Boyzone kick-off comeback tour in Belfast

Once upon a time, a long time ago -- in 1993 -- I remember sitting in a bar in San Francisco with a fella by the name of Bono. He told me that in America they tend to think of other people's success as a good thing. In Ireland, Bono went on, they kick you harder when you're up than when you're down.

A few months later, back in the oul' sod, Ireland seemed to be getting its sado-masochistic jollies from kicking five young boys. It was practically a national pastime to slag off Boyzone.

Admittedly, as guilty pleasures go, they didn't come any more car-wreck fascinating and unintentionally uproarious than Boyzone's frenetic performance on the Late Late Show back in 1993.

Was it schadenfreude to laugh at these young people reaching for a dream? In hindsight, it was that Nietzsche thing of what doesn't kill you (with laughter) makes you stronger. And the band had the last laugh. From working-class zeros to heroes in less than two years, Boyzone, like the aforementioned Bono and his band, were an international success story. It was a Northside story.

"The Late Late Show was priceless," Ronan remembers. "It was fucking horrendous but it was hilarious. It was funny as well. But also to think that something came of it is a great story. If we didn't get a record deal and nothing happened, we would look at that performance and cringe and go 'Oh, for fuck's sake.' But the fact that we became so successful made it easier to look at it."

Keith: "If you look at that first show, Gaybo was kind of very condescending, if you like. Then we came back on the show five years later with six No 1 records in the UK, four No 1 albums and we brought in a gold disc to give to Gaybo to say thanks for having us on the show. Do you know what I mean?"

Ronan: "We couldn't afford the motorbike at the time!"

Keith: "It is a great success story. At the end of the day, we appeared destined not to be successful. We were very rough. We needed a lot of work. Not only around the edges -- all the way through. And we worked hard. We polished the act we had."

Ronan (laughing): "Yeah, we polished the turd!"

They both break out in laughter. "You know what?" smiles Ro. "We got away with it. We got away with it."

Not long after that infamous performance on the Late Late, their manager, a fella by the name of Louis Walsh, asked me to meet them in the Westbury. They sat nervously on the couch, not touching their Diet Cokes, terrified to open their mouths. (I thought, like many people did, that they would be flipping burgers in McDonalds within the year.)

Today, 15 years later, Ronan and Keith are unable to shut their fat traps. They talk without stopping for breath for the next two hours. There is a lot to talk about, a decade's worth of disinformation to get past.

Although brainless artificiality was, and remains, such a major part of boybands in the commodified pop universe, Boyzone had an attitude that was almost laddish, not least when they suggestively pumped their pelvises to Love Me For a Reason. They were five AJHs (Ah, Jaysus, Howya) from Dublin's Northside, for Christ's sake.

Sitting around a table in their home town, Keith and Ronan wax lyrical and recall being on the lash in the afternoon in San Francisco before they flew on to LA to continue their tour in 1996. "Keith and I decide we are going on the fucking piss," Ronan says.

"We went on the fucking tear," Keith chimes in. That certainly appeared to be the case.

The tour bus picked up their bags and debauchees Duffy and Keating relocated to an Irish bar where they met a load of Irish girls. Within an hour, by their own admission, they were both "stocious". Ronan was wearing a Garth Brooks cowboy hat; Keith, for his part, was wearing his drink. When he got to airport, Keith was completely out of it: "I collapsed on the floor after checking in and I puked all over meself. I was in bits!"

Ronan: "He was throwing up! I remember walking by him and going: 'Oh, Jesus!' I made a beeline for the boarding gate. The boys are all in this coffee shop area and he's lying on the floor, puking his ring. The lads are all breaking their hearts laughing."

Ronan handed his boarding pass to the stewardess and got on the plane. He put his cowboy hat over his eyes, like James Dean in Giant, and fell asleep in business class. Twenty minutes later, he woke up at 20,000 feet, en route to La La Land, to find there is no sign of the other members of Boyzone. "Where the fuck are me mates?" he asked the clearly bemused stewardess.

