Concert Review: How We Felt About Ronan Keating's Solo Concert Compared To Boyzone

It was a wonderful Valentine’s Day date with Ronan Keating on Friday (14th February). Despite the many concert cancellations due to coronavirus, the “Love At 6118” show went on as usual.

The singer shared that he previously performed in Resorts World Genting 15 years ago! In between that period, he has made multiple trips to Kuala Lumpur with his former bandmates – Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch, and Keith Duffy.

At approximately 8:40pm, the lights dimmed and Keating kicked off his 18-song setlist with some of his earliest singles “Loving Each Day”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, and “If Tomorrow Never Comes”. He was accompanied by a 3-men band, consisting of a guitarist, drummer and pianist – all of whom sang backup vocals too.

Dressed in jeans and a brown jacket over a collared shirt, the 43-year-old Irish singer jokingly asked if the guys were getting as much love as the ladies that night. “Don’t forget us, we guys have hearts too,” he said – much to the amusement of the crowd in the Arena of Stars.

Since the concert was titled “Love at 6118 – A Valentine’s Special with Ronan Keating”, audiences were treated with love songs from start to finish. What made this night special was Keating performing nostalgic duets we haven’t heard in a long time (the LeAnn Rimes duet “Last Thing on My Mind”), all time favourite “When You Say Nothing at All”, and his brand new song, “One Of A Kind”.

“One Of A Kind” is the first single taken from his upcoming 11th studio album “Twenty Twenty” (out 1st May). Here’s a fun fact: the song was written by Westlife members Shane Filan and Markus Feehily; plus it features Emeli Sandé. Even though the British songstress wasn’t present to perform the duet with Keating, her recorded vocals was played during the concert. The only drawback was that it sometimes overpowered Keating’s vocals.

Although the handsome pop star was just here in Malaysia in June 2019 for Boyzone’s encore farewell concert, he said, “I cannot fly all the way here from London without singing Boyzone’s songs now can I?” Judging from the loud cheers, fans didn’t mind listening to the boyband’s discography one bit.

We liked the fact “Father and Son” started off more stripped down, which gave us an intimate vibe. The lyrics of a father not understanding his child’s desire to break free really hit a soft spot with yours truly. The Boyzone hits included “Love Me for a Reason”, “All That I Need”, “Baby Can I Hold You”, and Keating’s personal favourite – “You Needed Me”.

One of the other highlights came when the singer-songwriter surprised everyone by walking down from stage during the “Picture Of You” number. Fans at the VVIP section rushed in-front to shake Keating’s hand and to give him a fist pump. Someone even gifted him with a bouquet of roses.

Time literally flew by.

Shortly after “Brown Eyed Girl”, Keating exited the stage for a few minutes before returning to the stage to perform 3 more songs for his encore set. The night ended on a high note with his 2000 hit “Life Is A Rollercoaster”. All in all, it was a good mixture of everything. The intimacy of this concert was more enjoyable this time around and Keating’s vocals was sufficient in bringing us on a journey that ended too soon.

For many, it was their best Valentine’s Day yet ;)

Keating did teased that he may be returning to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore for another concert that will likely focus on songs from his new record. Sign us up for that one!