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FAN STORY: MY MEETING WITH WESTLIFE ON DEC 11, 2005
BY: Heidi, Norway

On 11th December 2005, Westlife came back to Norway to perform at the Nobel Peace Price Concert in Oslo. A few hours beforehand, however, the lads were going to have a signing at my local shopping centre Strömmen Storsenter north of Oslo.
I had been aware of the signing for four days before it actually happened, and on the actual day I was very excited. ’What a great build-up to the Nobel Peace Price Concert’, I remember thinking happily.
Accompanied by my father, I went to Strömmen, very well prepared and very excited. My father was going to be the one who took the pictures for me. I had also made sure to meet up with two friends of mine, who were also going to attend the signing.
Fans started queueing a couple of hours before the signing was due to start at 4:30pm Norwegian time. There was a great vibe all round, and everyone took great care of one another. Standing in the queue, I could feel the excitement grow bigger and bigger minute by minute, and I was looking forward to meeting the lads again.
As we were waiting, more fans came to queue with the rest of us. Westlife’s latest album ’Face To Face’ was being played, and everyone had a great time singing and having fun. The shopping centre’s security staff took good care of us, but there was a man who was in ’charge’ of the talking. He was very nice, but I think I can safely say I wasn’t the only one who got tired of hearing that man saying we could hug the security staff as much as we wanted to.
As if that was the reason for us to queue! Haha!
We kept waiting, waiting and waiting. At 4.30pm, there was still no sign of the lads, but the nice man who did the talking, told us he had been told that Westlife were running late due to heavy traffic.
At about 5.00pm, it was finally announced that the lads had entered the building, and everyone cheered out loudly. We were about 1500 people waiting for Westlife to sign our copies of the new album, but we knew they had a tight schedule and that they had to leave at 5.30pm sharpish to be back at the venue in Oslo for a final rehearsal prior to the Nobel Peace Concert.
As I was waiting to come through to the lads, I was stood waving to them. Nicky noticed me several times, and a girl behind me pricked my back to say that Nicky waved at me. It was fun and now I was really getting more eager by the minute.
Approximately six minutes after their arrival to the table where the signing took place, I finally came through and could meeting the lads. The first one I met, was Mark. He kindly asked how I was and what my name was. I politely replied that I was doing fine, before handing him a piece of paper on which my name was written (Everyone had been told beforehand to write their names on a piece of paper.) Mark wrote ’To Heidi’ on top of the album cover before putting his very own autograph another place on the same cover.
Having met Mark, it was now time to meet Nicky, my favourite Westlifer. He was so nice and polite as usual, just like Mark. Nicky asked how I was, shook my hand and smiled when I said ’See you tonight, then!’.
Kian was up next. He saw my name on the album cover, and then said ’Hi, Heidi! How are you?’ and his face lit up as he put his autograph on.
Last, but not least, I met Shane, who was sat next to Kian. Shane saw my name, then stared at me for a while, before saying something like ’Heidi? Is that really you?’ He looked at me as if to wait for me to confirm that my name is Heidi. Before I even managed to utter a word, he went on to say it was nice to meet me again and how good it was for him to see that I felt better this time (I was actually a bit ill the first time I met Westlife back in 2003). I was taken by complete surprise over what Shane said, because it suddenly hit me it seemed as if he remembered me – somehow. I didn’t know what to say, that’s how surprised I was.
After having told Shane I’d be present at the Nobel Peace Price Concert that evening, I said my goodbyes and added that I hoped they would enjoy their stay in Norway.
My father took some pictures, but only two of them shows me meeting the lads (The first one shows me talking to Mark, and the other shows the same situation with Nicky.)
Shortly after, my father and I left the premises, as we had to catch the train to Oslo, were we were going to attend the concert.
Even though the whole meeting went quite fast, and it’s a while ago now, it still feels like yesterday to me and I remember everything so clearly. It was great getting to meet them again.
It was a fantastic day and I was really satisfied. Westlife made my day!

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