The Big Reunion (Part Three)

The Afterparty

PopSlutz got the chance to interview the stars of the Big Reunion at the after-show party. Here’s what they had to say:

On songwriting…

Lee from Blue:

“Yeah we write a lot of the music like…’One Love’ ‘All Rise’. ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’ that was written by some guy called Sir Elton John but you’ve probably never heard of him.”

Lee from Blue with PopSlutz reporters

Sean from Five:

“When I was in Five, we used to have a mic set up in the studio. On ‘If You’re Getting Down’, for example, I remember I just grabbed the mic, sang the chorus out in one, I didn’t think about it, it just came out. You shouldn’t have to think about it too much. ‘If You’re Getting Down’ is primitive, simple lyrics, and that’s my style, that’s what I do.

I’ve worked with writers that have real got craft and they’d say ‘you need to make it more poetic, you need to make pictures.’ My argument is, if that comes, then let’s do that but never put craft before emotions. I’ve gone full circle where I’ve really analysed every line, I’ve really gone there, but now I’m back into getting down, no messing around, if you feel it, crack on”.

Favourite song of the night?

Natasha from Atomic Kitten: ‘Whole Again’, “so emotional”

Ritchie from Five: ‘We Will Rock You’ “cos, you know, I get the lead on that and it’s fun to sing”

Before we even mentioned the fact that Five are now four…

Scott from Five:

“It’s feeling good as a four piece. There’s no problem. People have been asking us, do we feel like there’s someone missing? Absolutely not. There’s no aggro.”

Glad we cleared that up. What’s it like being back on the stage after so long?

Abz from Five: ‘Kind of like what it must’ve felt like, when man landed on the moon, you know? Similar to that’

Right. And for shits and giggles, here are a few members from Five saying how much they rate PopSlutz:

The Big Reunion (Part Two)

So recently PopSlutz were lucky enough to get given tickets to this bad boy:

That’s right, The Big Reunion – the show that (if you are currently in your early twenties) would be every pop-fan childhood dream come true.

Kicking off the night, Ritchie, Abz, Sean and Scott appeared from behind an excessive amount of smoke, to an ear-splitting amount of screaming. There were conspicuously only four members, of the band called…Five. Still, when they start busting moves to ‘If You’re Getting Down’, noone cares how many there are.

Four of 5ive

B*witched performed their amazing pop ballad ‘Weatherman’, made even better by some superb stagecraft where it started raining GLITTER. Brilliant. The group proudly sported double denim as if it was going out of fashion…oh wait.

B*Witched (hiding behind umbrellas)

Blue were on good form, but likewise don’t seem to have changed their wardrobe since the 90s. We were reminded of smash pop hits such as ‘One Love’ and ‘All Rise’. Ten years on, hearing these songs now as lyric-obsessed songwriters, we can’t help but point out lines such as “objection overruled” and  “the jury will decide”. ‘All Rise’ is a hilarious example of how far you can stretch a courtroom metaphor.

All Rise for Blue

Belting out ‘The End of The Line’ perfectly, the Honeyz were vocally the best performers of the night, and undoubtedly the most in shape physically after a ten years hiatus, as demonstrated by their lack of skirts:

The Honeyz

We got very excited at the prospect of an epic pop Liberty X-911 mash-up when they both entered the stage together. Sadly, it turned out 911 were just hanging out for absolutely no reason whatsoever…other than the fact that they wanted some more airtime, but had already performed (all three of) their greatest hits.

Liberty X & 911

Atomic Kitten -the line-up that included Kerry Katona- concluded the evening with a rendition of ‘Whole Again’. What. A. Tune. (Well done Andrew McCluskey, well done).

Stay tuned and PopSlutz will bring you Big Reunion Part 3. Interviews and gossip from the aftershow party…

The Big Reunion (Part One)

The Big Reunion, a four-part series on ITV, has charted the rise and fall of some of the 90s biggest pop bands (B*Witched, Five, Liberty X, Atomic Kitten, 911 and the Honeyz). PopSlutz will be witness to the sell-out show and after-show shenanigans at Hammersmith Apollo tonight. Stay tuned for part 2…

To get you in the mood, here is the low-down on PopSlutz top five pop songs from the Big Reunion line-up

B*Witched – C’est La Vie

Pure happy Irish double-denim bubblegum POP.

Five – Keep on Moving

Interestingly the Five boys all have writing credits on their tracks and apparently co-wrote a lot of the songs on their albums. Very unusual for boybands of the day.

Atomic Kitten – Whole Again

Atomic Kitten were the formed by Andy McClusky, as a means to get his songs on the airwaves. And guess what, the plan worked.

Honeyz – End of the Line

One of the best pop ballads to come out of the 90s.

Five – Got The Feelin

With pop-nonsense lyrical gold such as ‘Wiggy wiggy I’m getting jiggy’, Five get two entries into our top five because, quite frankly, their songs are amazing.