When Five first burst onto the scene in the late 90s, their playful humour and cheeky charm set them apart from the era's squeaky-clean boy bands. Now, as they prepare to take the stage at Brighton's Pride on the Park, it's clear very little has changed.
'Sorry, Jay's got a fan, and he's fanning up to my balls right now!' Ritchie Neville laughs down the phone. 'I tell you, it's a good thing there was no TikTok back in our day, because I can guarantee one of our nutsacks would have made an appearance.'
'I'd just like to say my nutsack would have stayed firmly in my trousers, thank you very much,' Sean Conlon adds, prompting another round of laughter.
A reunion that's finally sticking
The band are in high spirits after kicking off their reunion tour in October 2025. They've spent the past several months performing to sold-out arenas across the UK, including London's O2.
It's not the first time Five have tried to reunite. Following their split in 2001 amid claims of burnout and bullying, they returned for The Big Reunion in 2013 without Jay, 50. Abz, 47, then departed the following year, leaving Scott, 46, Ritchie, 46, and Sean, 45, to carry on as a trio.
So why has it finally worked as a fivesome? 'It just feels like the right time for us,' Abz says. 'We've grown heads on our shoulders now, so we appreciate it all a lot more.'
'We're older, wiser and more mature,' Ritchie adds. 'We're a team now, and we work through everything together. We appreciate each other in a way we never did before.'
Robbie Williams' surprise role
Just how much fans wanted Five back together became clear last summer, when Robbie Williams reunited all five original members on stage for the first time in 25 years, performing their 1999 chart-topper Keep On Movin' at London's Emirates Stadium.
'We've always been friendly with Robbie,' Scott says. 'That's carried on to this day. He still video calls us just to check in and make sure we're taking time to appreciate it all. It's amazing having someone like Robbie in your corner. If you're struggling with something, he's always at the end of the phone.'
For Sean, the most memorable part of the evening happened away from the spotlight. 'As well as performing together, it was really important to Robbie that we all had this chat away from the cameras and any industry people. It was just us having a proper heart-to-heart about everything we'd been through. Robbie experienced all of this before we did, probably on an even more extreme level. To have someone who's genuinely lived it and can reassure you, that meant a lot.'
The pressure of boy band fame
Behind the chart success and sold-out arenas, life in a 90s boy band came with extraordinary pressure, made more intense by how young some members were. In Five's case, Sean was only 16 when he signed with the band, while the oldest, J, was just 21.
'I've got an 11-year-old daughter, and she's showing signs of being a performer,' Ritchie says. 'But in my heart, having lived this experience, I wouldn't want her to do it till she's at least in her mid-twenties. And there's a real value to someone older. They've got more to say, more life experience. I'm not saying there isn't a place for young performers, but I'm glad to see older stars proving just how good they still are on stage too.'
A little rivalry with Take That and Westlife
Five aren't the only boy band fuelling the nostalgia boom, with Take That reuniting this summer for a revival of their Circus Live tour. But with lead singer Gary, 55, admitting his age means he can no longer perform to the standard he'd want, Five have a response.
'We bumped into the Take That guys while we were rehearsing for our show, and Gary told us the tour had really taken a physical toll,' Sean says. 'We were like, "Oh really, Gaz? Because we're all fit as a fiddle!"'
Fans are showing no signs of slowing down either. 'Five fans have always had that energy and been a little bit madder than your average pop fan,' Sean laughs. 'I think that's probably because we're a little bit madder than your average band. We're at the right age where we're not too old, and the fans aren't too old, and we've all still got that bit of youthful energy in us.'
While other 90s boybands, such as Westlife, were carefully marketed with a more wholesome image, Five say their 'bad boy' reputation actually worked to their advantage at times, giving them a little more freedom.
'I think we were just normal lads,' Ritchie says. 'The thing is, Westlife were normal lads too. But they were sort of cajoled into pretending they weren't. They used to say in interviews that they were virgins, that they didn't have girlfriends, that they didn't drink. There was a lot of pressure on them. But our management were happy for us to just be ourselves.'
While the bands consider each other mates now, Five admit there was a little bit of a feud when Westlife entered the music scene just a year after their debut and quickly became a success. 'The first few months after they came out, we had a little issue,' Ritchie says. 'It was nothing really and once we actually spent time together, we got over it very quickly.'
Liam Gallagher and Bop It!
Five's wild nights out also became the stuff of legend, including a surreal evening with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher in 2001 that somehow ended with everyone playing the children's game Bop It!
'That was a funny night,' J laughs. 'It was in Brazil. We met Liam and got invited up to his room. He then asked us if we fancied a game of Bop It! Not the most rock and roll.'
'He was rubbish at it too!' Scott chips in.
With Britain's self-proclaimed bad boys of pop reminiscing about one of indie's most infamous frontmen, one question quickly springs to mind: if Five and Oasis ever came to blows, who would win?
'Well, there's five of us and only two of them,' Scott says jokingly. 'We'd smash 'em up!'
Enjoying every moment
As the call draws to a close, Five are about to be whisked back into rehearsals with a packed schedule of summer festivals ahead of them. But they're soaking up every second.
'We didn't realise quite how much our music affected people, and it's been really lovely to get back with the boys, all five of us, in the place where we're meant to be, and enjoying every single moment,' Scott says.
Tickets for this year's Brighton Pride are on sale now, starting at £75 for one day to £154 for the full weekend, with VIP tickets also on sale.
