Antony Costa has called for the return of Saturday morning music shows.
The 33-year-old Blue singer thinks the demise of ‘SMTV Live’ – which aired on ITV from 1998 to 2003 – and ‘Live & Kicking’, that ran from 1993 to 2001, has robbed British pop bands of a platform on mainstream TV and says his best mate Scott Robinson, who sang in Five, agrees.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "People go on about these YouTube sensations and fair play to them. But I haven’t got a clue who they are. We had ‘Top of the Pops’, ‘SMTV Live’, ‘CD:UK’, ‘Live & Kicking’, the list was endless. I see Scott from Five a lot, he’s one of my best mates. And we just talk about what it was like back in the day and all these pop bands now they come up to us and go, ‘Oh what was it like doing a Saturday morning show, what was it like doing a music show?’ We’re the UK you know? We’re the UK and we’ve got no music shows to promote our own and it’s sad. It’s just quite sad."
Antony is currently starring in the UK tour of musical ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’, after his band – which included Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe and Duncan James – were dropped from their label last year.
And, despite admitting times have changed, he thinks the shows that he loved so much will "totally" return one day.
He explained: "You’ve gotta move with the times but I think it will totally come back round again. Pop bands now, they have to adjust to the way it is but you will never get the memories of the Saturday morning live shows.
"Of the music shows of back in the day, there was so much banter, so much laughs and jokes, doing sketches and they were good times."
Blue star Antony Costa calls for return of music shows
