In the late ’90s, Five were one of the biggest boy bands on the planet, alongside the likes of the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and Westlife.
But as has happened to so many groups who have experienced unparalleled levels of fame, the UK outfit’s initial run was short-lived.
After selling over 20 millions between 1997-2001, Five split, citing burnout and mental health issues. Though they tried to come back a few times (sometimes without all five members), it never hit the same.
But in February this year, the unthinkable happened: Five — yes, with all five members — announced they were reuniting for a headline tour of the UK.
Speaking to Rolling Stone AU/NZ from London, the group — Abz Love, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, Sean Conlan and Jason “J” Brown — are upbeat and laughing together. You’d never guess the bandmates are only now gearing up for their first shows together in nearly 25 years.
“We’re just really happy to be back together,” Neville begins. “We’re creating each other a lot of happiness and joy and good memories, which feels amazing. There’s a lot of healing going on. It’s a big healing process. The response has been so big.”
“Big” is putting it lightly. Most shows on the upcoming UK and Europe run starting in late October sold out quickly, including two shows at London’s O2 Arena, as well as Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and Dublin, just to name a few.
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An Australian tour will follow in May next year, and the excitement is building, but it’s fair to say Five fans would not have seen this coming. In 2001, prior to the first split, Conlon left due to physical and mental exhaustion; in 2014, Love announced he was leaving via a tweet.
So, why now?
“We just realised that we hadn’t been in a room all together as five human beings for 25 years,” Robinson explains. “We’d seen each other individually in different places and times but all together as a five piece and it was nothing about music, nothing about performing… it was just about reconnecting on a personal level.
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“You know when you’re looking at someone’s name on your phone and you’re hovering over it and you’re like, ‘Why haven’t I called this dude for so long?’ I just shot a message out and said, ‘Should we just meet up?’ And everyone was like, ‘Fuck yeah! Let’s do it.’ So we went to an Airbnb and just had a drink together.”
“When all five of us were together in a room for very first time,” Conlon adds,”it’s hard to describe what that feeling was, because I was completely disassociated from what that was. Even when we were together in the ’90s, I didn’t really appreciate or acknowledge the specialness that we’ve got as a collective. And that’s not sounding arrogant, it’s coming from a humble place and thankful place for everybody. It’s just like a real special, not just connection as friends, but we just got something that we understand we need to cherish and we need to celebrate and that’s why we’re going on tour.”
In Brown’s case, outside of a brief stint in their late 2006 reunion, the singer has not performed in any capacity. Excluding a surprise cameo at Robbie Williams’ London concert in June, the upcoming shows will be the very first time he’s set foot on a stage since.
“Leaving it all behind at first was really easy because… we were all burnt out and a bit jaded with it all,” he says.
“So it was quite easy to walk away from it then. Before getting into Five I wanted to be an artist so… having experienced that and then having to walk away from it, at first I wasn’t bothered. I’ve always written, I’ve always had a studio, I’ve always made music in all those intervening years. So I’d entertain, kind of, doing my own stuff and coming back. But then every time I’d think about it, I’d get overwhelmed thinking about the experience before. So it had just put me off. Then I’d stop writing. And I’ve done that for 20 years.
“When I said I was never going to do anything, I really legitimately meant that. But then just prior to us all meeting up… I went through quite a heavy thing with myself with some stuff that was going on and realised that I was going to be absolutely devastated at never being able to experience that again with these four dudes. And then as this whole thing has just rolled on really naturally a few weeks after having this real quite heavy moment with myself about having lost all that, we started getting in touch with each other and that was the first time that I had ever actually thought, ‘Yeah I would do something again with the guys.’
Neville adds: “There was a few things, nothing major, but things that it was like, you’ve held onto it, you get in a room and it all just goes away. You go, ‘What are doing? Why are we holding on to this bullshit?”
“We’ve missed a couple decades of each other’s lives,” Brown says. “That makes this all the more special now.”
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In recent years, other members of famous boy bands, including 2010s favourites One Direction, have shared stories about the perils of being one of the biggest acts on the planets. Being escorted from stage, to hotel, to planes and all over again. Sometimes even being able to communicate with your bandmate in a public forum for fear that fans might find out and swarm.
It’s a tale that, unfortunately, Five are very familiar with. It was one of the major reasons for the burnout, and why some members experienced mental health issues and depression.
And particularly in a pre-social media world, fans had to be there to see it. And they tried.
“I can remember, like, even just taking for granted… sometimes it’s nice to just go for a walk and get sky above your head,” Neville says. “You can’t do that. It’s a full operation. You have to tell the tour manager, the tour manager has to organise security. You have to go out a back entrance. It’s off the menu. You’re essentially a prisoner in a hotel room.”
Robinson recalls a time Five were touring in Japan and all he wanted to do was leave his room and clear his head.
“There’s two security guards standing there with guns going, ‘You can’t leave,'” he recalls. And I’m like, ‘I really want to go and buy something. I want to go to a shop and I want to buy a mini-disc player and something to record my thoughts.’ And they basically just said, ‘No, you’re not allowed.’ I sort of said, ‘Well, I’m going.’ So I’ve now got five security guards running around me like lunatics, trying to stop me and trying to keep me safe. I go into this shop and the fans basically wrecked the shop. It was crazy.
“I ended up not buying the thing, the guy just gave it to me. I went into my bed and cried. I ended up laying on my bed crying because all I wanted to do was just be normal for the day.”
Speaking to Five now, it’s clear they’re not just reconnecting as a group again, but as friends. That point is only driven home by the fact they aren’t even sure if the upcoming tour is a one-off or if the band is back for good.
Everything is up in the air but for Five in 2025, it’s a great place to be. While not ruling out a return to the studio, they just want to get back on stage to finish what they started together.
“We’re just giving people what we know they want with the nostalgia of the shows and the hits that they want to hear,” Brown explains. “Who knows? We just know we’re going to do this tour and various parts of the world… if they work for us and we want to do it, we’ll do that. Then if people want us to play at festivals, we’ll move on to that and then see what the conversation is.”
Neville chimes in with a laugh: “Equally, we could finish this tour and go, ‘You know what? That was brilliant. We really enjoyed it. Thanks ever so much. I never want to see you again!'”
What can fans heading to the shows, including Australian fans, expect?
“If anyone’s wondering what the show’s gonna be and what we’re bringing, we’re fully coming back with what we used to do, but bigger and better,” Brown says excitedly. “We’ve not done this for decades, so we’ve got the energy for it, the enthusiasm. We’re not coming out on the stage being the slightly sedated version of what it was.”
“This isn’t a money grab, this is a proper from the heart,” Neville says.
Robinson adds: “We’ve said it and we’ll say it again – this will be the best show we’ve ever done!”
Five 2026 Australia and New Zealand Tour
General sale begins Friday, August 29th (11am local time)
Ticket information available via tegdainty.com
Wednesday, May 13th
HPC Stadium, Perth, WA
Saturday, May 16th
ICC Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday, May 20th
Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, May 23rd
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
Monday, May 25th
The Trusts Arena, Auckland, NZ
