Boyzone would have loved to have collaborated or toured with Take That.
The Irish pop band – comprised of Shane Lynch, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham and Keith Duffy – were always pitted against the ‘Back For Good’ hitmakers back in the 90s, but they’ve insisted they’re actually really good friends with their rivals and are gutted they’ve never done anything with them as a group.
Shane thinks had they been American, they would have long hit the road with Gary Barlow and co and other bands.
He told the Daily Star newspaper: "We were never against working with Take That.
"I’m sad that we never collaborated directly with them or U2 or Westlife.
"I love how the American work, they own the world of music because they work.
"They don’t mind collaborating with each other."
He added: "It would have worked. Look at the Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block tour a few years ago."
Gary did however pen the track ‘Love’ for Boyzone’s final LP ‘Thank You & Goodnight’, which also features the track ‘Because’ co-written by Ed Sheeran.
On teaming up with the ‘Shape of You’ hitmaker, Ronan said: "He [Ed] writes on the road, he has a studio set up with him.
"I called him and asked for a song and he said: ‘What do you boys think of this?’"
Boyzone have just completed the UK leg of their final tour and head to Australia in March, but Ronan has admitted they could continue the tour beyond their final date.
He said: "We still don’t know what the final show will be, we keep adding them."
The ‘No Matter What’ hitmakers were marketed as an Irish version of Take That – currently comprised of Gary, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, and formerly featuring Robbie Williams and Jason Orange – and said he felt privileged to be able to give "amazing" Gary and co a nod with the song.
He said: "We were set up as the Irish Take That, so if anything, it’s an honour to pay homage to such an amazing group.
"I’ve never listened to one Take That record and thought ‘that’s s**t’. I’ve always thought: "that’s a f**king great record, lads’."
Boyzone would’ve collaborated with rivals Take That
