Five

2013- The year of pop band reunions. ITV’s reality show “The Big Reunion” brought out nostalgia in full force and saw bands such as: Liberty X, 911, Atomic Kitten, Honeyz, B*Witched and Blue reform after long hiatuses. After many years of ‘normalcy’- moving to Australia, raising families and owning a farm, when the opportunity arose to take part in the series the lads from 5ive (Five) took it with both hands. The band returned minus one member, J- leaving them in a bit of a quandary. What do you do when the band name is reliant on how many members are in the band? Change the name to Four or perhaps recruit a replacement and change existing dynamics? Keeping the name and remaining as a four piece: Scott, Abz, Rich and Sean would share J’s vocal duties among them.
Marketed as the male equivalent of the Spice Girls, it’s no surprise that they possessed a great female appeal creating the kind of hysteria that wherever they went, screams could be heard within a ten mile radius. With plenty of songs in their repertoire, you’re never short of hearing your favourite hits such as “When The Lights Go Out”, “Keep On Moving” and “Everybody Get Up”. With an abundance of energy, Five certainly know how to work the audience with their tight dance routines and infectious energy as they interact with the audience. Taking a trip down memory lane, the crowd jump to their feet, waving arms from side to side and mirroring dance routines of “If You Got The Feeling”, “Slam Dunk Da Funk” and “If Ya Getting Down”. With their infectious pop sensibilities, there’s no doubt that Five will definitely make you get down.

Like Five - or should that be 5ive? - before them, Blue proved to be one of those boy bands who enjoyed huge success within a relatively short-lived period of time; it’s incredible to think that their initial run actually only lasted five years, between 2000 and 2005, because they packed so much commercial triumph into that period; all three of their albums during that period went platinum multiple times, and they spawned a slew of number one singles, too; the R&B-tinged sound that the group aimed for set them apart from most of their contemporaries at the time, and tapped into the success of that genre whilst simultaneously exploiting the typical pop market. After splitting in 2005 to pursue other projects - Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe had briefly successful solo careers, whilst Antony Costa was best-known for being ridiculed on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, they made several aborted attempts to reform before ITV2’s The Big Reunion catapulted them back into the spotlight; they managed to route a tour of their own with a full live band late last year, and they’ll swap those intimate venues for an arena jaunt along with the likes of Five later this year, as part of their Big Reunion commitments.