Backstage at The Point 07.01.2000 - By Janina

January 2000. Me and two friends were in Dublin for a week to see Boyzone. I'd been there before but never for as long, and I was hyped up enough about that. But it was during this week that I first got to meet Ronan - we had a meet and greet before our second last concert.
On the big night, the three of us were taken backstage to the corridor where the dressing rooms were, and were told to wait near a door that led outside. Apparently Ronan was about to arrive at the venue any minute. After some time, the door opened, and there he was, along with his brother Gary.
We were introduced to Ronan and he shook our hands to say hello, then we had pictures taken with him and he signed stuff for us. By that time, all three of us girls were nervous wrecks. I tried my best to come up with something halfway intelligent to say, but all I managed to tell him was that I'd wanted to meet him for years, to which he replied "Oh, thank you very much". He was lovely - not that I'd expected anything else, even though I've got to say I was young and naive and thought he had no faults at all. I think he has changed quite a bit since then - he seems a lot more laid back these days (not that he wasn't back then, but you get my point), more confident, but that's just my impression. Either way, he couldn't be any nicer, both then and now.

We got to watch him talking to someone for another few minutes before he went into his dressing room. We were then taken into a room where more fans were waiting for their meet and greet, and where we got pictures with Keith Duffy and Stephen Gately, but as soon as Ronan appeared in the doorway, he was surrounded by girls and almost couldn't enter the room. We stayed behind and watched. After all, we'd got what we wanted.

I can't remember much about the concert to be honest. I was just incredibly excited and I'll admit that I was hardly able to sleep that night. I will always remember that evening with a smile on my face.

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