THE original line-up of Five have finally stepped back on stage for the first time in 25 years.
Eight months since they announced their comeback in Bizarre, fans swarmed to the Utilita Arena in Cardiff.
Five hours before kick-off, I joined Abz Love, Jason “J” Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon as they flitted between agony and ecstasy backstage . . .
Sipping an Asahi 00, Scott says with a laugh: “I’m a nervous wreck,” just as Ritchie brings me a handmade lucky charm from a fan who has flown all the way from China.
He says: “Do you want to have a hold of my ball?”
J adds: “He’s flown over from China. It’s taken him 15 hours. He’s taken two weeks off work and he’s seeing six shows.
“He’s renamed himself J and he gave us all these lovely gifts. He made that ball himself.
“And he’s got silk scarves for us all too. He embroidered them all himself. It’s a really nice touch.”
Telling me the ball is a symbol of good luck, Abz interjects and jokes: “Or he’s cursed them and we’re all f***ed.”
‘Getting shirty’
But they most certainly are not. As Five walk on stage to deafening screams later in the evening, they are slick, solid and on song.
The set begins with a bang, with the lads emerging from a haze of smoke before they burst into Slam Dunk (Da Funk) and Got The Feelin’.
For a band who last performed together two decades ago, they’ve not lost their chemistry.
Recalling the run-up to the first night, Ritchie explains: “The rehearsals had all gone great but two days ago, I was a wreck.
“As it went on, for the first time we had a couple of moments where we were getting shirty with each other.
“We all had to just step back and say, ‘Let’s just really look at the situation with 48 hours to go until the first gig.
“Let’s just acknowledge that whatever level of stress you think you’re at, you’re actually probably a little bit more’.
“We just worked to get through it all.”
The screams of fans — including a woman holding up a message that reads: “Get your tops off” — never subside as they whip through their back catalogue. Their rendition of 1998 track When the Lights Go Out proves emotional.
Fans who were looking forward to seeing the proper Nineties choreography got a treat.
It’s clear the lads have worked hard to get to this point.
“We’ve actually got new routines,” J says with a smile.
Scott adds: “The old moves didn’t come back immediately but there was some muscle memory there.
“Paul Domaine, our choreographer, he’s less spiky than he was in the Nineties.”
Abz jokes: “We’re better behaved now,” before J adds: “We’re better than we were before, but we’re not giving the behaviour of fully grown men with kids at nearly 50 years of age.”
Ritchie adds: “He was dealing with naughty school kids but now at least we’re applying ourselves a bit.”
Sitting in the underbelly of the arena, Five are physically and mentally in the best place they’ve ever been.
“We’ve been saying to everyone that we’re going to do the best tour ever,” Scott tells me.
“We said we would bring it all: the vocals, the dance moves. We weren’t just saying it though. We believed it.”
Sean adds: “It is 100 percent the best show we have ever done. Better than anything in the Nineties.
“It’s like everything’s been delayed to get to this point. It’s been 25 years. It’s meant to be.”
A-list celebrities including Cara Delevingne have been slipping into their DMs to blag tickets to the tour, which will see Five playing 24 more shows across the UK and Ireland, including Brighton tonight.
But Five have kept the first night more intimate.
Scott says: “My wife Kerry is here with my twin girls.
“They’ve never seen us perform as a five-piece in their lives.
“On the journey up here, one of my girls sent me a message and I let the boys read it. I couldn’t do it because I kept crying.
“She said how proud she was of me. She’s 11 years old. I thought, ‘This is going to be epic’.
“All I know is that I am going to be crying my eyes out.”
The atmosphere rocks up a notch with Let’s Dance and Everybody Get Up, before Five knock through a medley of House Of Pain’s Jump Around, Place Your Hands by Reef and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky.
A final encore of Keep On Movin’ closes a history-making first night and Five are grinning like Cheshire cats.
On stage, Sean takes a moment to reflect and turns to his bandmates as he says: “We are lucky guys.”
As the band rallies round him, he adds: “I just wanted to say, I did not expect that so many years on it would mean so much to so many people.”
Ash a Madge coney phoney
ASHLEY ROBERTS looked the image of Madonna in this outfit for Halloween – as hopes build she will return with the Pussycat Dolls.
