Ronan Keating Colston Hall 8/10

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Bristol Post

IT'S surprising to think Ronan Keating's just 35 years old. Maybe it's because this year marks 20 years of Boyszone or that he's been on stage since he was 16 years old. Certainly he's been in the press a lot.
It could be that a lot of his fans are more mature in years. But whatever the reason, he commands the stage and is at home on it as a seasoned performer many more years his senior. His life experiences are played out in a lot of his songs that have a weightiness to them, a soul searching, reflective poignancy that tell of struggles with life and love.

These are the songs that are suited to those melancholy moments alone, music to mooch around the house to when you're feeling down. It was definitely the upbeat, up tempo ones that really got the sell out crowd going.
He gave his all to hit after hit, interspersed with a few personal details of how the last few years had been very tough for him. He told the crowd: "We need people in our lives. We need each other – as strong as we are." He paid tribute to his fans, family and friends for being there for him even when he messed things up.

The singer offered heartfelt sincerity at his appreciation of having a crowd to perform to, and hinted at inner fears when he joked about maybe seeing them around in the dole queue sometime. He summed his show up best with his final song of Life Is A Rollercoaster. Highs, lows and everything in between were all packed into nearly two hours of performing.
His lyrics told stories about scars making him who he is, friends being lost in time, questioning what people are waiting for, trying some more, loving someone but choosing someone else instead, falling from grace, taking things easy, making priorities and loving each day in spite of it all. He said the songs were surely something we can all relate to in one way or another. And he's right. He's an intelligent, soulful singer who conveys what it's really like to be human, have failings, struggle, lament, delight in life, have fun, fall in love and his music takes listeners on that journey with him.
And it's that enduring truth in his lyrics and essence of something real that people can identify with that will surely see him performing for a good while longer