By Rav Singh
BOOZING, bickering and a busy busy work schedule led to the break-up of boy band legends BOYZONE, I can reveal.
In an exclusive interview as they prepared for their comeback tour, the Irish lads told me of the troubled time they went through just before they split almost ten years ago.
After their astonishing SIX No1 hits and almost 20MILLION album sales, the lads were overworked, sick of the sight of each other and rowing constantly, they said.
And Shane Lynch admitted things were so bad, he ended up hitting the bottle.
Shane said: "I found myself drinking through the day just to find some sort of happiness—but I couldn't find it. That's not a good place to be in.
"We hated it, we hated each other and we were overworked."
But No Matter What was said and done back then, I'm pleased to announce that the Boyz are back in town—and better than ever before.
I arrived in Dublin to watch SHANE, RONAN KEATING, STEPHEN GATELY and MIKEY GRAHAM, as they rehearsed for the sell-out tour, which kicks off at the end of the month.
Sadly, KEITH DUFFY was missing. He'd been taken to hospital earlier that morning with a blood infection.
His bandmates told me he'd fallen ill just hours after he had a tattoo—but he insisted he was feeling groggy before. As Keith recovered, the show went on with the other four, who showed off some of their intense dance routines.
You wouldn't know that this lot had been out of the game for almost a decade—they were amazing. And you can see for yourself by checking out my video of their rehearsal at notw.co.uk.
During a break, they told me how they can't wait to start performing again.
Ronan said: "There's a new single which we think will be the comeback song. It's different from what Boyzone have ever done before. It hits the radio in August."
Stephen added: "There will be a disco and electro vibe—it's going to be great and we're all looking forward to it massively."
They've also been filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary for a year, and with production costs for the tour at £3million—and rising quickly—fans are set for the biggest Boyzone show ever.
Shane said: "There's going to be a really different vibe to the show.
"There will be five outfit changes for the JACKSON 5 medley. The crowd are going to love it. But we're all dead nervous." Mikey added: "We've got more creative control over the way the shows are going to go this time round.
"Irrespective of the fact that it's a Boyzone tour, it will be a great show in itself.
"That's what I saw with TAKE THAT as well...fair play, those boys were amazing.
"We feel that we have the right feel in place now to pull this off. We can't wait."
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