Boyzlife: 'Why my love for boybands has been reignited with a trip down memory lane'

February 13, 1996. It will always be a day etched in my ten-year-old mind.

The day the music died. I can still remember watching Newsround that evening when Gary Barlow announced that Take That were going their separate ways.

The posters were torn down leaving gaping holes on my wall and the pencil tin put out to pasture.

How could I ever fill the void the band had left in my Walkman?

Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long - five cheeky chappies from Ireland, Boyzone, were there with A Different Beat to replace the holes left empty on my bedroom wall.

And soon after Irish heartthrobs Westlife were also a key feature of my teenage years. I can still remember the coach trips to Sheffield Arena to scream among the many thousands of girls who made the pilgrimage to see the band live.

So many milestones in my young life were marked by the boyband era - diary entries, new braces, finishing my GCSE exams and starting college. The list goes on.

It only seemed fitting nearly three decades on to relive my youth when Boyzlife - made up of Boyzone’s Keith Duffy and Westlife’s Brian McFadden - came to Yorkshire once more.

The young girls, who once flocked to see the bands in their youth, may have aged ever so slightly but the spirit was definitely the same at the York Barbican.

From the off it was just like being transported back to my childhood when classic hits ‘So Good’, ‘When You’re Looking Like That’, ‘Picture of You’ and ‘World Of Our Own’ came flooding back word for word.

There was a touching tribute to Boyzone’s Stephen Gately that didn’t leave a dry eye in the house - how could they not have done?

And both Keith and Brian joked with the crowd and knew how to work the stage. Even fending off a few fans desperate for a selfie from the stage too.

They even gave a cheeky nod to the boybands that have since followed in their footsteps with a medley from N’Sync to One Direction and a nod to Take That.

Boyzlife’s repertoire was vast - let’s not forget they have sold over 55 million record and had more than 20 number one hit singles - including some new material which they teased to the crowds too.

They were supported by Qymira, whose music blends world influences, electronic beats, and orchestral grandeur, fresh off the release of her chart-topping single ‘Labyrinth Of Life’. Her electronic violin opener had the crowd spellbound.

Heading back home, with what was left of my voice, I had to sing loudly to a boyband megamix.

Safe in the knowledge that there was still a pop princess in there - but thankfully the posters on the wall are no more, I don’t think my husband would approve!

*Boyzlife heading back to Yorkshire once more. With dates at Bradford St George’s Hall on February 27 and Sheffield City Hall on March 2.