Shane Filan - Blackpool Opera House

Being the lead singer of a successful boy band always means that when the group disband there is always the possibility of a successful solo career: Shane Filan was lead singer of Westlife who has just embarked on his first solo UK tour.

His audience is predictably female whose ages range from 30 to 70. His debut solo album, You and Me is easy going, inoffensive pop music with songs that he co-wrote with some of pop music's current hot writers.

The gig consists of tracks from his debut solo album but it is not long before he delves back into his career with Westlife: " Let me take you back in time" he says before he sings the Billy Joel cover that his former band had a hit with - Uptown Girl had the crowd on their feet.

The stage set is meant to resemble a Irish pub fittingly named O'Fialains, it comes complete with a bar with two chairs at the bar - "Would 2 members of the audience like me to pour them a drink at the bar tonight?" he asks. He chooses two members of the audience: a girl holding an Irish flag and another girl who is on her hen night who comes from the Yorkshire town of Keighley "never heard of it" Filan shares with the crowd. Perhaps he should film his next video on the Worth Valley Railway then he might be more familiar with the town! He sings another Westlife cover to them both - Barry Manilow's Mandy. It will probably be a night both of them never forget.

His band work well and are a capable set of musicians - they look like they are auditioning for Mumford and Sons but they fit in well with the Irish bar concept of the show. The acoustic set they perform half way through the show with Filan worked well.

He puts on a pair of sunglasses to perform a cover of Robin Thick's Blurred Lines which leads into a cover of Avicci's Wake Me Up which he does justice to the song.

He performs the Westlife cover of Flying Without Wings and You Raise Me Up -which is accompanied by a moving video that follows a lifetime relationship between a couple and the various stages of their partnership until the male dies and the female is left alone. It sounds corny but in the context of the song it works perfectly.

Filan returns for an encore that included his debut solo single, Everything To Me - the track sounding more powerful than the recorded version. "Will you have me back in Blackpool?" he asks the audience. The answer is a resounding yes. It was hard not to be won over by the atmosphere and professionalism of tonight's show and I have to admit, it was very enjoyable and just as good, if not better than some of the other big name acts I have reviewed recently.