ALTHOUGH Ireland's top-selling boyband Westlife is now a trio after beginning as a quintet, it still draws massive crowds worldwide.
The group recently enchanted 5,000 fans at the Arena Of Stars in Genting Highlands in an almost 2-hour concert that saw suave Shane Filan, "surfer boy" Kian Egan, and "teen-at-heart" Nicky Byrne performing 20 songs.
The Westlife The Hits Tour concert kicked off with the 2002 song, 'World Of Our Own', after which the 40-something trio greeted the audience with a thunderous "Hello Malaysia, how is everybody doing?".
The screaming crowd responded with "great" and the three delivered the 2001 track, 'I Lay My Love On You', with a music video that featured them in South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
Filan then urged the crowd on with, "Malaysians, let's sing along to one of our all-time favourites originally sung by George Benson."
The enthusiastic audience spontaneously sang 'Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You' with the boys, who allowed some of the verses to be fully sung by their fans.
"Give yourself a big hand, ladies and gentlemen," said Byrne, while Egan added, "You have made us feel like we're 16 again!"
Westlife, which first performed in Malaysia in 1999, then sang 'Flying Without Wings', a favourite of former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern who also happens to be Byrme's father-in-law.
The trio subsequently sang 'Starlight', 'Looking Like That' and 'More Than Words', before moving on to 'Bop Bop Baby', which had a music video featuring actress Leah Wood (she was their second choice because supermodel Naomi Campbell was unable to make it).
Westlife, who were clad in green, black, and white attire, returned to perform 'Fool Again', a song with a music video shot around Mexico City.
Next up was 'If I Let You Go', another gem from their self-titled 1999 album, followed by their first single, 'Swear It Again', which caused whistles and cheers around the hall, and 'Hello My Love'.
Egan paid tribute to the group's "absent member" Mark Feehily. He said: "Mark sends his love to all, he needs some time to get back to good health, so let's all pray for his recovery."
Next up was 'Seasons in the Sun', a moving song about a dying man's regrets. First recorded by Canadian singer Terry Jacks in the 1970s, the tear-jerker saw its last verse omitted so that it ended on a happy note.
Westlife then belted out the popular wedding song, 'Beautiful in White', which was released on Filan's 39th birthday in 2018.
"We would like to pay tribute to the greatest British band which inspired us, Queen," said Filan as they sang Queen's 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions'.
Byrne then delivered several lines in Malay, including "Saya cinta kamu" and directed the audience members with "angkat tangan" and "turun",
After singing 'Better Man', Ed Sheeran's best-known composition for Westlife, the trio paid tribute to legendary American singer-songwriter Billy Joel with 'Uptown Girl'.
"We decided to cover one of his most enjoyable songs back in 2001," said Filan. "And we roped in Claudia Schiffer for the music video!" added Egan.
Westlife then sang 'You Raise Me Up', the inspiring hit with a traditional Irish melody, which was originally performed by the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden.
The final song for the concert, organised by MMIC Entertainment Group, was the 2000 track from Westlife's second studio album 'Coast To Coast'.
'Titled My Love', the tune was inspired by former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney's 1977 hit single, 'Mull of Kintyre'.
The boys praised their Malaysian fans for being "super sporting" throughout the evening and shouted, "We love you Malaysians, and thank you for this amazing evening".