(see more WL pics from last night at gettyimages.com)
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Tickets for the Belfast concerts of Westlife's 2005 tour will be on sale from 9.00am this Saturday 25th September. Tickets are priced Ģ31.50.
Order tickets from the Odyssey Box Office (Tel: 028 9073 9074 / For credit card bookings telephone 0870 243 4455). You can also buy UK concert tickets online at Ticketmaster.
Please note that only Belfast dates have been announced as yet, as soon as we have any more info on any other dates/venues we'll details up here on the site!
Info thanks to Claire of www.westlifeisthebestlife.tk & brian mcfabulous
Westlife are back with their brand new Rat-Pack themed album Allow Us
To Be Frank. The LP is a collection of the band's favourite classics
from the golden Rat-Pack era.
Featuring tracks originally performed by legends such as Dean Martin,
Sammy Davis jnr and Mr Frank Sinatra. Allow Us To Be Frank pays
homage to those bourbon filled years when the Rat-Pack used to hang
out and perform at The Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Westlife
fully capture the spirit and image of that unique time: with
immaculately tailored suits and their hair smoothed back the band
couldn't look more authentic.
The album is produced long-time collaborator Steve Mac, and
highlights the band's vocal prowess and ability. Westlife recorded
the album with a full 60 piece orchestra at Phoenix Studios in
Wembley over the Summer of 2004. It's their first record as a four-
piece, and their strongest to date.
The album consists of 13 classic tracks including Fly Me To The Moon,
Moon River, Ain't That A Kick In The Head, Come Fly With Me and Smile
(which will be the first single). Allow Us To Be Frank also includes an extra-special
duet - The Way You Look Tonight - featuring the band singing
alongside a fan plucked from total obscurity, and chosen after
thousands of hopefuls auditioned in front of Shane, Mark, Nicky and
Kian in a nationwide talent search earlier this year. The auditions
will be part of an ITV primetime Westlife TV special 'You're The One'
which will be screened in December this year.
Westlife spent time recording videos in LA and Las Vegas to complete
the authentic look. Whilst in Vegas the band took time to visit some
of the legendary Rat Pack locations, and performed at the World Music
Awards where they were presented with an award for this year's Best
Selling Irish Act.
"We had a great time recording this album. We have always loved the whole spirit and style of the Rat Pack era. They had a strong family vibe going on which is what we have in Westlife. The only problem was how do you choose an album's worth of material with such a strong catalogue to pick from? It was tough but we got there in the end," said Kian.
The full tracklisting for Westlife's brand new album (in stores November 8th) is as follows:
It's been confirmed that the first single from the new WL album will be a cover of Nat King Cole's "Smile."
Yesterday Mark announced on Capital FM (in London) that the guys have filmed four videos to promote their new album and that they'll be showing on the Box very soon!
Tune in to CD:UK next Saturday to see a Westlife special behind-the-scenes on the set of the video for "Smile".
The first dates for the 2005 tour have been announced:
Tuesday 1 February - Belfast Odyssey Arena
Wednesday 2 February - Belfast Odyssey Arena
Tickets aren't on sale yet, we'll let you know as soon as they are.
Westlife were looking dashing at last night's celeb-studded World Music Awards in Las Vegas, where they won the award for "The World's Best-Selling Irish Artist".
However, while the guys had believed they were to perform a set as part of the main ceremony, when they arrived they were told they would be performing after the main event, and so would not be included in the live broadcast. What a let-down! The show was broadcast live in more than 160 countries and so it would have been a great opportunity for Westlife to showcase their talent to countries where they are still relatively unknown. An awards insider commented:
Eyebrows were raised when it was said that Westlife were going to be a big part of the ceremony as they're not well known in the US. Obviously the lads are hugely disappointed to miss out on taking part in the main show. They were so thrilled to be asked to perform alongside the likes of Alicia Keys and Usher, and really thought this was their chance to appeal to a huge international audience."
After Brian McFadden left, a lot of people thought the band's days were numbered and even though they're very much together they still want to prove the doubters wrong - this would have been the ideal platform from which to do that."
They feel as though they were promised the Earth but their performance will only be seen by countries that request a broadcast with them in it - and there's every likelihood the only people that will see them perform will be back home in their native Ireland. Obviously, communications have broken down somewhere - their involvement was oversold but, at the end of the day, it's a great place for them to network."
The guys have just finished shooting the video for their new single over in the US and are currently in Las Vegas to perform at the World Music Awards tonight (see www.worldmusicawards.com.) They are staying high up on the 48th floor of the Four Seasons hotel - all except Nicky, who is staying on the tenth floor of the adjoining Mandalay Bay hotel. So has Nicky fallen out with the rest of the guys? No.....it's cos he gets claustrophic in lifts without windows and having to face 48 floors in a windowless lift was just too daunting. A source said:
Nicky was mortified. He can manage if itīs not too far but 48 floors is full on."
Despite news already announced that Westlife's next single release will be "Moon River", Westlife have reported in a recent interview in a Los Angeles newspaper that their forthcoming single will be a song entitled "Smile"......... so either they've changed their minds about which song to release or they're just confused! We'll let you know details of the single when we hear confirmation from an official source.
