FIVE are on cloud nine right now and I’m not sure there’s any chance they’ll be coming down before Christmas.
The Noughties band, made up of Abz Love, Jason “J” Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon, have just finished their huge reunion tour — and it couldn’t have gone any better.
“We promised you we would do it, didn’t we?” Scott tells me with a big grin.
“Do you remember our first interview and we sat at that table and said, ‘We’re going to give it our all, we’re going to work really hard, we’re going to be professionals and we’re going to give the best show of our lives?’
‘In my element’
“I actually think we achieved that.”
Ritchie adds: “As Abz said, ‘It’s mission accomplished’. We smashed it.”
Sean continues: “It’s the best tour we’ve ever done. We really gave everything.
“We couldn’t have given any more in rehearsals, in the show, in our whole approach.
“We’ve got a bit of pressure to be the edgy band, but we didn’t do that. We all warmed up and didn’t drink before the show or anything.”
I can attest to this, as I joined them backstage on the first night, when the lads sipped cans of Asahi 00 and kept the 12 Guinnesses I’d bought as a good luck gift locked up in the fridge.
But that didn’t stop them having a blow-out when the tour ended in Dublin a fortnight ago.
“We left around 5.30am, it was a late one in the bar,” Scott explains.
“Sean made me laugh because he said to me, ‘Have I been here for long enough now?’ Then he left at 1.30am.”
When I caught up with the lads backstage at London’s O2 Arena, they were preparing to perform at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard.
But before that, they put on a special Barclaycard Out Of The Blue surprise show for selected fans and Barclaycard competition winners.
And J admits that if he had his way, he’d keep performing as long as people will see him.
“I could happily keep going on it, on the tour side of things,” he says.
“If I got told now there were two more months of the tour, I’d be absolutely in my element.
“I’ve really enjoyed doing that side of it. It’s been great. And I would carry on with it. I’ll be performing down at my local Aldi.”
What comes next is the question from Five fans everywhere, as the group gear up for the Australian leg of the tour and a string of summer festival shows next year.
J says: “Now there’s even more people saying, ‘Is there new music?’
“And we’re still saying the same thing — we’re not even thinking that yet, because we’re not.
“But if you said to us, do we all want this to carry on and fly, we absolutely do.”
‘A bit embarrassed’
Scott adds: “We got through this tour, no rows, no anything.
“I think in the Nineties, we were almost apologetic for being in a boy band.
“Maybe we were a little bit embarrassed at points. I’m so glad that we can embrace it this time around and just enjoy it.”
As we hug to say goodbye and the lads head off for their top- secret set, Sean tells me: “Back in the day we were like rabbits trapped in the headlights.
“We just feel very lucky to still be in each other’s lives, to have each other and have this.
“You know, tomorrow is never guaranteed.”
- You can watch Five’s full Barclaycard Out Of The Blue performance on the Global Player now.
Mariah regains record
Mariah Carey has reclaimed the record for the longest reign at No1 in the US, taking back the torch from Lil Nas X.
She held the honour for 23 years with her 1995 Boyz II Men duet One Sweet Day, which spent 16 weeks at No1.
But Lil Nas overtook that with Old Town Road in 2019.
At the time, she congratulated him and shared a meme of herself handing over a torch to Nas.
Mariah has now claimed the record again after 1994’s All I Want For Christmas Is You racked up its 20th week at the top.
In typical diva style, she got dressed up in a Santa outfit and wrote on Instagram: “Humbly taking back the torch!! 20 weeks at #1… I’m so grateful.”
Gwyneth Paltrow’s son Moses watched her new film Marty Supreme with his head in his hands – thanks to the sex scenes with Timothee Chalamet.
The actress, who gave a nod to the Marty Supreme orange trend with her outfit on Late Night With Seth Meyers, was asked about his reaction and she said: “Not great.
“He’s not into that. I did warn him. I remember once I was so scared because I was taking my grandfather to the premiere of Shakespeare In Love.
“I was like, ‘I have this topless scene, Grandpa’, and I was trying to prep him. He said, ‘I’ve seen it before. Two fried eggs, bintanony side up’.
“I was trying to think of something like that to say to my son.”
George’s lasting legacy
Wham! might be trailing behind new Queen of Christmas Kylie Minogue but Andrew Ridgeley says their classic track was an “extraordinary feat”.
All signs so far point to her new single Xmas beating Last Christmas to the No1 spot on Friday.
But no matter what happens, George Michael’s former bandmate Andrew has said the late singer would be proud of the legacy he created with his 1984 hit.
Andrew told Sirius XM in the US: “It was an extraordinary feat to write a Christmas song of that calibre.
“I think he did surprise himself. I know that when he first played it to me, the excitement with which he wanted to reveal it was remarkably different from other tracks he’d written.”
Andrew added: “I think it’s come to represent Christmas to a lot of people.”
Disney is putting together a Beauty And The Beast spin-off all about buff villain Gaston.
The company has not yet cast an actor in the role for the live- action film.
But I am sure plenty of muscly blokes will be hitting the gym even harder with the hope of getting the coveted big-screen part.
Difficult day for Si boy band
Simon Cowell’s new pop band December 10 are a hit but not everyone is happy – especially the similarly named heavy metal group December Tenth.
The Scottish rockers have told Simon to get his lawyers to call them in a dispute over the name. In a post on social media, the group’s frontman said: “Simon Cowell, Netflix and Universal Music are involved in a new boy band that share, to some extent, our name.
“Now if anyone in Simon’s team, Universal or Netflix would like to get in touch with ourselves and our legal team, they can do so.
“The hundreds of new followers we have over the last few days are most welcome, but I’m not entirely sure they are all genuine.”
The band, formed in 2020, yesterday moaned they’d still not had a response.
I think they’ll be waiting for a while . . .
Ed’s got Ronan back in the Zone
Boyzone fans have Ed Sheeran to thank for the band’s comeback next summer.
Ronan Keating revealed Ed, right, was a key player in organising their gigs at the Emirates Stadium in London on June 5 and 6.
On Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio UK Breakfast Show, Ronan said he shied away from talks about a return because he feared it would trigger his anxieties about being famous.
The singer added: “I thought, ‘I don’t know if I can do that, lads’.”
He added: “I was entertaining it. We were having the conversations and then Ed Sheeran contacts me and he said, ‘Just seen the documentary, best thing I’ve seen.
“You’ve got to get the band back together.’ I said, ‘Mate, here’s the story’. I filled him in and he goes, ‘I get it. I understand’.
“I said, ‘Well, you know, we’d like to do something big, go out on a high’. And he goes, ‘Well, I’ve got somebody who can possibly make that happen’.
“He put me in touch with one of his people and lo and behold, here we are.”
The group, which also features Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch, will perform next year in their “final farewell”.
Ronan said: “We’re not making new music, it’s not a reunion.
“To get to the Emirates and say our final farewell the way we want to do it will be pretty powerful.”
