Back in THE ZONE

FANS OF IRISH hit-makers Boyzone are in for a nostalgic sing-along later this month as the quintet waltzes back in town for their anniversary tour.
It feels like only yesterday that the group came on the scene with their 1994 debut, “Said and Done” and breakthrough hit, “Love Me For a Reason”, dominating the airwaves From then on, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy and late member Stephen Gately built on their phenomenal success with another five studio albums, “A Different Beat” (1996),” Where We Belong” (1998), “Brother” (2010), “BZ20” (2013) and most recently “Dublin to Detroit”, which came out last year.
Twenty-two years, 25 million records sold, six No 1 singles and hundreds of thousands of ticket sales later, Boyzone is still going strong. On May 24 they’ll come back to Bangkok armed with fans’ favourite hits like “A Different Beat”, “Isn’t It A Wonder”, “Picture Of You”, “Words”, “Where We Belong”, “All That I Need”, “Baby Can I Hold You”, “No Matter What”, “Father and Son” and many more.
We had a chat with the group last week.

WHAT ARE YOU GUYS UP TO NOW?
Graham: We’re just getting together with our live band to do final rehearsals for our Asian shows. It’s been a long time since we were last in Thailand so we can’t wait for our show in Bangkok.
Duffy: Thailand was one of the first countries we visited when we started touring back in 1995 so we have some great memories of those early days. We used to love having tuk tuk races around the streets of Bangkok.

HOW HAS 2015 TREATED YOU SO FAR?
Keating: Well I’ve had an amazing start to the year – I finished my run in the musical “Once”, which is in London’s West End and was my theatre debut. It was a fantastic experience and I learnt so much.
Lynch: 2014 was my year of the beard but 2015 is about being clean shaven. I’ve been busy getting ready for the new race season (Lynch drives for Team Japspeed and Monster Energy in the UK drift car championship) but for now it’s back with the lads for our Boyzone shows.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT BOYZONE’S LATEST ALBUM, “FROM DUBLIN TO DETROIT”. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COVER MOTOWN HITS?
Duffy: We re-visited some of the amazing tracks from the Motown catalogue. Our first ever hit back in Ireland was a cover of “Working My Way Back To You” so we’ve always loved the sound of songs from that era. We’ll certainly be playing a couple of the songs in our new live show.
Keating: We always try and let people hear all the hits when we tour but it’s always good to throw in some of the new tracks as well.

IT'S BEEN FIVE ALBUMS AND 20 YEARS ON THE ROAD. HOW HAS THE BAND EVOLVED?
Lynch: We enjoy it more now I’d say. When we started out, our schedule was crazy and it was hard to really take it all in at times. I think we appreciate just how lucky we’ve been as a band to still be able to tour around the world all these years later

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION TO PUT TOGETHER THIS 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR?
Keating: We still love recording and performing together as Boyzone. It was really tough after we lost Stephen and we really didn’t know if Boyzone would be able to carry on without him. But when we are together on stage, we feel like Stephen is with us and I know that the fans feel that too. It will never be the same without him but we love to keep his memory alive by going out on the road together.

WHAT’S YOUR BEST MEMORY AS A MEMBER OF BOYZONE DURING THE PAST 20 YEARS?
Duffy: Our first ever gig in Bangkok was at a nightclub in the Four Wings Hotel. It was one of the first gigs we’d ever done outside of the UK and Ireland. It was crazy! None of us had ever been to Asia before so to arrive at Bangkok airport and be met by thousands of fans was just incredible. We loved to party so we had some great nights out in Bangkok, which has got to be one of the best party cities in the world.

TWENTY YEARS AGO WHEN YOU STARTED, DID YOU IMAGINE THIS DAY WOULD COME WHEN YOU CELEBRATE 20 YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY?
Keating: When we first started out we could barely see to the next month, we were so busy, and you just take each day as it comes. I don’t think anyone imagined we’d still be together 20 years later but that just shows you what amazing fans we have. They have stuck with us through good times and bad and for that we are so, so lucky.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS KEEPING YOU GUYS TOGETHER?
Graham: The fans are a real inspiration to us - they stay loyal and are like old friends so its good to get out and see those old friends again, and to make some new ones on the way.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN AS A GROUP?
Lynch: We love being back together on the road. It is when we remember Stephen and really feel like he is with us. When we are on stage we always feel like we are five, even if you can only see four.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE FEEDBACK OF THE FANS SO FAR?
Duffy: Fantastic! I know all bands say this but when we say it, it’s true!! We really do have the best fans in the world.

DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF NEW, YOUNGER FANS TO ADD THE LEGIONS?
Lynch: We do have new fans, at gigs we can see the fans who have been there since the start but also lots of young, new faces too. We see girls that came to see us with their mums back in the day now coming along and bringing their own kids to the shows!

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AFTER THIS TOUR?
Graham: We have dates in Asia and then summer gigs throughout the UK and Ireland. After that we’ll take some time and see what we all feel is the right thing to do for the next chapter in our lives as Boyzone.

COUNTING DOWN TO 20

“Bring Back the Memories: Boyzone BZ20 the Anniversary Tour” takes place at Impact Arena on May 24. Ticket prices start at Bt1,200.

Find out more at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com and www.BECTero.com.