Art on Ice, Switzerland Jan 31 - Feb 06; By Janina

I didn't really know what to expect because I don't have a clue about ice skating but I have to say the complete show was very enjoyable and entertaining, much more so than I'd thought. It was fun watching the skating during the first half of the show, but obviously once Ronan came on, my eyes were focused on the stage for the rest of the night.

Most people in the audience didn't seem very familiar with Ronan's music. Every time he asked us to sing during Rollercoaster, it went all quiet because no one knew the words! but people loved him. He may have messed up his lyrics in Lausanne (in true Ronan style, lol) but as we all know he never hits a wrong note. For some of the shows I was sat on the upper tier and the sound was fantastic up there, better than down at the front.
Ronan was quite nervous on the first night because it was all new to him, but from the next day on he seemed a lot more relaxed. His set included a bit of chatting in between the songs, and he joked to us about learning to stretch and being able to raise his leg "this high" - not very impressive compared to the skaters!
He introduced If Tomorrow Never Comes saying that it was a very special song to him because it started off something new for him and got him a lot of recognition as a solo artist "which was a big deal for me". I know ITNC is one of my least favourite singles but these days I'll be happy with anything that isn't BZ. It was nice to hear them being talked about in the past tense, or not talked about at all over here - sorry BZ fans!

On the first night I thought he didn't look great at all. I'm not saying he didn't look well, because he did - just not good. He will always be beautiful to me but I am not sure about all that hair. The styling (?) improved towards the weekend though, at least that's what I thought.
Ronan's family were at some of the shows (Saturday and Sunday), they remained behind the stage for most of the time but Ronan spotted them there and his face lit up as he waved at his children. It was too cute for words.

In Zurich (not sure about Lausanne) they were selling Ronan's albums at the shows in the foyer (Ronan, TYOH, BYH) and I swear everyone walked away with CD's in their hands. There didn't seem to be much interest before the shows, but afterwards people would flock around the CD stands - which I think speaks for itself ;) From what I saw, Ronans albums sold a lot faster than Kim Wilde's and there'd hardly be any left after some time. Call me sad but I got so much pleasure out of watching it. I am so glad he was asked to do these shows because it definitely got many new people interested in him. Apparently the six shows in Zurich were attended by an audience of about 55,000, and another ten or twelve thousand in Lausanne. On the last night in Zurich, the male presenter ended the show with the words "Ronan Keating - you are a real superstar!" I felt so proud.
The arena in Zurich is a lot nicer than Lausanne, and I thought Zurich was better altogether, it seemed to me like they made more of an effort with the whole thing, the presenters were better as well. Lausanne isn't a very pretty place but it was fun to go somewhere new, and to hear some French again. Lake Geneva is quite nice, shame it kept raining though.

I had a chat with Keith Duffy (bass player) and he thinks we will still get Ronan's album this year (although I know that's not a guarantee) - "He's been working on stuff - he moves pretty fast when he wants to". It sounded quite positive to me, and he seemed sure that there will be more Ronan gigs/appearances in the not so distant future. I said I didn't want to see BZ and he replied "It'll be mostly Ronan singing - Close your eyes!" LOL! no thank you. Keith also gave me chocolate so he's my man of the week! haha.

I got very emotional during the last show thinking, that's it now for who knows how long. But then Ronan got his words to We've Got Tonight wrong, and I was laughing again with tears still in my eyes. It was a great week and I'll just have to pretend it was a tour, and try to be happy for the rest of the year. I'll let him go for now, and I hope he has fun during the summer, but for the next while we are losing a great artist and an amazing performer, and that thought makes me very sad. I shall start saving for his next tour now - he is worth the wait.

Pictures of the Art on Ice shows are in the gallery