S Club paid tribute to their late bandmate Paul Cattermole during the first night of their comeback tour.
On Thursday night (12 October), the group kicked off the tour at Manchester’s AO Arena. All seven members of the pop group S Club 7 had originally been scheduled to take place in the tour.
But following the tragic news of Cattermole’s death aged 46 in April, Hannah Spearritt announced that she would not be continuing with the arena tour.
As Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens hit the stage on Thursday, they used the opportunity to pay tribute to Cattermole, who died of natural causes.
As reported by the Mail Online, the five members opened the show with hits such as “Don’t Stop Movin” and “You’re My Number One”.
The group then left the stage, with the lights in the arena lowering as a video montage played of Cattermole. The singer was shown singing “The Good Times”, the 2001 track which he sang lead, and which the tour was named after.
Back on stage, Lee told the crowd: “Manchester, let me hear you raise the roof one last time for Paul!”
The tour began on Thursday night
(PA)
With his voice trembling, McIntosh added: “Wow, that’s our brother right there, man. Gone but you will never be forgotten. We miss you every single day.”
O’Meara thanked fans for their support, saying: “I would just love to see every single one of you in here right now to show us your hearts for our Paul!”
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Lee added: “Thank you so much. It’s very special for us this evening obviously. We dedicate this performance to Paul and The British Heart Foundation.” Barrett then introduced the song “Bring It On Back” as a “celebration” for Cattermole.
In July, S Club were forced to shut down reports that Spearitt had been “left out” of their reunion tour.
Five of the seven original members are taking part in the tour
(PA)
Reports emerged alleging that Spearritt – who previously dated Cattermole – had been left out of the tour and had been “blindsided” by the announcement.
Appearing on This Morning, the five touring members quickly denied the reports. When host Jodie Gibson asked Lee to reiterate whether the door was open for Spearritt, he responded: “We’ve said that many times.”
His fellow band members were in agreement, with Barrett saying: “The article’s nonsense.”
“We’re doing a lot of stuff in 2024, so you never know what’s going to happen in the future,” O’Meara added.
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