"I don't know your mates, sir."

"Oh, bollocks! Where's this plane going?"

Ronan had, in fact, boarded an earlier plane to Los Angeles.

"We thought we had lost him!" Keith recalls now. "Our tour manager was totally fucking freaked out!"

So, it turned out, was Ronan when he reached LA airport, but for different reasons. When he came off the plane, drunk but just about able to stand up on his hind legs, a young woman came up and approached the cowboy-hat-wearing Irish pop star: "Excuse me, Mr Beck. Could I have your autograph?"

Ronan thought for a second before replying: "No. Fuck off."

Well, so, it's the return of the last gang in town. Boyzone mightn't be the razor-toting Clash from London, but Keith and Ronan (alongside Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch) had a gang mentality that was very Dublin. Keith Duffy talks of seeing Oasis's Gallagher brothers in the dressing room opposite them at Top of the Pops in the early days of Boyzone. Keith says that he grew up playing GAA -- "a tough sport" -- and if Noel or Liam had slagged off any of the members of Boyzone, he would, he says, have "battered them".

Duffy's biceps and shoulders are testament to hours spent in the gym, to say nothing of his fists like Christmas hams. You don't remotely doubt that Keith would have battered the Brothers Grim had they given him or Ronan any gyp.

They were bonded like brothers. Boyzone was their gang. And like all gangs, it was all or nothing, come what may.

This much becomes clear when you ask what was the lowest point in Boyzone. Ronan initially jokes that it was "winning the Smash Hits Best Haircut award".

His eyes flicker to another part of the room, his mind immediately zoning on to something else.

"It was," he says, haltingly, eventually, "when my mother died. I will never forget it." Here, the gang mentality of Boyzone truly comes to the fore. "All the guys were there for me," Ronan adds, "even when I went back to work they made it easier. I owe them a lot for that."

Keith: "Way, way back in the very start, when we didn't know whether this was going to work or not, we would have done anything for each other."

Ronan: "We were always there for each other."

The break-up of the band over a decade ago seemed to say otherwise, however. I ask Ronan if there is any truth that he was the reason Boyzone split up in 1997. "We all decided to take a break but, after one year," he says, "I was the reason we did not get back together."

You were quoted in one of the English glossy mags as saying you led the split.

"Don't mind those gossip mags!" he laughs. "They just print gossip and rumours."

The rumour that Boyzone would reform has been doing the rounds for so many years that it has become something of a great urban legend, like the one about alligators living in the New York sewer system or the woman who was killed by a nest of spiders in her Marge Simpson-like hairdo.

It goes like this: Ronan and Keith were seen in a bar in New York agreeing drunkenly to put the band back together; Ronan has agreed to do it for €5m up front; Keith is leaving Coronation Street to do the reunion; Louis Walsh has finally got all the members to agree on a date; Keith and Ronan were spotted in a bar in Toyko with Lord Lucan and were overheard saying that Boyzone would positively definitely and 100 per cent reform, because a guy who knows a guy who knows a girl who knows Louis Walsh told someone in Lillies.

The rumours and subterfuges seemed to drag on, hopelessly, for years, without a sign of anything concrete. Then, last year, it started to get interesting. In March, when Louis Walsh was momentarily displaced from his post on X Factor by Simple Simon, Louis said he was unconcerned because, he explained: "I will be having the busiest year of my career with Westlife and Shayne Ward," adding, impishly, "and the relaunch of Boyzone."

In October, the cat was further out of the bag: when asked by Graham Norton, on the telly, whether there was going to be a relaunch of Boyzone, Louis replied: "I think so."

However, at the time, Ronan Keating didn't seem to think so. When Ronan appeared to hint he would not -- I repeat not -- be interested in rejoining any Boyzone reunion, Louis, ever the imp of the perverse, was mischievous in the extreme. "We can do it with four if we have to," he said. "There were only four Beatles and they did OK."

