INTERVIEW: Westlife's Shane Filan heads to Reading?s Hexagon on solo tour

Westlife's Shane Filan will be flying (without wings) into Reading’s Hexagon to kick off his second tour.

The boyband’s front man seems to have settled into life as a solo artist and said he is much more confident for the Right Here tour, starting in Reading in March.

Westlife fans will be happy to hear his most recent album Right Here is packed with ballads, familiar territory for Shane.

The singer hasn’t forgotten where he came from and assures that around a tenth of the show is packed with Westlife classics.

“The album’s been going really, really well with the fans. They prefer it to the first album as there is much more ballads,” he said.

“My first album was quite up-beat but I prefer singing ballads myself.

“For me, there is nothing quite like the moment I see the audience singing along to the songs I wrote, and I hope the Right Here tour will be just as memorable and just as special.

“I cannot wait to see all the fans again.”

Shane admits that ‘99 per cent’ of fans at his solo tours are Westlife fans.

But he said the tours these days are a much smaller affair than the arena days of Westlife.

He said as long as he is still singing he is happy.

“This is my life now,” he added.

After nearly 15 years as a band it is easy to imagine Westlife would remain best friends but Shane said with different lives and families they don’t spend nearly as much time together as they once did.

He didn’t rule out the possibility of the band getting back together though, but said they are all focusing on separate musical projects for now.

The band had 14 chart-topping singles and 44 million sales.

Their career, Shane said, ‘fulfilled all of our dreams 1,000 times over’.

When asked which new song he is most looking forward to performing, Shane chose Right Here, which is a ‘letter to his family and wife’.

“It is a note to them, to say I’m always here for them, to look after them,” he added.

Old friend and ex Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle features on the new album and may make an appearance on the tour.

This year, the London Palladium has been added to the tour, a first for the singer.

Right Here was mainly recorded in London and Denmark, with Shane collaborating with a range of producers.

The album was released in September, debuting at number one on the Irish Album Charts and 11 in the UK on its first week of release.

A father of three, Shane said his children are unfazed by their touring dad as it is all they have ever known.

His family will be joining him on some of the 15-date tour even if they are ‘more excited about the tour bus’, he said.

Tickets for the tour are now on sale.

Shane Filan: Right Here is at the Reading Hexagon on Thursday, March 3.