Are Westlife still up for gigging? - 'Life on tour
Taken from: Popworld, November 2004

The Red Carpet tour will be happening soon. How are you looking forward to that?

NICKY: We love going on tour. It always breaks up the year. With Westlife it's always album, promotion, Christmas, tour rehearsals, tour, break, album...
SHANE: For six years [laughs].
NICKY: This year it's a little earlier as we're going on tour in February but every year we try and beat what we did in previous years, never trying to be the same and coming up with new ideas and tricks. Picking the right set list after six years is important as we've got a lot of songs, we always do a medley of some kind and now we've got the Rat Pack songs to include. It's already looking great and selling well.
SHANE: Like Nicky says there are going to be different sections in the show and we want it to be the best shows so far.

What's the best thing about touring?

NICKY: The shows themselves and performing to the audience, that's where we get the kick. We don't feel what the fans feel when we're just doing promotion or TV shows, it's when we get out on tour when we can see it properly for ourselves and feel it, hear it and get the excitement. That's when you remember why you're doing it all, why we started it all in the first place.

And the worst thing?

SHANE: If you get ill. If one or two of us gets a cold then everyone will get it. If you're ill then you really do die on stage. You still sing and go on stage but you can't do it all to your potential. Being away from home is hard but usually we bring our families with us now.

Any tour rituals?

KIAN: We always make sure we give each other a hug and say have a good show before we go on stage. We used to have a bit more of a ritual at the beginning of the band when we'd get in a huddle but now I think everybody has found their own way of getting in the mode for getting on stage. Some people like music blearing in dressing room while others prefer quiet...
NICKY: Some people are ready 20 minutes before the start, some people are literally throwing gel on their hai with a minute to go. Everyone to their own, but we will always meet just before we go on stage and get ourselves psyched.
KIAN: At the start of the tour there's always more adrenaline and we'll be tearing each other apart backstage with hugs and squeezes and punches.
SHANE: Kian always breaks my ribs every night with hugs.

What's been the most memorable Westlife gig?

SHANE: Lansdowne Road, Dublin, about a year and a half ago.
NICKY: We did two nights there, playing to 40,000 people each night.
SHANE: That was unbelievable.
NICKY: Not many people can do two nights at Lansdowne Road. U2, The Corrs, Robbie and us. Some people can do one, but not two. That was pretty special.

You've already done one tour without Brian. How does it feel with one less 'Lifer?

KIAN: I think Brian leaving the last tour started really gave us a good grasp of the situation. For us and the fans it was really good that we got out there straight away as a four-piece and show everybody that we were still the same Westlife as before and we kind of feel now we've become a stronger unit since Brian's left. It's pulled us tighter together as a band and made us realise a bit more what we're doing, what we actually have instead of just getting up in the morning and doing it. We actually realise exactly what we have as Westlife.