Late Late Show: Westlife lift lid on record-breaking 3Arena gigs and reveal their favourite moments as a band
Westlife pictured speaking with Patrick Kielty on The Late Late Show(Image: Andres Poveda Photography)Westlife said they've been "blown away" by the response from their fans as they announced an additional eight shows at Dublin’s 3Arena as part of their upcoming world tour.The legendary Irish boyband last week announced a five-night run of shows at the 3Arena as part of a new tour which will see members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne reunite to celebrate a quarter of a century since the band’s formation.The Dublin leg of the tour – titled The Residency – was due to begin in the Irish capital on Tuesday, September 22 next year with just five shows.However, due to phenomenal demand, the band have announced a further eight shows at the Dublin venue, bringing the total to a record-breaking thirteen nights in September 2026.Westlife pictured with Patrick Kielty on The Late Late Show(Image: Andres Poveda)The new concert dates mean Westlife have surpassed their own previous record of twelve consecutive shows at the Dublin venue, the most by any artist.Shane, Kian and Nicky appeared on Friday's Late Late Show on RTE to discuss the upcoming tour and debut their newest single, Chariot, which was co-written by Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol and Will Reynolds.Speaking about the response to the recent gig announcements, Shane said that "this has been one of the best weeks ever" for the chart-topping band."It feels like we're back in 1999 again," the singer told host Patrick Kielty. "It's just crazy the reaction that the gigs have got"Nicky added: "27 years of the band, 25 years of touring and we don't take it for granted. It's just blown us all away."Speaking about the phenomenal demand for the band's 13 gigs at the 3Arena next September, Nicky said: "I think what's happened is, years and years ago, we created something and we ran with it, and everybody gave us so much support.Westlife performed a medley of their greatest hits on Friday's Late Late Show(Image: Andres Poveda Photography)"I think people are looking to have that big night out. We were sitting in London this week, going 'another show, another show'. It's phenomenal."Kian admitted that the band initially feared that they would struggle to sell out the five concerts which were originally announced last week."We started off at five and we added another five and today we've added another three," the Sligo singer told viewers."It's unreal. I mean, we were genuinely nervous when we put five on. We were like, 'what, we're gonna do five nights? Okay, hopefully there's enough people out there that want to come and see us'."And phone calls started coming in, and it was like they wanted another five, and then even the other day, they were like, 'maybe we'll add another five', and we're like, 'whoa, let's just tread carefully', but we're super excited about it.When pressed by Patrick as to whether fans could expect more dates to be added to their 3Arena residency, Nicky shot down hopes that the band could extend their stay even further."No, we're going to stop at 13," he confirmed. "We made that official decision."We have added two more for Belfast as well today, so there's a total of seven up in Belfast, but I think the difference with this show for us is we're coming out of the stadiums."The last concerts we played in Ireland have been Croke Park, the Aviva, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, places like that.Westlife performing at Croke Park in July 2019(Image: Mark Doyle / SplashNews.com)"When we played the 3Arena a few years ago at Christmas time, the vibe was just so different, and we kind of came away from that going, 'that's what we want to do again, we want to feel that intimacy'."I think to have that experience with our fans after 25 years, that's what we want. We're starting our world tour here in Dublin. We wanted to come home and start here in Dublin. It's just really exciting to be here."Shane revealed the lengths the band and their family members went to in order to keep their upcoming 25th anniversary tour a secret before it was announced to the public, with his son Patrick forced to lie to his teacher to keep the group's plans under wraps."I told the kids, 'listen, you can't tell anybody, it has to go live on socials on that day so don't tell anybody'," he said."They've known this for months. Obviously, we've had the dates held for a long time, but he went into school and the teacher said to him, 'Patrick, can you stay back after class, please?'"Everyone left the class she said to him, 'what's the big news tomorrow?' And Patrick said to her, 'you'll have to wait till tomorrow'."Reflecting on the stand-out moments from their time performing as Westlife, the trio picked out some of their favourite memories from the past 25 years, including meeting the Pope and singing with the late Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan.Westlife receiving the Late Late Legends Award on The Late Late Show(Image: Andres Poveda)"There's so many different moments," Kian said. "A very special moment that we had in the early years is that we got to perform for Pope John Paul II."Obviously growing up in Ireland, very religious, we got to bring our moms and dads to that, and our moms got to come in and meet the Pope and shook the Pope's hand."At the same time, we got to sing with Dolores as well from the Cranberries, which was an incredible memory."Obviously, she's passed on since so I think we all hold that memory close to our hearts."But there's things like that when we sang at the Nobel Peace Prize and we met Barack Obama there. We've met some amazing people throughout the years."Running from September 2026, Westlife's upcoming anniversary tour will see the band deliver a euphoric, hit-filled set spanning their extraordinary 25-year career from timeless ballads to global chart-toppers.Tickets priced from €80 including booking fee are on sale now via www.ticketmaster.ie.Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
