations, I actually really enjoyed myself, a great show if you remember not to take yourself too seriously. It is quite cheesy but good harmless fun. It’s hard to believe they have been around nearly 20 years, if the mix of the crowd that were there stay by them, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are around another 20 years.
