Magic Breakfast: a visit from Boyzone and remembering Stephen Gately

Listen to Magic Breakfast with Ronan and Harriet on Magic Radio every morning from 6am

It was time for an honest critique of Ronan's early morning presenting when the rest of the Boyzone contingent joined Magic Breakfast today!

With Keith, Mikey and Shane gathered around the mics it was relief all round as they told Harriet that they're fans of Ronan's new role and have been listening.

But of course there was more to their visit than to check up on Ronan, with this marking the eight year anniversary of Stephen Gately's passing.

The boys paid touching tribute to their former bandmate describing him as "the colour and the flair of the band", retelling stories of early Boyzone concerts and an unfortunate incident of split trousers that called for an inventive use of gaffer tape...

With best behaviour off the cards (despite Producer Brian and Alex's best attempts to maintain calm in the studio!) the friends of 25 years invited Harriet to join them on the road and answered listener questions, admitting that their worst gig was one of their earliest.

The boys recalled that this particular concert saw them wearing East–17–inspired fluffy white coats and attempting to perform an acoustic set. However – to the dismay of their manager – they failed to rehearse, forgot the lyrics to the song and one by one left the stage, leaving Stephen to attempt a chorus alone.

And with honesty order of the day, Eloise admitted that as a teen it was a Boyzone poster that she had stuck on her bedroom wall (she'd been keeping that one a secret from Ronan until now!).

The result? An attempt at reconstruction... with mixed results!

And so with photo taken (minus the huge white collars of previous years), a promise that they'd be back (we're not actually sure we invited them) and Stephen's vocals on 'No Matter What' playing out, Boyzone were off to the pub with Ronan set to join later, to raise a glass to their old friend.

Missed the show? You can listen again here.

Tune into Ronan and Harriet on Magic Breakfast every weekday, 6am – 10am.