Live Review: 5ive – 1st November 2013 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia

As the years roll on and things in life change one thing that I have noticed has never changed about myself is my taste in music. With more guilty pleasures that anyone else I’m sure would care to admit to, my preferences in pop music are sung loud and proud and have remained unchanged in the last 20 years. Back in the mid-nineties while friends were listening to bands like Nirvana and the rising Brit pop genre, I was content with sugar coated outfits like All Saints, Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys and almost two decades on, these are the acts that still feature most prominently on my iPod. Another group that remains a fixture within my playlists is 5ive and when it was announced that the lads would be visiting Australia and Sydney’s Enmore Theatre following a successful stint on the UK’s new pop reality show The Big Reunion, I was obviously going to be part of that audience.

The venue was packed to capacity when I arrived at 21.30 with a surprising majority of teens making up the audience. Getting the crowd whipped up into frenzy-mode was a pair of DJ’s who threw out a collection of hits that formed the pop foundations of the nineties. Looking around I was surprised at just how many teenagers there were at this gig. I found this quite odd as I was a teen when 5ive were huge throughout Europe and Australasia and having spent the last decade out of the spotlight following their split in late 2001, I wondered how these kids were even aware if 5ive. Regardless of this mystery, their awareness of this pop group shone through the entire set delivered by the reunited foursome at last night’s performance.

The night was billed as a greatest hits show and it certainly was that, opening with an a Capella version of Battlestar, the closing track from the groups 2nd studio album Invincible and from here the hits from the 5ive catalogue flowed thick with their hit reworking if the Queen classic, We Will Rock You. Unlike the recorded version of the track, Queen Guitarist Brian May did not make a guest appearance but that didn’t stop the crowd from chanting along with the boy-band and copying the moves made famous by the iconic original. Taking us right back to the beginning of 5ive’s time in the spotlight the group delivered their debut single, Slam Dunk Da Funk and the nostalgia was certainly out on full show from this point. Busting the moves from the videos to each of the group’s singles, 5ice certainly showed they could still work a stage and get the female (and some male) fans screaming for more.

As a fan of the group I was really happy with the songs chosen to make up the set of this Australian tour. Ballads, It’s The Things You Do and Until The Time Is Through, two of the staple slow-jams on the group’s debut self-titled album, were both met with rapturous applause by the swooning ladies in the crowd and these were a pair that I was equally happy to hear, being a couple of my favourites from their repertoire. Got The Feelin’, complete with the familiar dance moves that the group delivered in the nineties, found its way into the middle of the set along with one of the acts biggest single successes, When The Lights Go Out.

With J Brown no longer a part of the group, vocal duties on some of the songs within last night’s set had to be shared between the remaining foursome and apart from a couple of moments where Abz wasn’t able to deliver the bass notes that J had once owned with similar results, the songs didn’t feel like they had undergone too much of a facelift with the foursome pulling it off nicely. The group were very interactive with the crowd who had travelled from all over the state to see these guys do their thing once again. They were also generous with compliments and showed their appreciation to a legion of new fans and long-time followers who have been with the band from the very beginning.

Closing the main set of the night off with a pair of the groups lesser known unreleased pennings, the crowd ushered 5ive back on stage with stomping feet and deafening screams where they delivered a 3 set encore made up of Everybody Get Up, the catchy If Ya Gettin’ Down and Keep On Movin’ before bidding farewell to the sold out crowd.

Though 90’s boy-bands may not be everyone’s cup of tea, unashamedly they are mine and last night’s show was a real treat and trip down memory lane. There are bands that come and go and when they do eventually part ways and stop recording and touring together, the hope of seeing these acts in a live setting quickly diminishes. Thankfully, over these past few years, many of the acts that guided people my age through our teenage years have resurfaced in an attempt to give it another shot and offer the experience to new fans and those who weren’t able to see them in their heyday for whatever reason. Though last night’s show was very basic in terms of concert execution – there was no live band, no stage sets or fancy outfits that usually come hand in hand with larger tours – the nostalgic element alone kept the smile on my face from start to end.

Set List:

Battlestar
We Will Rock You
Slam Dunk Da Funk
It’s The Things You Do
Until The Time Is Through
Got The Feelin’
Don’t Wanna Let You Go
When The Lights Go Out
Closer To Me
Rock The Party
Lay All Your Lovin’ On Me
Let’s Dance
Invincible
It’s Alright

Enore:
Everybody Get Up
If Ya Gettin’ Down
Keep On Movin’

Brendon Veevers

::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.