BoyzLife still able to make giddy girls out of grown women

Keith Duffy (left) and Brian McFadden

Boyzone’s Keith Duffy and Westlife’s Brian McFadden may not have been the most popular members of the boy bands they were respectively in, but together—as the spinoff duo BoyzLife—the two singers still managed to put up a billing strong enough to attract a sizable crowd recently at Kia Theatre.

The production was bare-bones, with only a pair of microphones and music stands onstage. Keith and Brian sang not with a live band, but with backing tracks. But as it turned out, the hit songs Boyzone and Westlife churned out during the 1990s and early 2000s were more than potent to make giddy girls out of grown women who scurried and crowded in front of the stage.

“The last time I was here you were all little girls!” Brian quipped.

Needless to say, having two men onstage didn’t have the same effect as having five. But unleash a barrage of hits and a dash of nostalgia and you have yourself a concert filled with giggling, screaming and singing along. Not to mention, Keith and Brian—although they didn’t sing lead back then—weren’t too shabby themselves.

Duffy

Brian and Keith, dutifully flirty and interactive with the crowd, sang such hits as “Picture of You,” “No Matter What” and “Love Me for a Reason” (from Boyzone); as well as “Swear It Again,” “Flying Without Wings” and “If I Let You Go” (Westlife).

Also in the one-night show, mounted by Ovation Productions, Keith announced that he and the remaining Boyzone members, Ronan Keating, Michael Graham and Shane Lynch (Stephen Gately died in 2009), had already wrapped up recording the band’s 25th anniversary album, and that he hopes to bring the accompanying world tour next year to Manila.

Ex-Westlife member McFadden sings a couple of his old group’s hits.—PHOTOS BY STEPHEN LAVOIE/IROCKTOGRAPHY