Tragedy! When the band’s gone and you can’t go on, it’s tragedy

We’ve all been there, the moment that you never anticipate; ‘Sorry fans, we’ve split due to irreconcilable differences.’ In a fit of anger you rip the posters from your wall in a Tazmanian Devil-esque rage, the tears formulate and seep down your face, and it’s on the same level of heartbreak as when Meg, the beautiful and adored Border Collie died on Blue Peter. At that moment you’d do anything for your favourite band to reunite. But is it for the best?

You can’t breathe without the whiff of a new comeback and there’s no shortage of acts reforming recently. There are the purveyors of the Madchester scene; The Stones Roses and The Happy Mondays, cheesy pop in the form of Steps and the biggest success story of all - Take That. But do we really want to see our favourite stars throwing themselves across the stage, whilst carrying 50 more pounds that has congregated around their midriff quicker than a fish to dry skin. Sorry, Claire from Steps.  Victoria Tyrer was one of the thousands amongst the crowd at Steps’ Liverpool date.  “I do tend to skip them on my iPod but they’re Classics, just because I don’t listen to them all the time now doesn’t mean that I don’t still enjoy their music,” she says. “I suppose you could say that it’s nostalgia because when I saw them I felt as if I was transported back to my 10 year old self without a care in the world,” elaborates Victoria with a grin creeping across the contours of her face.

Thankfully, as we get older our music tastes change. But do we yearn to hear new material from these reformed bands? “I am interested to see if they are to bring out any new material. It would have to be a different sound though; cheesy pop like they used to churn out 10 years ago will not go far in today’s music scene,” she says boldly.

Victoria isn’t alone in thinking this. There appears to be a consensus when you go to these gigs that it is all about nostalgia and recapturing the soundtrack to a time where you had no responsibility - before you grew up.  Dave Simpson, a Music Journalist shares this view. “Trying to get people to buy a new album is very, very difficult and this even seems to apply to The Rolling Stones who never actually split up but they can sell out stadiums at the drop of a hat because people want to hear Satisfaction ten times over.”

Tickets are rapidly snapped up and are becoming more like a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, but surely there’s no longevity in revisiting ‘Better The Devil You Know,’ a tiresome amount of times. What if you need new material but we don’t want it? Take That, for example, have done a great job in fusing the old and the new and it works for them but when a band like Steps or S Club 7 are tinged with the label of just being capable of  the pop party anthems, maybe the novelty begins to wear thin. “This is the stumbling block that a lot of these bands come up against, and it does seem that certainly when you’re doing a first tour or reunion tours as Steps have done, then there’s a massive demand for it, everyone completely loves it and they relive their youth,” adds Dave. “It is very much nostalgia based and it’s what comes next that can be the tricky bit because sometimes people think, ‘I did that last year, why would I do it all again?’


This doesn’t just limit itself to bands that have reformed but whenever any band makes a comeback with a new album, after a brief absence, it’s the songs that will prompt you to throw your pint of beer in the air and over those around you, the ones that get you in a heaving embrace with your friends that are appreciated most.  “Tragedy definitely got the best reaction of the night,” Vicky remembers. “They closed their set with it and you could tell that it was the one song everyone was waiting for, just so we could all execute the dance routine as well as we could the first time around.”

Again, new songs are always met with a half hearted bob of the head no matter who the band is, but it appears to be an indication that Steps chose to dedicate most of their set to cover versions that their songs may well be irrelevant and dated now compared to the current hits released by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Dave said, “It reminded me of a giant hen night, and that was the atmosphere. A lot of the songs were covers and they were sung in a karaoke kind of style. Having seen them originally, I enjoyed it more this time around; possibly because they’re all 10 years old, again, there seemed to be a lot more cover versions that there were before so you knew all the songs,” he says with a chuckle.

You don’t want to hear their new mature sound, not for the first time you’re seeing them anyway, you want to bask in their glory days.  You want to party like it’s 1999 and for the most part they did. “I guess with those sort of events you are coloured by the audience reaction and it’s difficult to avoid when the audience are going absolutely mental, then it does obviously become part of the show itself,” says Dave. “I’m sure if Steps put on the same show in a pub it wouldn’t have been any near as much fun.”

 I was a huge fan of S Club 7. I had the CD’s; I watched the TV show and even bought the magazine. Yes, they had their own magazine. My 10 year old self couldn’t wait to race in to school and see who else had got the magazine, had anyone else got the shocking fuchsia bandana or the same ring that Rachael wore in their music video? I still bust out the S Club 7 inspired ‘S’ move with my finger thrust into the air once I’ve had far too many Pepsi’s. I don’t drink but the bubbles act as a stimulus to evoke my inner loon.  But it’s something I am slightly embarrassed to admitting, although, nothing unites friends more than the soundtrack to your childhood. It’s not something I’d want to revisit but I couldn’t help but squeal when they announced that they’d be reuniting for a summer tour. You never know, I might be meandering my way through the 10 year olds so I can get to the front; resplendent in my pink bandana and grooving to Don’t Stop Moving.