Doing a huge tour is something that S Club 7 have been dreaming about ever since they first started. Only, they've been in such big demand since becoming pop kings and queens worldwide that it took them a while to find the time to get their S Club Party 2001 tour started.

'We were all desperate to get out on the road, but we also wanted to wait until we were totally ready and we could give it our all' explains Bradley.

'It was something that we would have liked to do a lot earlier on. but things were always so hectic' adds Hannah. 'I think we all feel like that tour was the best thing we've ever got to do whilst in S Club 7. We had the time of our lives.'

The band spent three weeks rehearsing in a huge house in Bath to make sure that the show was 100% perfect and ready to unleash on their fans. Bring the house down? They certainly did...

It's Show Time...
S Club 7 performed eighteen songs during their carnival-style musical extravaganza. The equipment and sets for the tour were transported in ten huge lorries and a crew of 100 people worked on the show every night. Go-karts, balloons, glitter, confetti, a red Cadillac, fireworks and even a parachute were the order of the day. Each night, crowds of over 13,000 fans went wild in the aisles and, despite being a tad nervous in the beginning, the band themselves had nothing but incredible memories.

'I think it would be weird if we hadn't been nervous,' says a smiling Tina, 'but thankfully, excitement soon took over from the nerves and there was no stopping us, I get a warm feeling everytime I look back on the tour.'

Jo and Rachel were so overwhelmed on the first night of the tour that they cried, as Rachel reveals. 'I remember Jo and I being backstage on the first night, and there was a door that you could see the audience through. We had a peek and we got so emotional. We had waited so long for that moment, and to see all the people that had come to see us was such an unbelievable feeling. Jo and I got really soppy, but luckily I managed to stop myself from crying onstage.'

Poor Jo wasn't quite so lucky though.

'I cried like a baby onstage,' she laughs. 'We've been together for three years now and we'd never done anthing like that before. It wa sour show. It was so over-whelming to go out onstage and see ten thousand people and know that they were there just to see us. It really hit me that it was real and I couldn't stop crying. My make-up was running down my face and I probably looked a mess, but I didn't care. It was an amazing moment for me.'

Hannah admits that she also found the first show really nerve-racking, and says, 'I think there was such a build-up to it that the first night was pretty scary. But as time went on, the nerves went and we started lettng ourselves go much more.'

Jon and Paul had no problems with first-night nerves, although playing Wembley was a different story for Jon.

'I was fine the first night because as soon as I got out on to the stage I got an adreneline rush and there's no other feeling like it. But I must admit that I got nervous when we were performing at Wembley because I knew my parents would be watching. That was very scary.'

Bradley says he felt just about every emotion it's possible to feel before going on stage on the opening night.

'I was backstage and I felt excited and nervous and happy and emotional. Actually, I didn't really know how I felt because it was so, so weird. I can't really explain it. But once I got onstage all I felt was incredible. As soon as I get onstage I'm a different person. I go mad. And I really did that night.'


The text in this article is taken from the book '7 Heaven'.