In 1999, Irish boy band Westlife released their debut single, “Swear It Again.” They came to the U.S. to promote it, saw it hit #20 and never returned — until now.
Westlife, now one of the world’s bestselling groups, has performed all over the globe, though never in the U.S. or Canada. But next March, the group will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with their first concerts in New York, Chicago, Boston and Toronto — all of which sold out immediately.
“We’ve wanted to come to America for a very long time … that’s the one bucket list [item] we always wanted to tick,” Westlife’s Shane Filan told ABC Audio after they appeared on Good Morning America Monday.
He says the quick sellouts were “an amazing response and a bit of a relief obviously,” as well as “a very proud feeling for us.”
“We didn’t have a temperature of how it would do,” adds group member Nicky Byrne. “And to sell it out on day one and add extra dates? … We feel like kids again.” He says Westlife may now return to North America much more frequently.
As for who’s buying those tickets, group member Mark Feehily says, “We did come here in ’99, 2000, and it went really well for us … there’s a lot of people from back then that would have became fans … there’s lots of people that are like, ‘It’s about time.'”
But even if you’re not familiar with Westlife, you should know that the group is approved by Ed Sheeran. Ed’s even written three songs for them, including their 2019 U.K. hit “Hello My Love.”
“He grew up listening to our music. He told us he he learned how to play guitar playing our greatest hits,” Shane says. “Yeah, to have Ed involved is pretty cool.”
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