Louis's bitchy hubris notwithstanding, Keith is adamant that this would never have happened. "Reform without Ronan? Absolutely no way," he says, firmly. "Not a hope. I know there was speculation about it, but, hand on heart, I always said that I wouldn't do it unless all of the members were on that stage."

You get the sense from both of them that all the words spoken in the heat of the moment, all the bitterness, and the badness, were forgotten when they finally walked into a room together to put Boyzone back together.

"It was really amazing," Ronan agrees, "as soon as we started hanging out again it was like nothing had happened between us -- like there was no break-up at all."

I ask Keith if meeting Ronan again in an official capacity make him realise the true value of the friendship.

"No, it didn't take our reunion to help me see the error of our ways," he says. "You think you have problems until one of your family is unwell," he says, referring to his daughter's autism. "Mia taught me a lesson: that's what a real problem is -- and that has to be dealt with emotionally. The childish bitterness and upsets you have in relationships are insignificant and it all made me realise how lucky Ro and I were. The childish bickering was just that: childish bickering.

"The unfortunate thing that happened during the break-up of the band was, like, we were just lost souls. We are grounded now. Maybe it's a human trait but when I think of Boyzone. I think of all the happy times we had. I don't have many memories of negative vibes. I just think of the happy times. I cherish the friendships."

And the memories are manifold and beautiful.

"The first Top of the Pops and performing with Pavarotti are things I will never forget -- it was brilliant," says Ronan.

"There were many great memories," adds Keith. "We were very lucky. One of the highlights for me was performing with Pavarotti in Modena. Look at it on YouTube. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I watched it with my son recently."

In 1998, they appeared in a video for The Sweetest Thing with fellow Dubliners, U2. "U2 are great guys," says Ronan.

"That was a fantastic day," adds Keith. "Bono gave us all a present of a Gothic-style Celtic ring as a thank you. I was a huge U2 fan -- I still am. Anyway, I lost the ring within two days of Bono giving it to me. That was a bit of a bummer."

Ronan confirms the story that U2 originally offered the song The Sweetest Thing to Boyzone, but the group declined. "They gave it to us but it wasn't working in the studio," he says. "It didn't sound like a Boyzone record. It sounded like Boyzone doing a U2 record."

How does it feel, emotionally and physiologically, to be reuniting?

"At first, I was very scared about the idea as I was longer solo than I was in the band," says Ronan. "So I did not know how I would feel. But now I am very excited about the whole thing, I think the first night will be very emotional for us."

"It feels absolutely fine," Keith says. "It wasn't a sudden reunion. We had different meetings over the year. So it wasn't that dramatic. It was an amazing feeling to have the same guys back together in a room in a working capacity after eight years. It was fantastic with these other four lads. It was overwhelming."

What will go through your minds when you step onstage in front of your home town crowd at the RDS on June 28 and walk towards the mic?

"Did I turn the iron off?" laughs Ronan.

"No, but seriously, it's hard to say right now, but I am sure there will be an incredible fear as it has been eight years since we played to a home crowd and also this is where it all finished. But also a great pride as we have worked very hard on this show and at the end of the day we want to impress and entertain the audience, especially our home crowd, and show them how far we have come since then, as individuals and as a band."

"I'm sure it will be pure adrenaline and excitement," says Keith. "We will have done 25 concerts before the RDS, so there won't be any room for any negative feeling. Walking up to the mic in my home town will be something I wish my best friends could experience, but I am going to experience."

Do you fear that you might be endangering the legacy of Boyzone if the reunion doesn't work out as planned?

"Yeah," says Ronan, "that is the risk. But you have to give it a shot."

"The reunion will work," says Keith. "We have all been very focused, trained hard, rehearsed very hard. We have never had this much time to prepare before. We feel ready. We are ready. The response to the reunion in general has been through the roof. The only thing that could go wrong would be our performance and I am telling you that is so not going to happen."

In Wright's bar in Swords, Keith and Ronan wax nostalgic about the past, when they were Louis Walsh's gang that took on the world and won.

