HOME Park was again rocked Saturday night when Westlife

performed to a packed stadium as part of the Plymouth Summer

Festival.

Thousands of fans of all ages flocked

through the turnstiles of Plymouth Argyle to catch the boys

from Ireland in action.

Warming up the crowd for the boys were The

Acutones from Glasgow who were finalists of AYRPLAY 2008,

Scotland's Burn's Showcase for New Bands Competition.

Also in support was Simon Webbe, ex-member

of boyband Blue, who I was lucky enough to meet. His set

included some of his more well-known hits such as Lay Your

Hands, No Worries and Coming Around Again. Fans were also

treated to a performance of Simon's latest number Public, which

he doesn't know if it is going to released.

And then just after 9pm Shane, Mark, Nicky

and Kian were revealed from behind a screen of lights, much the

the crowds delight.

Dressed in black with black gloves and

sporting Maverick style sunglasses, the boys opened their show

with Hit You With The Real Thing from their seventh album Face

to Face. World of Our Own followed and the black outfits were

ripped off to reveal black suits and black ties.

Fans lapped up all the boys had to offer

and the hits just kept on coming.

It was a mixture of their old material and

their new which worked brilliantly together.

What Makes a Man, the classic and upbeat

Uptown Girl, If I Let You Go and a rendition of Mandy,

originally a hit for Barry Manilow in 1974, were the next tunes

to be belted out.

After another outfit change, Nicky came on

stage wearing a Plymouth Argyle home shirt with the number '12'

and 'Green Army' printed on it, to perform a mix of Justine

Timberlake's Sexy Back, The Jackson Five's Blame it on The

Boogie, Blue’s Get Down on it and Wham's I'm Your Man.

The crowd were treated to some simple, but

none the less effective, pyrotechnics when they did their

version of Robbie Williams' Let Me Entertain You. Then they

did an accoustic medley of Unbreakable, Tonight and Fool Again,

which was stunning.

Catch My Breath and their latest single

Home from their new album were next. It was at this point that

Shane instructed the fans to get out their mobiles and "light

'em up". Looking out over the floor area you could see a sea

of LED screens being held in the air.

The lads were happy playing the crowd and

had them chanting "Who r ya" and "Green Army' before they told

the lighting technicians to dim the lights so fans could get a

photo which they posed for.

Swear it Again, their first number one

back in 1998, was well received and the crowd were swaying and

singing along with the boys.

The show lasted over an hour-and-a-half

and was brought to a close with Flying Without Wings. The boys

said their goodnights, the stage darkened and they were gone.

Crowds started to disperse and that was that. Wrong. "More"

was asked for and "more" was what they got.

Dressed in white dinner suits and black

shirts the boys returned to the stage and performed two more

hits; When You’re Looking Like That and You Raise Me Up, which

brought the show to an end - and what a show it was.

Pop, rock, RnB and classic ballads were

the order of the night. And then there was the superb, but

slightly cheesy, choreography apparent in their dance

routines.

This tour, titled '10 Years', is their

eighth tour and they are on album number nine, and even though

they have a combined age of 113, they are still very much a

boyband who have a dedicated and loyal following.

They ended their tour in Liverpool

Sundaylast night and are now on a much needed break, a year

break in fact. But the boys assure us they are not breaking up

and will be back on tour in two years. Will Plymouth be on

that bill? Who knows, but after Saturday's performance they

will be very welcome.