SEAToday.com, Jakarta-World-famous band Westlife held a concert in Indonesia on June 7, 2024. The Irish boyband performed as a 3-men show consisting Shane Filan, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne at the Prambanan Temple.

Westlife had performed a few times in Indonesia, and left a certain impression every single time, like their performance in South Jakarta back in 2001. What was the story behind that?

Westlife's struggle in making it internationally wasn't easy. They lived in the shadows of existing boybands such as Backstreet Boys and Boyzone. However, they didn't give up.

Shane, Mark, and Kian who went to school together in Sligo, Ireland, felt like they had to make a breakthrough as a new boyband back in 1997. They recruited three other people (Derek, Graham, and Michael) to complete their new music group called "Six As One".

The six, who eventually changed name to "IOYOU", didn't make it to the record labels. The boyband wasn't projected to sell. Derek, Graham, and Michael eventually left the band, while Shane, Mark, and Kian stayed.

They held an audition in Dublin for two more people. They eventually found Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden.

The boyband was then widely known as Westlife, and caught the attention of music producer Simon Cowell (now famous as a judge in American Idol and X Factor).

Simon brought Westlife to sign with RCA Records in 1998. Their first album "Westlife" (1999) was popular in the market.

"The band's first two singles leapt to No 1, but their success rocketed with third single Flying Without Wings. The song had been planned as the first solo single for Boyzone's Stephen Gately. "Stephen did the demo and he thought it was going to be his song," Walsh recalls. "I'll be quite honest, I missed it, but as soon as Simon heard it he just went bananas. It was really difficult because Westlife were on tour with Boyzone, as the support act." said Peter Robinson in his Guardian article titled "Westlife bow out after 15-year ballad career based on hit formula", June 20, 2012.

Songs like "If I Let You Go" and "Flying Without Wings" wowed the world. Support from other boybands were garnered. Westlife managed to open for Boyzone or Backstreet Boys.

Westlife also managed to fulfill their dream of performing. They started to become popular and get ahead of their seniors. They also had a schedule to tour the world.

Football and Fast Food

Westlife became a new star. Their performances were long-awaited for, including in Indonesia. Westlife held their first solo concert in Indonesia in the year 2000.

Westlife's second album titled "Coast to Coast" (2000) was released not long after, reinforcing their power as a popular boyband. Westlife then held another concert in 2001.

The concert was held at the Soematri Sports Center in South Jakarta in May 2001. The concert went on smoothly despite one little incident. However, they left quite the impression on their liaison officers.

The daughter of promoter Java Musikindo's Adrie Subono, Melanie Subono, became one of the officers. She did a little research on Westlife to get a picture of what she would be dealing with.

She found out that Westlife was one of the boybands that were a little hard to handle for promoters, especially the liaison officers, and even their manager.

Rumors said that even Westlife's manager couldn't take a hold of their actions, freeing the five to do anything. That turned out to be more than just a rumor.

Melanie and her fellow liaison officers had a taste of Westlife's actions. It all started when Melanie and her friends were hungry, so they ordered fast food.

Before Melanie could eat, she had to deal with Bryan who seemed bored with the hotel. He asked for a soccer ball. However, before she could get a hold of the ball, Bryan saw the fast food boxes.

Bryan and the other personnel, who reportedly didn't like the hotel's food, ate the fast food that was meant for the liaison officers.

"After they ate, noises came from the alley. Not long after, they called me, and I saw that the fast food boxes that were in my room were already set up as a goal post, and they played football while betting," siad Melanie in Ouch!!! (2007).

Every time they scored a goal, the boxes fell apart. Melanie and her friends had to clean up the leftover food scattered all over the floor. That experience proved Westlife to be quite the band back in the day.

Despite all of it, Westlife was one of the music groups that often came to Indonesia, whether it be a five-men, four-men, or, the newest, three-men show.