Westlife Greatest Hits Tour Unbreakable

While many boy bands have slowly faded in popularity, Irish quintet Westlife keeps going strong. In the midst of a 4-month European and UK tour, Westlife is packing them in like never before. So, what’s their secret?

Eleven number one UK singles and over 30 million sold CDs certainly helps. Yet, over the years, Westlife’s live shows have gained a reputation as something extraordinary, with high tech effects and crowd-pleasing surprises important elements of their tour. A state-of-the-art Martin lightshow has been a staple attraction of those shows for years.

Westlife’s “Unbreakable: Greatest Hits” tour kicked off in Cardiff on April 13th.  The 62 show tour is the band’s biggest production to date and features a futuristic sci-fi stage complete with Andy Warhol inspired pop art projections, Las Vegas style neon signs and the latest in intelligent lighting technology including Martin MAC 2000 Wash, MAC 2000 Profile and MAC 600 Wash. Other automated lighting and conventional fixtures are also used in the show. Bandit Lites UK is again the lighting supplier for the current tour.

The “Unbreakable” tour is the third Westlife tour in a row using a Martin lighting rig, and on the road again with the band is Co-Lighting Designer and Lighting Director Barry Halpin (lighting design by Pete Barnes). Barry comments, “I’m using 7 MAC 2000 Wash with convex lens on the back truss as the main wash units which give a good overall coverage. I then have 41 MAC 600s and MAC 2000 Profiles on the main front truss elements for general wash of the stage. The Martin gear has been quite reliable. I haven’t socked out one MAC yet and we’ve been on the road for over 2 months.”

The stage set up is fairly straightforward – for Westlife that is – with a central circular platform as the main set focal point, and curved sets of stairs and risers adorning each side of the stage. Above hangs a series of circular and curved trusses.

“The MAC 2000 Profiles (51) are generally used for projection onto individual band members and for gobo looks on various parts of the stage,” Barry adds. “There is one particular scene that is quite nice where the band members fly out into the audience on a platform. We have 12 MAC 2000 Profiles rigged on a truss that moves parallel to the platform that keeps the boys lit at all times.”

During last year’s "World of Our Own" tour, an especially popular effect during one special song was a low-lying fog effect cascading down a staircase, courtesy of a Jem Glaciator. It was decided to include that effect again on the current tour. 

Currently in England, the Westlife show moves on to Ireland and Scotland in the coming months.

Crew
Lighting Designer: Pete Barnes
Lighting Operator: Barry Halpin
Lighting Crew Chief: Ian Lomas
Technician: Richie Flannegan
Technician: Pete Jennings
Technician: Gunnar Aasland
Technician: Martin Garnish