Virtual celeb reunions, band rumours that have fans excited

Big band reunions have been all the rage lately — just ask the Jonas Brothers or My Chemical Romance. It looks like that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as more ensembles reunite or plan to reunite in 2020. Whether they’re connecting virtually over a video call, or teasing fans with the promise of a post-lockdown party, these are all the reunions that happened or are about to happen.

Backstreet Boys - They still ‘Want It That Way’: Backstreet Boys will celebrate their three-decade anniversary in three years. Yep, after nearly 30 years, these five guys — Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell — are going strong, with rave reviews for their concerts and new music topping the charts. Aside from a little hiatus here and there (and Richardson leaving to pursue theatre for a few years starting in 2006), BSB have continued to tour the world and release new albums. Their latest album, ‘DNA’, debuted at No 1 last year — making them the first boy band to top the American album charts in three different decades.

The band recently wrapped up a heavy duty Las Vegas residency, but have been kept apart by this quarantine, scattered in different parts of the United States. But that didn’t stop them from having a virtual reunion on Fox’s iHeart Living Room Concert, where they sang a feel-good rendition of ‘I Want It That Way’, from Los Angeles, California to Orlando, Florida — even including some of their children.

New Kids on the Block - You’re invited to their House Party: How about two reunions for the price of one? Which is to say — totally free and available on the internet? 80s boy band New Kids on the Block got together with members of Boyz II Men to release this nostalgic, ridiculously fun and catchy track ‘House Party’, all about the new way of celebrating life while staying at home.

The track — and music video — also featured Jordin Sparks, Naughty by Nature, Big Freedia, Carrie Underwood, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong, Derek Hough and Kid ‘n Play, as well as Donnie Wahlberg’s wife, Jenny McCarthy, and his brother, Mark Wahlberg. “People need to be entertained, to feel light, to be happy. If we can do even the smallest thing to lift someone’s day we will do that,” said Donnie.

Hamilton on 'Some Good News' with John Krasinski: John Krasinski was able to deflect questions about the highly-in-demand ‘The Office’ reunion by bringing together the original Broadway cast of another iconic production — ‘Hamilton’! Krasinski recently started a web segment from his home, called ‘Some Good News’, where he gives positive and uplifting updates from around the world from his home. It always ends with some kind of celebrity cameo, including Rainn Wilson, Chance the Rapper, Billie Eilish and the Jonas Brothers in episode five.

But, it was episode two that featured ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin Manuel Miranda and his original cast, surprising one young mega-fan with a real-time virtual rendition of ‘Alexander Hamilton’. Everyone sang live and, yes, they sounded unbelievably good. Theatre actors really can pull it out of the bag anywhere, anytime.

‘Glee’ Virtual catch-up - Are you a Gleek? Then you probably already know that on April 15, the cast of the hit TV series ‘Glee’ reunited over video chat during quarantine. Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Darren Criss, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale all joined in on the ‘Stars in the House’ segment, where they swapped memories. “‘Glee’ was a hit way before I was on it,” said Criss. “I was in college, I was aware of it being a huge thing… I always felt like I had a bird’s eyes view over the show, where I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m on Glee, that’s so nuts!’”

The stream went on for more than an hour, and featured a live sung performance from Ushkowitz, as well as Riley gleefully roasting McHale for his quarantine ‘stache. ‘Glee’ ran on air for six years, from 2009 to 2015, and revolved around the competitive glee club at an American high school, called the New Directions.

Take That - “I would hazard a guess and say ‘yes’”: Robbie Williams has teased, in his own blunt, bittersweet way, a Take That Reunion — but not for at least another five years. The 46-year-old ‘Let Me Entertain You’ singer, who left the boy band in 1995, suggested that he and Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen would work together again.

“I’ve just figured out that, and here’s a sombre thought for you all, I’m 46, if I have 30 more good years in the business, I’ve got 12 or 13 projects left,” he told talkSPORT. “Will one of those be Take That? I don’t know... but I will hazard a guess and say ‘yes’. “But I’ve got so many ideas I want to do and so many things I want to fulfil, that I know what I am doing for the next five years, and it doesn’t involve Take That.” However, he did confirm: “Yes, I do want to do another gig with Take That.”

One Direction’s Ten-year reunion? One Direction are celebrating a milestone this July — their 10-year anniversary together! It’s hard to believe that one of the youngest boy bands in history is already celebrating their one decade anniversary, but it’s true. The group first got together on the ‘X Factor’ in 2010, when Simon Cowell decided to put the five solo contestants — Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — into a group, who called themselves One Direction.

After releasing several albums and touring extensively, Malik left the band in 2015 and the band went on hiatus in 2016. Each member has since released solo work. But now, the band has been teasing reunion plans. “We’ve got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice,” Payne told The Independent. He later said he got in trouble with his bandmates for revealing too much.

High School Musical — Why didn’t Zac perform?: A ‘High School Musical’ reunion happened on April 16 called the ‘Disney Family Singalong’, where the cast of the ‘HSM’ film franchise and the cast of the new TV series, airing on Disney+ in America, performed. But, the whole thing was quickly overshadowed by the fact that lead actor Zac Efron didn’t perform with the group, but instead, he only introduced them, saying, “It’s my greatest pleasure to introduce a musical performance by some of my oldest friends, and some new ones, and I hope you remember: we’re all in this together.”

Some speculated that Efron was avoiding performing with his ex, and then co-star, Vanessa Hudgens. Hudgens performed with Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman and Lucas Grabeel. But, director Kenny Ortega did mention that it took a while to reach Efron, which could have impacted his ability to join in on the performance. “We couldn’t reach Zac until late, but when we did, he immediately jumped in, of course,” Ortega had said. The ‘High School Musical’ movie trilogy ran from 2006 until 2008.

Oasis — Back for a good cause?: Oasis probably have one of the most publicised toxic band splits in contemporary music history. That’s what happens when you’re brothers who, for all intents and purposes, seem to hate each other. While ‘Oasis’ split in 2009, there’s new developments: Liam Gallagher took to Twitter to plead with brother Noel to consider reuniting for an Oasis charity gig on October 29 at the O2 Arena in London, as a free concert for NHS workers. (For now, the concert is listed as a Liam Gallagher show, and Liam has stated that it will go on with or without Noel.)

The relationship between Noel and Liam is so bad, that Liam has even sent threatening text messages through Noel’s teenaged daughter and later apologised for his behaviour on Twitter. In a December interview with the Sunday Times, however, Noel said: “Reconciliation is a good thing,” offering a faint bit of hope for those still holding out.

Paramore — “More Paramore shows, yes, confirmed”: Hayley Williams is gearing up for a momentous occasion: the release of her debut album, ‘Petals for Armor’, on May 8. Williams spent the better part of the past decade-and-a-half as the front woman of Paramore, where she raised a generation of kids on her emotional lyricism, culminating in the band’s last album, ‘After Laughter’, in 2017.

Williams, now 31, is finally giving the whole solo experimental gig a go — and doing it beautifully — but, she also promised fans that more Paramore is on the way. “There will be more Paramore shows. Yes. Confirmed,” she told Entercom. “I think there’s already moments where we find ourselves fantasising about the next Paramore project … The love of my life is Paramore … I don’t think there’s a bigger fan on this earth of them than me.” If that’s not enough — Williams spent April 26 live-streaming Paramore’s iconic 2018 Bonnaroo performance with her fans, in an initiative set up to benefit the World Health Organisation. “My favourite [expletive] band,” Williams tweeted. “I miss everything.”