There shouldn’t be a party like an S Club Party: why the band should just call quits on their reunion tour

So that reunion has basically now become, through no fault of the band themselves, the usual suspects that pretty much were the band after Cattermole’s exit in 2002, is it still worth going on tour? There are discussions from the band that have been public facing, stating that despite Hannah not joining the tour they will soldier on and pay tribute to the memory of their fallen member, who died a mere day after the reunion was confirmed.

As a form of tribute, I can appreciate that some fans will gravitate towards the band as much as many have bought tickets for the pure nostalgia element of the group. But given that everything that has happened since the announcement, perhaps the tour is cursed? Or perhaps, for the cynical amongst us (me included), there ain’t no cash grab like a nostalgia cash grab. 

2023 has become the year of nostalgic reunions, with Blur having reformed, Take That performing at London’s BST Hyde Park event this summer and a touring who’s who of Eurodance favourites included Vengaboys and Eiffel 65 earlier this year. Nostalgia has this very strong allure for many of us who either long for the golden days of pop music or, again like myself, just find the sheer wealth of music available out there too daunting to try and discover new music as frequently as possible - hence, in my case, the continued listening of Foo Fighters, Wu-Tang Clan and all those other acts that informed my listening sensibilities growing up.

Which isn’t to say that S Club may not have been an informative band for many people growing up, but is it really an S Club reunion when two members are not present? The whole prospect of the reunion tour was to have all the members of S Club 7 performing, including Cattermole - himself subject to some ruthless taunts online given his lack of success after leaving the group.

Spearitt leaving the reunion is quite telling in itself; the musician referred to Cattermole as one of the loves of her life previously and you would imagine that of all the members who wanted to pay tribute to Cattermole. But her renunciation as part of the tour demonstrates someone that would rather mourn in solace than take to the stage and feign “having fun,” when the run up to their first shows are currently anything but fun.

This isn’t simply a situation where band members feuded, and there are so many theories about why Cattermole perhaps chose to end his life rather than continue with the tour. This occurred moments after the announcement and perhaps should have been the glaring red flag that perhaps not everyone in the band was ready to face the incredible scrutiny of a sometimes toxic music scene. 

Pop musicians constantly find themselves in situations where they have more scrutiny levied against them than politicians at some point; we’ve been nurtured into the belief that if they are in the public eye, they are fair game. Though not quite as derided as it once was, yesteryear pop musicians can be celebrated by their fandom, but also it leave opportunities for stinging comments to curry favour with other users, despite the fact that we have no inclination what is going on in their lives.

Add to that the band’s history of controversies, from trying to buy drugs at Covent Garden (and the subsequent clips of the band’s press agent stepping in to shut down that line of discussion) through to Jo O’Mera being embroiled in an international incident involving bullying the 2007 edition of Celebrity Big Brother, is there enough good faith going forward for the reunion?

Is it a case of nostalgia triumphing over pragmatism? For me, it feels that way - and I know that a lot of fans may throw shade at me for even suggesting calling the tour off. But when we’re dealing with a very serious situation involving the death of a member mere hours after the announcement, then perhaps then and there should have been the moment to pump the brakes and reassess the situation. 

A rebranding now two members are not part of the reunion seems more making the best of a bad situation. Sometimes bad situations though require stopping what is happening and reflect on the situation. This was never a situation where one member decided they didn’t want to tour - we’ve seen situations like this resolved before - but instead a very serious situation where someone felt like they couldn't be honest about being part of the reunion and felt the pressure of being a public facing performer become too much. 

If you’ve got tickets, enjoy and celebrate the life of Paul, but perhaps also be mindful there was a reason Hannah Spearitt decided to leave the reunion tour for perhaps the same reasons that the tour should have been cancelled (for now) in the process. Personally, I think there’s too much bad karma around the reunion to warrant dragging themselves across the United Kingdom; there’s not really much of a reason for an S Club Party given everything that has occurred in the lead up to another case of being caught up in nostalgia. 

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