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23rd Nov 2019

Westlife paid a lovely tribute to Gay Byrne on The Late Late Show

Alan Loughnane

Westlife Gay Byrne tribute

Brilliant.

This week’s Late Late Show will certainly go down as one of the better ones of the season with Christy Moore, Joe Schmidt, Brian O’Driscoll and Westlife among the list of guests.

Westlife joined Ryan Tubridy for a large portion of the show, either performing some of their greatest hits or chatting on the couch.

The band reminisced about their first venture onto The Late Late Show all those years ago, which was also one of Gay Byrne’s last show’s as host.

“That performance was 21 years ago this week. It was our first time to ever perform on The Late Late Show – we kind of felt like ‘Oh my God’ we’ve made it – we’re on the Late Late with Gay Byrne,'” Shane Filan said.

“It was a huge deal. It’s something you look forward to your whole life,” he added.

Nicky Byrne paid tribute to the former host, calling him a “special, special man” and remembered what Gaybo had said about them after their performance.

“We were wearing long coats and he made reference to how Dublin Corporation had lent us the coats for the night,” Byrne said.

In a final tribute, they performed Flying Without Wings, which they dedicated to the late Gay Byrne and his family.

Clips via The Late Late Show

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