HEARTTHROB boyband Westlife began a string of five shows at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle last night with a performance in front of thousands of screaming fans.

The five Irish teen idols, who have recorded this year's Comic Relief single, a version of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, continue the run tonight.

Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan and Bryan McFadden are likely to be seen by upwards of 50,000 fans during the coming days' Newcastle gigs.

Three more shows, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will see the band, which was originally managed by Boyzone frontman and successful solo singer Ronan Keating, become the first act to perform five nights on one visit to the Arena.

Tonight's show was added to the tour because of the demand for tickets.

The run of shows comes as the band prepares for success at a major industry awards ceremony. They have three nominations for the Brit awards this year.