They say that good things come to those who wait...and in Ronan's case is true.
His new rocky feel is a breath of fresh air after his countless boy band ballads.
When he took the stage in a smart blue pinstripe suit, it was clear this new, mature star meant buisness.
Amid the piercing screams of the packed audience Ronan did exactley what it says on the lid with opening tracks like Blown Away, taken from his new album Destination.
With that up-tempo number the ex-boyzone frontman blew away any remaining worries of a dodgy throat.
Backed by a sensational eight piece band, Ronan showed vocal talent critics often failed to recognize.
Part of the musical transformation must be down to ex-new radicals frontman Gregg Alexander. The American penned Lovin' Each Day and Life is A Rollercoaster, as well as sophie ellis Bextor's Murder on the Dance Floor.
Ronan's cover of New Radicals hit Someday Wwe'll Know shows he has found a mentor.
The 25 year old has matured well since leaving Boyzone and grabbed solo No1 with When You Say Nothing At All.
His thousands of female fans were caressed by th hit half way through the 90 minute set.
Ronan's most recent soother, If Tomorrow Never Comes, also bought the swaying arms action.
with clips from the video playing on the big screen behind the bar he flitted around the stage easing the words over his army of admirers.
But the singers encore, which featured Life is a Rollercoaster nearly bought the house down.
The irishman, suspended by a hanging wire, sailed out over the udience, never missing a word as he did cartwheels in mid-air over the fans. Now that is a shooting star.
Thanks to Amanda Kane for typing this up. Visit her website here
24th June 2002)
Reliability is an under rated quality in the world of pop.
As punters set out for Ronan Keating's sell-out concert in The Point last night,
they did so with little fear that their hero would let them down.
No incidents at the races, no sudden bout of laryngitis; the chances of Ronan's fans
ever manning the barricades on Joe Duffy's Live line Show to bad-mouth their idol
look remarkably slim.
He might be "Westlife's" big brother but yesterday his fans proved his enduring
popularity by turning up in hordes to fill the huge car park at The Point-and even the overflow one next door.
Missed
"I've been away from home and I've missed the voices," Ronan told us just after he took to the Point's stage at 8.45pm.
He certainly must have heard a few last night as he ran through a rapidly expanding catalogue of solo hits like Life is a Rollercoaster and Lovin' Each Day - with suprisingly little Boyzone material.
If anything has changed there did seem to be a new looseness to Keating's on-stage performance.
A between song banter that touched on everthing from september 11 to the success of the Irish football team worked well with the home crowd.
Happy
Everybody went home happy. The fans, the promoter, the last car park attendants left standing outside.
"Good old Ronan," I heard a woman saying to her friend on the way out. "He never lets you down."
