Five: Live

Five: Live

FIVE, which stands for Federation of Interactive Visual Exploits, make the leap into the fray of boy bands on DVD with their disc <I>Five Live</I>. Included here are 15 live performances from their Invincible Tour in Manchester, England. The tour was a promotion for their second album, <I>Invincible</I>, as well as <I>5ive</I>, and performances by "the lads," Sean, Scott, Ritchie, J, and Abs, include songs from both albums. Playing time is 80 minutes.<p> While they do follow the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync formula, Five have their own flair. J reminds of Vanilla Ice as he adds rap and hip-hop to Five's otherwise pop sound. Also, Five have cleverly included samples from Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll" in their hit "Everybody Get Up," and they do a great update of Queen's "We Will Rock You." A promo video of the latter tune is also included.<p> DVD features include a 25-minute TV documentary featuring various aspects of preparation for the Invincible Tour. Activities from the five weeks prior to departure can be selected individually. Also included is a backstage tour (marginally interesting), and there is a photo section with several group shots. You may also choose to have the lyrics on-screen. The best DVD feature is Five-Cam: Two of the songs from the concert were recorded using one camera for each lad, so if you have a favorite, you can watch him even when he isn't singing the lead. <I>--Larry Clark</I>