Westlife say it 'feels good to be back' after returning to the stage in Belfast

Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, and Mark Feehily returned to the stage on Thursday night for a “special” performance at Belfast’s Waterfront and Ulster Hall.

The gig was the fourth of four Radio 2 Live concerts taking place this month around the UK after Texas played in Glasgow, Steps took on Manchester, and Manic Street Preachers held a concert in Cardiff this week.

Around 67,000 people applied for free tickets to see Westlife in the flesh at Thursday night’s concert, but only a lucky 160 were in attendance.

A reporter from Belfast Live revealed that the band played eight of their hit songs - Hello My Love, If I Let You Go, Swear It Again, Uptown Girl, Flying Without Wings, What About Now, You Raise Me Up and World of Our Own – at the intimate performance.

After the concert, Westlife shared a series of photos to the band’s Instagram account to mark the occasion.

Captioning the post, they wrote: “What a brilliant and emotional night! This performance was a special one for us and we can’t wait to share it with you all!”

They also thanked BBC Radio 2, Ulster Hall, and radio presenter Zoe Ball in the post.

Today, a photo of Shane and Mark singing their hearts out on stage was posted on the account, with the words: “Feels good to be back.”

Westlife’s return to live performances comes after Nicky revealed that the band’s twelfth studio album is on its way.

He said: “The album is in the oven, it’s cooking, it’s recorded vocally.

“We are very excited. Lockdown has thrown up different situations. We worked from home with a mobile studio. We have got some great songs, worked with some great producers.”