Steps tease 'special' Mighty Hoopla surprises ahead of headline festival performance

On Friday June 3 Lisa Scott-Lee, Ian 'H' Watkins, Faye Tozer, Lee Latchford-Evans and Claire Richards will descend upon Mighty Hoopla to bring a party to London's Brockwell Park. Headlining the capital's most inclusive festival, Steps are ready to kick off their 25th anniversary celebrations in style; performing their biggest hits to a 25,000-strong crowd.

As the group announce their career-spanning Platinum Collection release - including all the classics, new tracks and some reimagined material, we caught up with Lisa and Faye to find out what they've got in store.

MORE: Steps announce Platinum Collection as they celebrate 25th anniversary

Hey, girls. Are you feeling prepared for Hoopla this weekend?

Lisa: We’ve had a great time rehearsing for Mighty Hoopla. We’re so excited, we’re on form. It’s a great line-up. And the fact we’re headlining, we’re so excited.

Faye: Yeah, we're dead chuffed.

We see you've been in rehearsals with Saturday headliners Sugababes...

Faye: That was so funny, they just came in like ‘oh, hi!’ They were in and out of everyone’s rehearsal rooms.

Lisa: It was really nice. We saw Anastacia as well, she was so lovely.

Steps shows are always full of surprises, do you have any in store for your Mighty Hoopla set?

Faye: We have some exciting surprises, but that’s all we can say.

Lisa: We like to have a nice element of something new, to make things bespoke for each festival. We’ve got something special for Mighty Hoopla.

Faye: Just a little fun treat, you know? Also, this is the first time all five of us will be back on stage together and we can’t wait. It’s been so much fun, being in rehearsals and having a laugh saying ‘how do we do this one again?’. We’ve been celebrating.

MORE: Party with Official Charts at Mighty Hoopla festival

You always manage to inject some new life into the Steps classics, even 25 years on...

Lisa: I think it’s important to; not just for the audience, but for us as well. 5, 6, 7, 8 we’ve been performing for 25 years, so we always spice them up.

Faye: We’re so lucky, we’ve got Steve Anderson doing our music. He’s been with us for a while now, and he just has this amazing ear for pop. He also puts in some of our remixes, working bits of those into the live element. It beefs things up a bit more and feels current. We can have fun with it, it’s lush. I love to hear the music like this.

This all comes as Steps announce their Platinum Collection album; celebrating a quarter of a century in music. How does it feel to be celebrating their 25th anniversary this summer?

“It’s incredible," Lisa tells us. "Each time somebody says it, it takes me back. We feel so blessed and privileged to be still be here, doing what we love. There just seems to be even more love out there than ever for Steps.”

"Especially from the younger generation," Faye adds. "We’ve got new fans. The 20-year-olds are coming through at the meet and greets and I think ‘how do you know Steps?’, because we’re not at the forefront of the music scene all the time.

"Yes, we’re pretty visible, but not compared to some up-and-coming artists. It’s just so amazing with BMG, our record label, reaching internationally; we’ve even hit Mexico. It’s so lovely that the youngsters are finding out about the new music, then going back and finding the older stuff. It’s a great time to be alive in the music industry.”

If you're going along to Mighty Hoopla this weekend, come and party with Official Charts!

We're bringing you POP INJUSTICE: 70 Years of Iconic Number 2s on the Pleasure Palace stage, Saturday June 4 at 1.30pm.

Celebrating 70 years of the Official Singles Chart this November, Official Charts are kicking things off with a set of those should've-been-Number-1 singles that stalled at Number 2, featuring Push The Button DJs. We're talking Girls Aloud's Love Machine, Natalie Imbruglia's Torn, Mis-Teeq's Scandalous and so many more. You do not wanna miss this.

Check out Official Charts' POP INJUSTICE: 70 Years of Iconic Number 2s playlist below:

Steps headline Mighty Hoopla festival on Friday June 3. Their new album, Platinum Collection, is released on August 19 via BMG.