{"id":536355,"date":"2025-10-29T22:50:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536355\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T22:50:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:50:29","slug":"westlife-addresses-stars-future-with-band-after-unexpected-tour-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536355\/","title":{"rendered":"Westlife addresses star&#8217;s future with band after unexpected tour absence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan and Kian Egan opened up about bandmate Mark Feehily during an appearance on The One Show<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Westlife1JPG.jpg\" alt=\"Westlife \" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Westlife were on The One Show<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Westlife have insisted that<a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/lifestyle\/showbiz\/mark-suddenly-quits-westlife-days-28724223\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"> Mark Feehily<\/a> is &#8220;very much a part of the band&#8221; amid his absence from their current tour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/westlife\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">The Irish pop group <\/a>&#8211; comprised of stars Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily &#8211; are celebrating their 25th anniversary and are hitting the road for a string of concerts to mark the milestone. However, last year their bandmate <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/lifestyle\/showbiz\/westlife-star-steps-away-band-28744237\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark stepped back from touring<\/a> amid &#8220;health challenges&#8221;. He developed sepsis in 2020 after surgery, before being diagnosed with pneumonia a year later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Earlier this year it was confirmed that he would be absent from the anniversary world tour. However, Nicky, Shane and Kian, who kicked off their 25th celebrations this week with a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, have made it clear that Mark is still part of Westlife and that they &#8220;can&#8217;t wait to have him back&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Westlife2JPG.jpg\" alt=\"Westlife\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Mark is not joining his bandmates on tourREAD MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/news\/real-life\/westlifes-oldest-fan-celebrates-101st-26614274\" data-tmdatatrack=\"read-more\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"26614274\" data-tmdatatrack-source=\"editorial\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Westlife&#8217;s &#8216;oldest fan&#8217; celebrates her 101st birthday with boyband-themed party<\/a>READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/whats-on\/whats-on-news\/westlife-reunite-stadium-tour-six-15235135\" data-tmdatatrack=\"read-more\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"15235135\" data-tmdatatrack-source=\"editorial\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Westlife reunite for stadium tour six years after split<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Addressing his absence on <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/the-one-show\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">The One Show<\/a> on Wednesday (October 29), Shane said: &#8220;Oh, he&#8217;s very much a part of the band.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">&#8220;Unfortunately, he&#8217;s unable to join us for the tour, but, you know, he&#8217;s&#8230; look, we love Mark to bits.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">&#8220;We can&#8217;t wait to have him back,&#8221; he went on.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_ShaneJPG.jpg\" alt=\"Shane Filan\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Shane said the others can&#8217;t wait for Mark to return<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be, obviously, this tour is going to be the three of us, but we&#8217;re very much looking forward to it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">&#8220;And he&#8217;s on the new music as well,&#8221; Kian chimed in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Last year Mark posted a lengthy statement on Instagram updating fans on his health.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_Mark-Feehily.jpg\" alt=\"Westlife's Mark Feehily appearing on ITV's Lorraine\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Mark has battled health issues(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">He shared that after a surgery he developed sepsis and ended up spending months in hospital. In 2021 he developed pneumonia, then the following year he had to have further surgery and that after that the &#8220;physical demands of the concerts and extensive travel were proving too much&#8221; for him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">He said that, with &#8220;regret&#8221;, he would have to \u201ctemporarily stand down from all Westlife touring\u201d as he had to \u201cmake the right decision for my health and wellbeing, for my family, and for myself as a person\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">The One Show airs at 7pm on BBC One on weekdays.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan and Kian Egan opened up about bandmate Mark Feehily during an appearance on The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[192,748,4884,42066,16,15,1764,73370],"class_list":{"0":"post-536355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-the-one-show","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wales","15":"tag-westlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115459905003395533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}