Reviewed by Jo Wood
Featuring Westlife: Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily & Shane Filan
UK certification E | UK RRP £13.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 101 minutes
If there’s one thing the Western world is obsessed with, it’s boy bands. If they’re not a freshly formed foursome plucked from the arms of reality TV, then they’re a 90s boy band on a 10-year comeback. Either way you’re bound to have no problem filling a stadium of 82,000 screaming girls. Step up Westlife.
Marking 10 years of major success, Croke Park is a gig that clearly means a lot to the lads of Westlife — who, along with their fans, appear not to have aged. In the fifth biggest stadium in the world, shows have to be bigger, bolder, more spectacular than before, and without pulling too many fancy gimmicks they produce a worthy show. With a 23-song set, the camerawork is intimate, and personal glances between the guys are edited seamlessly with fan-eye-views to make the DVD much more rewarding than the old school concert videos. Odd choices of song covers, however, take the shape of Sexy Back — sorry lads, there’s just no outdoing JT — and Robbie Williams’ Let Me Entertain You.
But once they crack open the Westlife classics, the excited teenyboppers in the crowd jump about in double time and well-up at the sheer excitement. If you’re a fan, this is probably quite a special treat. If you’re not — well, why are you reading this?
EXTRAS **½ The Road Home Documentary: for a half hour behind the scenes, I was expecting big things. But there isn’t anything extraordinary about this fly on the wall. The usual interviews are carried out, the usual Croke Park tour. They could have done more with it. Top 10 Westlife Videos: this is the extra that will attract fans. Voted by fans on their website, treat yourself to how it looked on MTV.