Westlife's South African video shoot

Westlife on set in South Africa (www.dailystar.co.uk)

When Irish heartthrobs Westlife recently visited South Africa for a couple of selected performances, they also decided to shoot their new music video here! The Daily Star (UK) reports that the video for their new song Lighthouse was filmed at the Cradle of Humankind heritage site in Guateng. But the lads chose it because they were literally just passing. "We were in South Africa anyway as part of our Africa and Asia tour so we thought: 'Why not film the new video here too?'" says Nicky Byrne, 32. Bandmate Mark Feehily, 31, explains: "Record companies aren't spending the millions they used to on videos. "We wouldn't want to do a rubbish video in a studio. And why should we when we can have a million-dollar backdrop like this for free?" Aside from the landscape and its animals, there's another reason the lads love coming to South Africa. "We did a gig in Pretoria yesterday for around 15,000 people and the crowd were great," says Nicky. "Playing to African crowds is so different. They have different favourite songs from the one back home. Mandy is a massive hit here, more than any other." He continues: "The last video we filmed here was When You're Looking Like That back in 2000 so it's great to be back."