Ronan remembers the time that he and the rest of Boyzone were being interviewed live on Mexican television. The interviewer assumed, because Ronan sung in Spanglish on a Boyzone track released in South America, that he could speak Spanish. "This woman fucking thinks I can speak Spanish!" Ronan recalls thinking, horrified, as the first question and then the second arrived. "I looked at the rest of them, who were looking at me. I said: 'I don't speak Spanish.' Some fucking eejit told her I could speak Spanish."

Most people, of course, thought Louis was a fecking eejit for thinking he could turn these five guys into stars. And despite their differences over the years, Ronan is gracious enough to admit that Boyzone would never have made it without pop's supreme Machiavellian manipulator from Kiltimagh.

"Louis made us," Ro says. "Without him, it would have never happened. He believed in us when the rest of Ireland was laughing, but I suppose they had reason to as the first Late Late wasn't particularly good."

Keith: "There is no way in hell that Boyzone would have made it without Louis."

The question of what Louis brought to the band inspires a rollcall from Keith of Mr Walsh's qualities. Sound the trumpets!

"His experience, his knowledge of music, his love of music. His ability to pick the songs," Keith says. "The ability to work the media. He is great at manipulating the media. He stood with us. He stood by us. He told us that he would make us stars. He never gave up hope. He borrowed money from people to get songs recorded. He never stopped believing in us."

In time, that belief paid off. In 1995, the influential teen mag, Smash Hits, called them the "most promising band of the year". Starting with a sugar-coated radio candy cover of the Detroit Spinners' Working My Way Back To You and then a cover of The Osmonds' Love Me For A Reason ("that song was a fucking smash," Ronan recalls), their first 12 singles reached the top five. Boyzone became the first Irish act to have four No 1 hits in the UK.

Father and Son changed everything and was the turning point, Ronan believes. "People thought: 'Hang on, that's not a normal boyband song.' And for Yusuf Islam [Cat Stevens] to come down to the Top of the Pops studio! We were photographed with Yusuf. That was very left of centre for a boyband. That kind of stuff wasn't expected of a boyband."

What are little boybands made of? Snails and puppy dogs' tails -- and yellowpack New Kids on the Block phat-dance moves, hair mousse, chiselled cheekbones and Take That sounds? Neither of them denies that the template for Boyzone was Take That.

"It was Take That for sure," says Ronan. "Louis copied that formula and it worked. We were so different to them in so many ways: we were like Take That's ugly sister. We were the Dannii Minogue or the Nicky Hilton, but we got to go to the ball."

Keith: "Of course it was Take That, absolutely. But there is another story: Shane Lynch and Mark Walton saw New Kids on the Block at the Point in 1992 and they thought they could be an Irish version of them. They approached Louis. It was the press that referred to us as the Irish Take That. Take That are fantastic. There is no harm in being modest in this business. Take That set the bar with their reunion tour and I hope we can meet the bar with our tour."

A twisted cynic might say that money and fame would go a certain way towards easing any low-self-esteem issues arising from boyband success for grown men such as Ronan and Keith, but the truth is that Boyzone gave the world some remarkable records: No Matter What or Love Me For a Reason, with its luscious starburst of harmonies. They even had Ireland's first gay pop star. (The homophobic theory in the music business at the time was that such a thing would be bad for business, if your business happens to be making little girls dream about marrying you.) Last November, English songtress Lily Allen said that her first crush was on Stephen Gately. She told the Observer she had pictures of the Irish boyband member on her wall. "Then I grew up, took all my posters down and now I'm grown-up I collect 'art'. I still think he's quite cute, though."

Why do you think Boyzone meant so much to so many people?

Ronan: "We were the outsiders. Nobody expected us to succeed and we did and people love that." He pauses to reflect. "We were chancers. We were making it up as we went along," he adds poetically. "We were far from perfect and I think people liked that part of us. We never tried too hard, maybe we should have, but whatever it was, it worked."

