"This is Goodbye."

3 years ago today I was at Croke Park in Dublin to witness Westlife's last ever concert. I had been a huge fan of Westlife for about 12 years before this. They had been (and always will be) a huge part of my life. I had covered every inch of my bedroom walls with posters, bought every single magazine and newspaper they were in, bought all the merchandise, singles, albums and dvds.

I was even bullied (I'd use the term picked on rather than bullying) for being a Westlife fan because liking a ballad singing boyband was apparently not cool when I was about 14/15 but that did not stop me from being a fan, if anything it made me even prouder to be a fan. I wore my tour t-shirt into school on a non-uniform day with pride, regardless of what the bullies thought. 

I would defend Westlife when the haters decided to hate, especially when I felt their arguments were invalid (they don't write their own songs or play any instruments the haters would cry). I would prove them wrong but shoving the likes of Bop Bop Baby under their noses and show them videos of Kian playing his guitar on stage. Then there was the argument about them only sitting on stools and singing ballads so I'd fight my case with videos of them singing world of our own or When you're looking like that. "Westlife are crap." said the haters. "I think their 14 number one singles, their multi million selling albums, their sold out arena tours say different." I'd reply. Regardless of what the haters think, Westlife were one of the most successful bands of the 21st century. All of their singles made the top 10 single's chart, they want countless awards, including 1 Brit Award and the public voted Record of the Year three times. 

I remember the day Bryan announced he was leaving Westlife as though it only happened yesterday. I was going to see Atomic Kitten that evening and was distraught as all the newspapers were claiming that Westlife would split up. They lasted 8 years after Bryan left. Every year a newspaper would claim Westlife would split up but they never did and lasted a long 14 years which is unknown for a boyband (the wanted, JLS anyone). When several gossip pages posted on Twitter that Westlife were to split in October 2012, I didn't believe them, brushing off their claims. I had heard it all before after all. Then came the dreaded announcement on the bands official website and the reality that Westlife were actually splitting up, hit me, crying my eyes out. 

I hadn't actually planned on going to Westlife's tour in 2012 due to money issues but after hearing they were splitting, I just had to go. We managed to get tickets to one of their Belfast concerts for May 2012 and I also managed to get tickets to their last ever concert at Dublin's Croke Park. I was not going to miss that last gig for the world as I had missed their previous croke park concerts.

Dublin is about a good 4 hours away from where I live in Northern Ireland. On the day I had to get a bus to Belfast to meet my friend Nicola then get another bus down to Dublin airport. There we got a shuttle bus to our hotel called Crowne Plasa which was near the airport. After a quick stop off for food at McDonalds, it was off to Croke Park in a taxi. The driver thought I was Scottish and then depressed us by playing You Raise Me Up, nearly reducing me to tears. Croke Park was absolutely massive and it took us a while to find our seats. We were quite far back but I was there and that was the main thing. The support acts were really good; Lawson, Jedward and The Wanted. Annoyingly the Irish weather was not on our side that evening and it began to lash down with rain. I was not impressed. 

As soon as Westlife hit the stage, my stomach seemed to drop. This was it, the last ever time I'd see Westlife live (until a reunion in 10 years time). I managed to get through the first song (what about now) without breaking down but as soon as What Makes a man started I was a sobbing mess and the change of lyrics to "This is goodbye" did not help any. The concert was just as amazing as ever but I was so far back that Westlife were like 4 little dots on the stage. When they moved onto the b-stage I couldn't see them at all and had to rely on the screens. I managed to hold up until they said their thank you's and that was when I really fell apart, especially as they were crying too. their thank you's broke my heart and I cried my eyes out. I was not impressed with the 2 drunk girls behind us who were taking the piss out of everyone and kept jeering at the band which disgusted me and several others around me who were also crying. The last 2 songs of the evening where my favourite World of our own and then Flying without wings which had me in tears again. That was it, westlife were no more and I was gutted but thankful I had got to be a part of their last ever gig. 

We then had the hard task of getting back to our hotel which was not easy at all. We left the venue and went in search of a bus or taxi that would take us where we needed to go. This was not an easy task as there were over 80 thousand people leaving the stadium that evening. We wondered around like 2 lost sheep, soaked and freezing and did not know where the heck we were going. We asked several people for helped but they were useless. Finally we hopped on a bus and got taken into Dublin city centre where we got a taxi to take us out to our hotel. 

Westlife may have split three years ago but I still blast their songs when they come on my ipod and I have the dvd of the croke park gig to watch over and over again.