BOYZONE are to perform a one-off show at Edinburgh Castle this summer, it was revealed today.
The Irish boy band will be putting on the spectacular live concert in July, following a comeback tour taking in dates across the UK and Ireland.
The band are the second big name act to confirm they will play the Castle as part of this year's summer concerts programme, after last week's announcement that the Proclaimers would be playing their first Castle gig.
More big-name acts are expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks as organisers put the finishing touches to the programme. The Edinburgh Castle concerts have previously attracted acts such as Blondie, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Tom Jones, Westlife, Il Divo, and Lionel Ritchie. The Boyzone concert will be all-seated, with an estimated 8500 tickets set to go on sale on Friday.
The group sold more than 200,000 tickets in three hours for their comeback tour dates when they went on sale last year, and organisers said they expected the gig to be "very popular".
Mark Mackie, director of organisers Castle Concerts, said: "They are one of the biggest pop bands of the last 20 years, and it will be an absolutely fantastic night out for fans."
The concert, featuring the original line-up of band-members Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Shane Lynch, Mikey Graham and Keith Duffy, will be the first time the boyband have played the Capital since 1996, when they performed a sellout concert at the Edinburgh Playhouse. They also made an appearance at Edinburgh Castle in May that year, as part of a GMTV "Get Up and Give" charity event.
The group performed together for the last time at Dublin's Point Depot in January 2000.
Lead singer Ronan Keating admitted the group had been keen to perform live again. "We've been talking about getting back together for some time now," he said. "I can't wait to be back on the road and all the guys feel the same."
Formed in 1994, Boyzone achieved the best-ever start to a UK singles career with 16 consecutive top five hits.
They went on to sell more than 15 million albums, making them one of the UK's best-selling bands.
A spokesman for Historic Scotland said: "Every year, the combination of the Castle backdrop and the concerts create that magical, once in a lifetime venue for the bands to play and the audiences to enjoy." Boyzone will perform at Edinburgh Castle on July 18, at 7pm. Tickets go on sale at 9am Friday.
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