Lots of great pop isn't fully appreciated in its lifetime, and some bands such as ABBA and Queen sound better today than they did then. Heaven help us if the bland stylings of Westlife sound better with age. Choreographed to within an inch of their life, and with all personality removed, Westlife stood before us as four lucky young men who could sing a little, dance a little, smile a lot and drive the girls crazy.

This being the first show of a world tour, they were a little less than match fit and rougharound the edges, and allowances could be made. Apart from the boy band medley, they balanced the hits (Flying Without Wings, You Raise Me Up, If I Let You Go, When You're Looking Like That) with tracks from their latest, The Love Album.

Such was the use of technology it was difficult to hear where the original studio recordings finished and the live performance began. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. The people came to see their idols, but this was a poor approximation of what concerts used to be about.

It should be noted that the crowd loved it, but then they were shouting along with a recording of Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer like they were having the night of their lives even before Westlife hit the stage.