Keith: "I have thought about this quite a lot over the years: why were we a success when so many other boybands never made it? They used to look at us and wonder what we had. I think what it was, was that the energy the five of us created -- either on stage, in the studio or being delinquents in a hotel -- was special. There was a definite chemistry."

Ask them about their favourite Boyzone songs, and their eyes exhibit the chemistry that made them rich and famous. Keith says his "ultimate" Boyzone song is Isn't it a Wonder?

"That's the nicest time in my memories of Boyzone for me. None of us had any egos. We were flying high." Father and Son, too, has sweet memories because it was after he performed that song on Top of the Pops 12 years ago that his wife, Lisa, rang to say she was pregnant with son Jordan.

Ronan: "My favourite Boyzone songs are You Needed Me -- it is just a stand-alone beautiful song. And Picture of You -- it was a great time in Boyzone. It was a big hit attached to a Mr Bean movie and I got an Ivor Novello for writing it," he laughs adding: "I'm being nice and modest as always!"

What is your favourite Boyzone lyric?

"Baby Can I Hold You. It is a cover version, I know," says Keith, "but I love the lyric: Sorry is all that you can't say. I have always tried my best in the last 10 years, whether it is with my wife or with friends, to say I'm wrong and I'm sorry. I find it easy to say I'm wrong when I am wrong. I can't understand why it is so hard for some people to say sorry."

Keith has mellowed with age. The Keith of old possibly wouldn't have discussed his vulnerability with me. That comes with having kids, he says.

Both he and Ronan have used their boyband experience as a stepping stone to solo stardom (Ronan having an international hit with Life Is a Rollercoaster; Keith acting in Coronation Street and being a judge on RTE's You're a Star). Keith is a changed man -- read very warm and giving. I have become friends with Ronan over the years so I am probably biased when I say he is a great guy and far more complex and interesting than he is portrayed in the tabloids. But there you go.

What was the worst physical row you two ever had with each other and what was it over?

Ronan: "The Teletubbies. I can't say any more, but the lads will laugh."

Did you miss each other when you broke up? Like an ex-girlfriend with whom you have things to resolve?

Keith: "Well, I suppose it was. I'm with my wife 15 years so I didn't have much experience of girlfriends breaking my hearts. So . . . I suppose there was a part of me that missed it."

Ronan: "Yeah, missed them like brothers, until [laughter] we got back together."

What was the wildest story or rumour you ever heard about Boyzone?

"Jesus, I can't remember," laughs Keith. "There was a rumour that Shane Lynch was going out with Madonna and that Mikey was going out with Kylie Minogue. The lads would have loved it to be true."

Ronan: "The plane crash saga was mental. We were supposed to be almost killed in a plane crash. Louis was a genius."

Who is the worst dancer in Boyzone?

Ronan: "Louis!"

Who is worst at holding their drink in Boyzone?

Ronan: "Probably me. I tend to fall asleep."

Keith: "I don't know, because I was always the one to be able to hold my drink. I was always the one last standing, without a doubt. But it is a different world now."

How much did you have in the bank when you joined Boyzone?

Keith: "I say I was probably in the minus position. I hadn't a shilling. "

Ronan: "I hadn't a shilling either."

Their financial situation has dramatically improved since. Ronan is driving a '08 Porsche, Keith a brand new BMW. Through the window of Wright's, I can see their bonnets shining expensively in the car park.

How much did the cars cost, gentlemen?

Keith: "€140,000."

Ronan: "Lots!"

So, gentleman, are you doing this reunion tour for the loot or the love?

Ronan: "Chances are we will be out of pocket after the tour as it is costing a fortune, so I would have to say the love."

Keith: "If you had asked that question 18 months ago, I would have told you I was doing it for the loot, because at that stage I would not have realised what a fantastic part of our lives was going to be brought back to life. Now I'm doing it, I'm delighted and ecstatic. I'm excited about putting the show on and spending quality time with the boys. It is like been given a second chance."

Boyzone play the RDS in Dublin on June 28. Tickets from €69.50, plus booking fee, from Ticketmaster and usual outlets nationwide