She was certainly more treat than trick in bright-red lippy and iconic Jean Paul Gaultier-style cone bra, just like the pop superstar on her Blond Ambition tour from 1990.
It comes as Ashley’s former bandmate Nicole Scherzinger teased “possibilities” for the group, after settling a legal dispute with the group’s founder Robin Antin, which derailed their planned 2020 arena tour.
Nicole told LA Times: “Our lawsuit is settled. That should have never happened. That was an unfortunate mistake on someone’s part – not mine.
“However, time heals things, and grace is always beautiful in life. I’m very positive and, dare I say, excited for the possibilities to come on the horizon.”
Shona bid for charts stardom
EASTENDERS’ Shona McGarty is following in the footsteps of fellow Walford favourites Nick Berry, Martine McCutcheon, Sid Owen and Michelle Gayle with a music career.
The actress, who played Whitney Dean in the soap from 2008 to 2024, has today dropped her debut single Unapologetically Me in a bid to make a name as a powerhouse vocalist.
The track was co-written and produced by hitmaker Steve Anderson.
He has previously worked with Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears, so she’s off to a good start.
Shona said: “I wrote Unapologetically Me as a reminder to myself, and to anyone who’s ever felt pressure to be someone they’re not – that it’s OK to simply be who you are.
“Having spent years in the public eye, surrounded by glitz, glam, and expectation, I’ve often felt the need to play a character, to present a polished version of myself that fits what people want to see.
“But beneath all that, I’m just human. I’m silly, sensitive, strong, and imperfect, and that’s OK.”
Freya returns as Wicker Woman
FREYA RIDINGS is pulling no punches on comeback single Wicker Woman – the first taste of her third album that’s coming out in 2026.
The English singer-songwriter, who posed in this striking and spooky black dress, said of the song that is released today: “It’s an unashamed, euphoric celebration of reclaiming primal feminine power, a return to the core of who we are, and an ode to the forgotten women and gods who came before us.”
Mika is also making a return today with his single Modern Times, ahead of an arena tour next spring, and Jessie J releases H.A.P.P.Y.
British boyband ABSNT MIND have put out their latest single Stitch and fresh from winning over a new fanbase on The Celebrity Traitors, Cat Burns has dropped her second album, How To Be Human.
Lily on tour
LILY ALLEN will perform her new album West End Girl in its entirety on a 13-date UK tour next year.
She will hit the road for the first time since 2019, kicking off at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on March 2.
Tickets go on sale from 10am next Friday.
KT’s got eye on Prada 2
SOMEHOW it has been 20 years since KT Tunstall broke on to the scene with her debut album Eye To The Telescope.
The record peaked at No3 in the UK charts and spawned a series of hits including Black Horse And The Cherry Tree, Other Side Of The World and Suddenly I See, which featured in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada.
Now with Devil Wears Prada 2 set for release in 2026, KT is back in the studio working on a follow-up track which she hopes film bosses will use in a full-circle moment.
KT told Bizarre: “I would love them to use Suddenly I See, but I think they will want to move it on.
“I am writing a song to pitch to them as it’s the 20th anniversary of that too and they are using the same cast.
“I am coming up with a sequel. Who knows if they will be interested but I am going to give it a shot.”
She has today released a special 20th anniversary edition of Eye To The Telescope featuring a series of new tracks including Anything At All – which sees KT duet with her younger self.
She said: “It was so weird. I’m listening to this young woman who hasn’t had a record out yet.”
The never-before-heard title track is also on there.
She added: “I’d only written the verse and chorus and then I abandoned it.
“But the record label said, ‘Why don’t you finish that song?’ It was difficult as I couldn’t really get myself back to what I was thinking at the time. It’s really cool it has taken 20 years to write the song.”
Promising hint
FLEETWOOD MAC greats Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have given a promising hint that the band will reunite for the 50th anniversary of their album Rumours.
The former couple had a huge fallout in 2018 but have revealed they are now back in touch after re-releasing their 1973 joint album Buckingham Nicks – so they really could come back together for the band.
The pair were interviewed separately about the making of the record, for the podcast Song Exploder.
But proving they are back in touch, Stevie said on the episode: “Lindsey and I started talking about it last night. This whole thing seems really like yesterday to us.”