Ex-Boyzone member Ronan Keating serenaded fans on Valentine’s Day up in Genting Highlands
FOR a concert held during the outbreak of a deadly new virus, Ronan Keating’s recent concert at Resorts World Genting’s Arena of Stars had an impressive turnout.
The concert hall was close to packed, with about 4,000 fans filling up the seats.
Even the Grammy-winning saxophone legend Kenny G had postponed his concert at the same venue to a much later date this year due to the unfortunate outbreak around the world. His show was originally scheduled to take place two days after Keating’s concert.
But the show went on for the former frontman of the popular 1990s Irish band, Boyzone, who thrilled music lovers with his Love At 6118 — A Valentine’s Special With Ronan Keating concert.
The still-debonair Irish gentleman clearly has quite a following here.
Keating, together with his Boyzone gang, was here last year to bid farewell to their fans at the Thank You & Goodnight Farewell Tour 2019 held in June.
At this most recent concert, Keating, 42, sounded as good as ever.
When the curtain went up, Keating sang the upbeat Boyzone number Lovin’ Each Day which got the audience in the mood. It was followed by a song from his solo album, The Way You Make Me Feel.
“I cannot fly all the way here from London without singing Boyzone’s songs now, can I?” he asked, addressing the excited crowd in-between the songs.
From the response, it’s obvious the Irish band’s numbers are well-known in Malaysia.
Most of the songs on his setlist for the evening were those he had recorded and performed together with Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and the late Stephen Gately.
It’s hardly a surprise, as Keating had admitted that the time he spent as part of Boyzone was “the best years of his life”.
Keating also performed Words, All That I Need, Father & Son and Last Thing On My Mind, which he recorded with LeAnn Rimes.
After embarking on his journey as a solo artiste back 1999, Keating worked with notable musicians such as Rimes and Sir Elton John.
In line with the theme of the evening, Keating serenaded the adoring crowd with love songs such as Baby Can I Hold You Tonight, I Love The Way You Love Me, Everyday I Love You, Love Me For A Reason, When You Say Nothing At All, Picture Of You and Brown Eyed Girl. Anne Murray’s You Needed Me was also in the setlist which, apparently, is Keating’s favourite number.
The audience also got a taste of a new song, launched in Bangkok a day earlier. The song, a duet, was recorded with British singer-songwriter Emeli Sande.
So it was a treat for fans to hear Keating sing the song, One Of A Kind. Thanks to technology, Sandé, though not physically present, “performed” with him on stage.
The moving song is from Keating’s upcoming album, which is scheduled for a May release.
After his concert here, Keating headed to Australia, his second home, now that he is married to Australian fashion designer Storm Uechtritz.
Down Under, Keating is best known as a judge on programmes such as the Australian version of The X Factor and a coach on The Voice Australia.
At the tail-end of his show here, Keating thanked the organiser, Resorts World Genting, for holding the concert, which was initially only planned as an intimate acoustic performance.
“This ended up becoming a big performance in this huge hall. It’s really great to be back,” he said.
Keating promised the audience that he would return by the end of the year to promote his new album.