Copyright evoke
Westlife's families were front and centre at Royal Albert Hall to support the lads as they kicked off their 25th anniversary extravaganza. Nicky Byrne's wife, Georgina Ahern, stood proudly with their three children, twins Rocco and Jay, 18, and daughter Gia, 12, as they watched dad perform on stage with his pals, Shane Filan and Kian Egan. Gia, who turned 12 at the end of October, looked all grown up in a pink one-shoulder mini dress and some heels, twinning with her mum, who also wore pink. Georgina's gúna was one from Karen Millen - a figure-form embellished corset-style midi dress that boasts a sleek, minimal design, complete with a statement sweetheart neckline, embellished with sparkles across the bust. The mum-of-three wore it before to a family friend's winter wedding. 18-year-old Jay and Rocco scrubbed up well for their dad's gig, wearing matching tuxedos with black dickie bows and white pocket squares. Jay, Rocco, Gia, and Georgina were joined in the audience by Shane's wife Gillian, Kian's wife Jodi, and their three children. Mark Feehily has taken a step back from Westlife amid his ongoing health woes, but he was supporting his friends from afar and was with them in spirit. Nicky, Shane, and Kian seized the opportunity to pay tribute to Mark during his 'favourite song', Flying Without Wings, for which they were accompanied by a stand-in, The Voice star Kirsten Joy. Speaking to the crowd before launching into Flying Without Wings, Shane said: 'I want to take a minute to talk about Mark, who unfortunately is not with us tonight. But we love him, we miss him, and we cannot wait to have him back on this stage with us... 'The good news is he's obviously on the new music, which you've heard already, Chariot, and the next album as well. We have a new album coming out in February. 'So this next song, I want to dedicate it to Mark because it's Mark's favourite song. That might give you a hint. It's a beautiful song. So, tonight we'd like to dedicate it to him, and I'd like to invite Kirsten Joy down to sing it with us. 'This song is probably the song that changed our whole career,' he admitted, before he joined Kirsten, Nicky, and Kian in song.
