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14:36 - 29-June-2008
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.
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