S Club live in Manchester review: a reminder of a more innocent era in British pop

The first night of S Club‘s reunion tour feels bittersweet from the off. Fans piling into Manchester’s AO Arena are greeted not just by merch stalls selling T-shirts, keyrings and a glossy £25 tour programme, but also by volunteers collecting money for the British Heart Foundation. Band member Paul Cattermole died suddenly in April of an underlying heart condition, less than two months after this tour was announced, and tonight’s show is billed as a “preview” dedicated to the charity and his memory.

Another original S Clubber, Hannah Spearritt, is also absent after leaving the reunion – the group’s first since 2015 – in the weeks following Cattermole’s death. The remaining five band members – Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens – have since dismissed reports that she was “shut out”. Still, fans can glean what they want tonight from the fact that Spearritt’s name isn’t mentioned once.

Instead, the group formerly known as S Club 7 ping between the perky optimism of their Y2K heyday and genuinely touching tributes to their late bandmate. In a way, both are encapsulated in the title of this 21-date comeback run, ‘The Good Times Tour’, which sounds blandly nostalgic but is actually a reference to a deep cut on which Cattermole sings lead. McIntosh in particular looks visibly moved when a montage of Cattermole’s S Club highlights plays on screen. “That’s our brother right there, man,” he tells the crowd. “Gone, but you’ll never be forgotten.”

The briskly executed setlist is filled with hits from their glory years – S Club racked up 11 UK Top Ten singles between 1999 and 2003 – and contains more range than you might remember. There are karaoke-ready ballads (‘Never Had A Dream Come True’, ‘Have You Ever’), shimmering ’60s pastiches (‘You’re My Number One’, ‘You’), undeniable disco bangers (‘Don’t Stop Movin”, Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You’), a slinky pop-R&B bop (‘Natural’) and a few twee cheeseballs that reflect the group’s original USP.

Assembled by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller in 1998, S Club’s rise was turbo-charged by infectious kids’ TV series – Miami 7, L.A. 7, Hollywood 7, etc. – in which they played fictionalised versions of themselves. So, despite now sounding like a motivational anthem for nine-year-olds, their 2000 chart-topper ‘Reach’ draws one of the biggest roars. Even a dad who hasn’t taken off his gilet all night jumps on his feet.

The staging is cheap and cheerful by modern pop show standards: there are no backing dancers, let alone a band, and the pre-recorded visuals playing on the screen behind them are pretty perfunctory. This places focus firmly on the well-drilled band members and their oh-so-2002 dance routines, which adds to the time capsule vibe.

When they sing “there ain’t no party like an S Club party” at both ends of the show – first in the song’s original form, later in a thumping house remix – it’s not quite an accurate boast. Sugababes are currently offering a more sophisticated brand of pop nostalgia, and Steps‘ recent arena shows had more polish and better production values. But as a reminder of a more innocent era in British pop, ‘The Good Times Tour’ does its job with a warm, smiley flourish.

S Club played:

‘S Club Party’
‘Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You’
‘You’re My Number One’
‘Natural’
‘Sunshine’
‘You’
‘Stronger’
‘Bring The House Down’
‘Don’t Stop Movin”
‘Friday Night’
‘Good Times’
‘Bring It All Back’
‘Two In A Million’
‘These Are The Days’
‘Have You Ever’
‘Alive’
‘Reach’
‘Never Had A Dream Come True’
‘S Club Party’ (Remix)

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