A prominent music artist has made the decision to withdraw from Five’s reunion tour after being absent from the first performance this week. The boyband commenced their tour in Cardiff on Wednesday.
The well-known musician and former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! contestant, Naughty Boy, was noticeably absent despite being slated to be the band’s opening act. He was scheduled to kick off the show for Five and energize the crowd with his popular tracks La La La and Runnin’.
Naughty Boy, whose real name is Shahid Khan, expressed his “deep regret” for having to step back from the tour. He cited his inability to join Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, Abz Love, and Jason J Brown on their Keep On Movin’ 2025 tour.
In a statement, Naughty Boy conveyed, “This was a difficult choice, and I genuinely tried as I was looking forward to seeing all of you and sharing the stage with the boys, but it wasn’t feasible.”
“I want to offer my sincere apologies to Five, my team, and all the incredible fans for any inconvenience caused. The tour will be fantastic, and I am eager to meet you all when I am in better health — thank you.”
The music star was announced as the supporting act for Five in March. Despite being expected to perform on Wednesday evening, he failed to make an appearance, leaving fans disheartened.
Reports suggest that all his equipment was set up on stage awaiting his performance as fans filled the arena early in anticipation of watching Naughty Boy’s set.
Earlier this year, Five delighted fans by announcing their comeback after their split in 2001. The group had reunited in various configurations over the years, with the most recent trio consisting of Ritchie, Sean, and Scott.
The group shared the exciting news on social media, stating, “It’s official, the five of us are reuniting for a UK tour! This has been a long time coming, and it truly feels right for all of us now — 25 years later, and we are absolutely prepared for it.”
“We cannot wait to return to the stage together and see all of you in person, it’s going to be amazing! Let’s goooooo!” In an interview with the Mirror regarding the reunion, J revealed that the reunion process began when he reconnected with Abz and Sean after a decade of silence.
Ritchie was also in discussions with other members, leading J to happily acknowledge, “Everything just fell into place naturally for the first time since 2001.” Scott admitted, “Initially, we were not focused on a tour,” revealing that there were deeper priorities.
“We were primarily focused on reconnecting as individuals. I believe that was our primary objective.” A decade after their last conversation, the group reunited at an AirBnB, and Scott expressed his delight, saying, “I had such an incredible experience back in the day.
“To reconnect with them at the AirBnB, rekindle that friendship, and realize that we can go on tour and do it as friends; for me personally, and I speak for all the boys, that’s all we wanted, to reconnect as friends. Then, when the offer came in, I thought ‘wow, we can actually do that now for all the right reasons.'”
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