Standing
before a packed SSE Arena in Belfast after receiving a rapturous welcome on to
the stage on Wednesday night, Keating said the band had never expected the
success they have had.
"Who
would have thought 25 years ago, we certainly didn't," he told fans.
"To
have had the career that we have had, the amount of albums that we sold, the
journeys that we were on as individuals and collectively, it's been one hell of
a ride.
"And
you have been there every step of the way."
Boyzone
frontman Ronan Keating thanked the group's loyal fans as the band prepare to
play their final Dublin concert.
"Sorry
we have decided to call it a day but we have got a huge legacy of music that
you can listen to and spend time with and enjoy," he said.
Screams
erupted around the arena as the lights dimmed just before 9pm, and their volume
increased as Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch were lowered on
to the stage.
It
has been a long and glittering path for the band, who as fresh-faced teenagers
played pubs in the early 1990s before
getting their big break when they were signed by Polygram in 1994.
There
was excitement on social media earlier on Wednesday as Keating was photographed
landing at Belfast City Airport.
The
fans who gathered in Belfast on Wednesday night ranged from the younger ages
who would never have seen the band in their chart-topping prime, to the more
mature original followers.
Keating
paid tribute to all the fans.
"We
have got a room full of mixed people, we have got people who have been with us
for 25 years, we have got a lot of new faces and new ears in the room who have
joined us in the last five or six years, thank-you very much," he said.
The
gig was tinged with sadness at the absence of the late Stephen Gately.
Gately
died in 2009 at his home in Majorca from an undiagnosed heart condition.
A
brief film in tribute to him was played during the concert, recalling how he
"never stopped singing morning, noon and night", and how full of love
and fun he had been.
Gately's
familiar voice was heard in Belfast on Wednesday night as one of the band's
newest songs, Dream, which features his vocals, was performed.
Last
November the band, now aged in their 40s, released what they have described as
their final album, Thank You & Goodnight, and also announced a final tour
to mark their 25th anniversary.
They
split up to the heartbreak of their fans in 1999 before making a very
successful come back in the late 2000s.
Graham
told media in Dublin earlier this week that this is "definitely the
end" for Boyzone.
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