Boyzone’s Ronan Keating is headlining the Sunday evening of Coventry’s Godiva Festival. What’s On recently caught up with him to find out more...
Proudly reaffirming its status as the UK's biggest and best free music festival, Godiva presents another bumper crop of top-notch talent as it returns to Coventry for its 20th anniversary edition. Veteran performers will join emerging talent to present a dazzling array of genres across the weekend.
Pop star Ronan Keating will headline the final evening, with Jake Bugg top-billing on the Friday and Editors on the Saturday. Other acts across the weekend include Jonas Blue, Gabrielle, Professor Green, Little Comets, Blood Red Shoes.
“It’s always nice to get out and perform live,” says Ronan. “I spend so much time writing songs, I'm on radio in the mornings mid-week and doing stuff in other countries and travelling, so it’s always nice to come back to the UK as much as possible to do shows.”
Having originally risen to prominence as a member of ’90s pop band Boyzone, Ronan has recorded nine albums since embarking on his solo career in 1999, selling over 20 million records independently in addition to the 25 million sold together with his bandmates.
To this day, he remains best known for his international number one single, When You Say Nothing At All, which won him worldwide fame after featuring in the movie Notting Hill. Since then, he’s further raised his profile by serving as a judge on the Australian X-Factor and coaching aspiring singers on The Voice.
Ronan is certainly looking forward to his Coventry stop-off: “I haven’t spent that much time there, so I'm not an expert in any way, but it’s a cool town with cool people and they love their music, which is very important to me. I’m looking forward to playing there, looking forward to seeing everybody and singing a few tunes.
“When I do my solo gigs, I separate them from Boyzone as much as possible. I’ve had 18 years of solo records and six years of Boyzone records, so it’s dramatically different. People who come to my solo shows, I try and give them as much of that as possible. I mean, there might be one or two Boyzone songs - that’s always nice - but it’s mainly solo stuff.”
After six UK number one singles, five UK chart-topping albums and 25 years together, Boyzone have recently announced their 25th anniversary and farewell UK & Ireland arena tour, which stops off at Birmingham’s Genting Arena next year, on Friday 8 February.
The tour will follow the release of their final album, Thank You & Goodnight, which is due out this winter. The album will include collaborations with special guest songwriters Ed Sheeran (Because) and Gary Barlow (Love), plus a special tribute to Boyzone favourite Stephen Gateley, who died in 2009.
Having chalked up so many years in the music industry, what piece of advice would Ronan have given to his younger self had he had the chance? “I think, enjoy yourself more. I took it very seriously in those early years. It was very intense and full-on, and I didn’t really get a chance to enjoy it as much. I was all about being professional and trying to be the best I could be, but not really thinking how quickly this could be gone. It went by very fast. I was thrown in at 16 years of age - it was full-on!”
What does the future hold? “Living. I just want to have a good time. I want to raise my children and be a good husband and enjoy my music and travel and tour and do all the things that I'm doing now. We take everything so intense, we live so fast, it’s gone by and we haven’t had chance to enjoy it. The older you get, the more you realise that.”
Ronan Keating headlines Godiva Festival on Sunday 2 September. The festival takes place at War Memorial Park, Coventry, from Fri 31 August until Sunday 2 September.
Boyzone’s Ronan Keating is headlining the Sunday evening of Coventry’s Godiva Festival. What’s On recently caught up with him to find out more...
Proudly reaffirming its status as the UK's biggest and best free music festival, Godiva presents another bumper crop of top-notch talent as it returns to Coventry for its 20th anniversary edition. Veteran performers will join emerging talent to present a dazzling array of genres across the weekend.
Pop star Ronan Keating will headline the final evening, with Jake Bugg top-billing on the Friday and Editors on the Saturday. Other acts across the weekend include Jonas Blue, Gabrielle, Professor Green, Little Comets, Blood Red Shoes.
“It’s always nice to get out and perform live,” says Ronan. “I spend so much time writing songs, I'm on radio in the mornings mid-week and doing stuff in other countries and travelling, so it’s always nice to come back to the UK as much as possible to do shows.”
Having originally risen to prominence as a member of ’90s pop band Boyzone, Ronan has recorded nine albums since embarking on his solo career in 1999, selling over 20 million records independently in addition to the 25 million sold together with his bandmates.
To this day, he remains best known for his international number one single, When You Say Nothing At All, which won him worldwide fame after featuring in the movie Notting Hill. Since then, he’s further raised his profile by serving as a judge on the Australian X-Factor and coaching aspiring singers on The Voice.
Ronan is certainly looking forward to his Coventry stop-off: “I haven’t spent that much time there, so I'm not an expert in any way, but it’s a cool town with cool people and they love their music, which is very important to me. I’m looking forward to playing there, looking forward to seeing everybody and singing a few tunes.
“When I do my solo gigs, I separate them from Boyzone as much as possible. I’ve had 18 years of solo records and six years of Boyzone records, so it’s dramatically different. People who come to my solo shows, I try and give them as much of that as possible. I mean, there might be one or two Boyzone songs - that’s always nice - but it’s mainly solo stuff.”
After six UK number one singles, five UK chart-topping albums and 25 years together, Boyzone have recently announced their 25th anniversary and farewell UK & Ireland arena tour, which stops off at Birmingham’s Genting Arena next year, on Friday 8 February.
The tour will follow the release of their final album, Thank You & Goodnight, which is due out this winter. The album will include collaborations with special guest songwriters Ed Sheeran (Because) and Gary Barlow (Love), plus a special tribute to Boyzone favourite Stephen Gateley, who died in 2009.
Having chalked up so many years in the music industry, what piece of advice would Ronan have given to his younger self had he had the chance? “I think, enjoy yourself more. I took it very seriously in those early years. It was very intense and full-on, and I didn’t really get a chance to enjoy it as much. I was all about being professional and trying to be the best I could be, but not really thinking how quickly this could be gone. It went by very fast. I was thrown in at 16 years of age - it was full-on!”
What does the future hold? “Living. I just want to have a good time. I want to raise my children and be a good husband and enjoy my music and travel and tour and do all the things that I'm doing now. We take everything so intense, we live so fast, it’s gone by and we haven’t had chance to enjoy it. The older you get, the more you realise that.”
Ronan Keating headlines Godiva Festival on Sunday 2 September. The festival takes place at War Memorial Park, Coventry, from Fri 31 August until Sunday 2 September.
By Lauren Foster