With 14 number one singles, it’s hard to imagine Westlife could be any more popular than they were during the height of 90s/00s boyband craze.
And then they sold out the Royal Albert Hall twice.
‘We started off when we were 17-year-old boys wanting to become pop stars,’ Shane Filan recalled as the band sat down with Metro after the huge gigs.
‘That’s what we wanted, but we never thought it would lead to this.’
Westlife — Shane, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, and Mark Feehily — are already preparing a huge tour in celebration of a quarter of a century performing together.
Sadly, Mark was missing from the lineup when they took the stage at London’s famed venue (and on the cosy sofa with Metro) due to ongoing health issues.
In his place, the group brought out vocal powerhouses Loren Allred and Katherine Jenkins in a performance which some have dubbed ‘the best show ever’… according to Shane.
‘We’re hitting all these milestones and we feel genuinely honoured to be that successful, and have those fans that just stick with us,’ he shared.
‘We’re doing stuff that we never thought we’d physically do, and it feels like it’s getting bigger. You could see it the other night in the Royal Albert Hall, the sheer love in the room for Westlife, and we were just part of it with them.’
Their two shows at the historic hall, which feature a full orchestra behind them, have also been filmed for a cinematic release on November 29.
The more cynical might write off the boyband as just rehashing the glory days, but with a new song out — Chariot — and big plans for 2026, this nostalgia stigma doesn’t worry them.
Nicky said: ‘I suppose, there is a little bit of a bang of legacy [or] heritage act at the moment from us. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.’
He explained how, without that label, they wouldn’t have the opportunities that they do. There’s no massive 25th anniversary tour if you haven’t been around for 25 years.
‘We look ahead, and we go, what else can we do? What’s next? Do we do another Royal Albert down the road after this tour? Do we look beyond that?’
Shane added: ‘At the moment, with Westlife, everything has to be important. If we’re going to do something, we do it right.
‘We don’t have to do anything. We have a responsibility to our fans to deliver a show that they’re proud of.’
Getting things right isn’t always as easy as it sounds, as when performing Chariot for the first time live, Shane got a little tongue-tied.
‘Live to the world, the first ever performance of it, and it was Mark’s verse. It totally made up a line on the spot,’ he confessed.
Mark has been unable to join his bandmates on stage but does feature on their new track Chariot, and the trio have said he is very much still a member of Westlife.
Shane sang a rendition of his fumble for us, laughing with his bandmates, before giving us the real, incredibly emotional lyric.
‘I don’t want a tearful sombre last goodbye/The memories of my final moment should be golden’.
The muddled sentence he managed was ‘definitely not better’ than Ed Sheeran’s words, with the Shape Of You icon having co-written the track.
Turns out Ed is a massive fan of the boyband and ‘champions’ them wherever he goes, even writing a bunch of Westlife tracks before they were even back together.
Kian revealed: ‘We have been watching Ed blow up over the years. When Westlife got back together in 2018, our longtime songwriter-producer said, “Believe it or not, I’ve been working with Ed, he’s a massive Westlife fan”. We were like, “what?”’
He laughed and added that the Lego House singer considers Flying Without Wings ‘one of the best songs of all time’.
‘To have a superstar like Ed Sheeran talk about us like that, and give us his seal of approval? He feels like a member of the band at this stage,’ he continued.
Ed’s not the only one loving the Uptown Girl hitmakers, as fellow boyband icon Niall Horan was in the crowd for their Royal Albert Hall gig.
‘Niall is constantly asking us to join the band,’ Nicky joked. ‘We never really considered it but now, you know…’
They first met the One Direction star in 2010 during X Factor, with the trio praising his ‘wonderful career’ and how the boyband went ‘stratospheric’.
‘He’s maturing, isn’t he? He kind of looks like Westlife now,’ Nicky added, with Kian insisting Niall would have to bring back his blonde hair to join.
When asked where the boy bands have gone, Kian shared: ‘Boy bands are never going to go away. I think young girls want to get into that type of music.
‘It’s just the time, everything seems to come in cycles, I feel like there’s a lot of rock bands coming back through again now. Before you know it, it’ll turn again, but I don’t know, it’ll be interesting to see.’
As for Westlife themselves, their music is as beloved as ever, with Kian revealing Mark was once recognised in a Bali rice field as ‘Mr Westlife’.
The You Raise Me Up singers have already announced a European tour, with America and Asia yet to be confirmed, and promise it’s going to be massive.
They’re attempting to top the incredible performances at the Royal Albert Hall with next year’s tour, although it may be hard thanks to Loren and Katherine.
Shane said, ‘They elevated the songs to another level’, revealing he had never sung You Raise Me Up, which they duetted with the Greatest Showman star, with a female vocalist.
‘I mean, to stand on the stage and hear them sing the way they do, you nearly want to retire on the spot,’ Nicky praised.
Kian quipped ‘don’t do that’, to which his bandmate reassured him ‘not yet’ — even if there is some occasional ‘dad dancing’ going on.
Shane added: ‘Both of them sang it in a higher octave, the songs are quite high already, [our] jaws [were] on the floor just listening to them. It was incredible.’
While the song is already quite high, Westlife didn’t attempt to match the women’s vocal prowess.
‘I was going to finish it with [Loren],’ Shane laughed. ‘And next thing, she just went up an octave. And I went, “Do you know what? That’s probably better, I’m just gonna watch this”.’
One thing is clear: while they might not be hitting the high notes, they are hitting career highs with no plans to stop any time soon.
Tickets for Westlife 25: The Anniversary World Tour are on sale now. New single Chariot is out now with album 25 – The Ultimate Collection out February 13, 2026.
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