I was lucky to get a ticket for the opening night and it totally lived up to my expectations. I wont go into every detail coz it was basically the same as Susan’s review but I’ll give you the highlights.
Firstly, while one of the support acts, Bellefire, were performing the crowd at the front starting screaming and waving – Ronan Keating had walked out in the VIP area at the side of the stage!! He gave some dark haired guy a hug (we couldn’t make out who he was) and hung around chatting to people until the show started The beginning was exactly as Susan described it, and the crowd went wild when they abseiled down the towers. They each took a turn to say hello Dublin, with each of them making it clear how much this concert meant to them and how long they had waited to play in front of a home crowd. As they turned to walk off for the first time, Kian put his arm around Shane’s shoulder, as if to say ‘look what we’ve done’. The next part, where they come on and sing ‘Swear it Again’ was, for me the highlight of the show. Shane thanked us for making it number one and as he started to sing, the sheer emotion of the event got to him, and tears came to his eyes! I could see on the big screen his joy as he watched 30,000 of his own people singing one of his songs – it must have been amazing. Not everyone noticed but I thought it was great that he was so happy to be performing in Dublin that he would cry! I hope it was happiness and nothing else that brought those tears!!
Following that emotional moment, the show went on, with the only hitch being when Seasons in the Sun was on and the tower wouldn’t turn. Some of the stage hands had to come on and physically turn it, but barely anyone noticed, they were too busy watching the boys stripping – the place went insane when Bryan went towards his zip…..
There were tears of joy again when it came to singing ‘What Makes A Man’, this time on Bryan’s part. I was watching his face, and I’ve never seen someone so happy and proud! I knew they were looking forward to the Dublin concerts but it was obvious last night that all their dreams came true! Bryan had a little cry, but again, not everyone noticed!
We got a good look at the bruise on Kian’s face when he came on to sing ‘Wild Thing’ and they showed a close up of him. Despite the bruises, he had a great show and they never mentioned the attack the morning before.
Mark tried his best at the dancing, which was gas – he really put his heart into it, which was cute, but I doubt he’s a natural dancer! Still, he tried!!! The very end was great as well, and I could see the boys loved it. When they came out on the grid, people were throwing up teddies etc and the boys were trying to catch them. However, Shane did catch one thing, and it was the best thing he could have caught – an Irish flag!!! The crowd went wild, and Shane looked thrilled as he waved at everyone, with the treasured flag in his hand – it was amazing!
And that was it! There was a sigh from the audience as the words ‘Dream Over’ came up on the screen, and it really was a dream come true, for Westlife anyway, as they told us many times how much the concert meant to them – we were proud to be part of the audience. Everyone went home singing Westlife songs, and to wait until Saturday 31st March, when Sky 1 goes live from the Point, so we can relive the entire dream again!