We Are A Bit Worried About Our Antipodean Cousins

We realise New Zealand is a unique and wonderful country, full of breathtaking landscape, more dub and reggae than anyone with a raging hangover can handle (that’s experience talking, folks), and messed up vowels. Whatever. We happily embrace their Shortland Street-lovin’ ways, and will in fact be “touring” the country in June which will no doubt result in some bewildered sounding posts amazing Serious Travel Journalism.

But here’s something we can’t quite fathom or forgive – Westlife is still, inexplicably, massive over there.

Irish boy band Westlife’s Wellington concert on May 9 has sold out in just three hours. The 4000 tickets for the concert at TSB Bank Arena went on sale at 9am on Saturday and all were gone by lunchtime. The band formed in 1998 and has had 14 No 1 hits in Britain.

Yes, 14 No 1 hits in Britain – and every one of them guaranteed to cause sterility/aural cat AIDS/etc.