Westlife have chosen the lucky fan who is to duet with them on the track "The Way you Look Tonight" on their new album. Congratulations to Joanne Hindley from Bolton, the winner from the many entrants who auditioned.
Westlife's first single from their new retro album will be "Moon River". The single is set for release on November 1st. The song was famously sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's, and has previously been a chart hit for Danny Williams in 1961 and, later, for Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and others. Westlife's version comes 43 years after it was first released.
The new Westlife album, titled "Allow Us To Be Frank" is for release November 8th. As well as "Moon River" it will also include covers of the songs "The Way you Look Tonight" (Duet dith fan), "Clementine", "Aint that a Kick in the Head", "Fly me to the Moon", "I Left my Heart in San Francisco", and "Come fly With Me".
It has been reported that the guys will adopt "a stylish new look" (are they not stylish already?! ;o) They will be putting aside their recent rather grungy image and bringing in impeccably tailored Rat Pack-style outfits.
We have done the most amazing photo shoots for the album," Nicky revealed, "and we even got tailors to hand-make our suits so they would look as original as possible."
Westlife have also revealed provisional details of their 2005 tour. The tour will commence at the end of January/first week of february, with the first concert probably to be held in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. The show will include a rat pack session but the entire show will not be taken from the new album. No official dates for the tour have been announced and tickets are not available to purchase yet...but as soon as they are we'll let you know!
Westlife will be releasing a "Turnaround Tour 2004 Live in Stockholm" DVD, available in stores across the UK from 15th November. The DVD will contain the full show from Westlife's Turn Around Tour,all the video clips from the Turnaround Album, an exclusive interview of the lads about the tour and their new "life" and all behind the scenes of the show!
Brian's debut single "Real to Me", released last Monday 6th September, flew into the UK charts at Number 1 yesterday. Westlife too enjoyed number 1 chart success recently topped the UK's first ever official music download chart (announced on Wednesday 1st September - see webuser.co.uk news) with an exclusive online release of Flying Without Wings sung live.
Buy Brian's single online from Amazon.co.uk -
Real to Me [CD 1]
Real to Me [CD 2]
Brian is currently rehearsing with his band for a number of small gigs in November when his album is released. A number of the tracks (including "Real to Me") were co-written with Guy Chambers, who has previously collaborated with Robbie Williams. He said:
There are 12 tracks, eight of which Guy wrote with me. I am sorry to the fans that I left Westlife, but have a listen to the album. It is a bit different, but it is better than half the crap out there."
It has been reported that Brian is releasing his debut solo album on 8th November - the same day as Westlife's new album, taking his old band on head-to-head for the coveted number 1 chart position...
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> > 25 July 2004 Westlife's Classic Covers album! Westlife are releasing a special Christmas album, featuring covers of classic songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. The guys will host a TV show, aired on ITV in the UK on December 18th, where they'll perform songs from the new album. There'll be a celebrity audience and special guests will perform with the lads on stage. A source revealed, "It's all Simon Cowell's idea. He reckons the album will be a huge hit. All those songs like Strangers In The Night, The Lady Is A Tramp, I've Got You Under My Skin and My Way are such classics that they just can't fail. The TV show has just been sorted out. It'll appeal to their fans of all age groups. The boys have just finished their tour and couldn't wait to get their teeth sunk into something new." The boys went to see the Rat Pack musical at the Strand Theatre in London last week to prepare themselves for the show tunes album. |
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> > Bryan's first single!  BIG news -- Bryan will release his debut solo single "Real to Me" on September 13th. His album will follow on September 27th. The single premieres on Radio 1 on the morning of Friday 10th July.A source close to Bryan stated that his new material is "is a lot more like Oasis than what he was used to with Westlife. He's going all out to be the biggest male solo artist in the UK - Robbie had better be on his toes." Bryan shot the video for his new single at Primrose Hill in London earlier this weekend, as shown in the picture, and he was reported to have been "looking dashing" in a black suit. The video will premiere on CD:UK soon, so look out for it! |
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> > 08 July 2004 Please accept our apologies for the lack of updates in recent months. We're trying to get things back on track with regular updates from now on, but in the meantime here's a roundup of Westlife news:
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> > 01 April 2004 WL Tour News Update Check out all the latest details on Westlife's tour which kicked off in Belfast this week on our touring page! So how are things without Bryan? Apparently only 24 people enquired about getting a refund for their tickets to the forthcoming tour - out of 480,000 ticket sales. "That's not bad is it?" says Kian. "And the promoter isn't concerned at all, he's extremely happy with everything." More news in the Nottingham Evening Post's EG this Friday, April 2: Mark Feehily talks about the departure of Bryan and those rumours of an impending split. Plus, why he didn't want to 'do' Mandy but wouldn't stand-up to Simon Cowell -- and why he can't find love in London. For more info and to order EXCLUSIVE copies of EG, which includes Westlife on the front cover, click www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/westlife |