Setting the scene in the style of Romeo & Juliet, an on-screen visualiser provided a reminder of their rise to pop-rock fame as a buzz grew around the sold-out arena. With no support act, although Busted's front man Matt Willis later jokingly thanked McFly for “warming up” the crowd for them, the pre-show playlist had the crucial job of keeping energy high with hits including ‘YMCA’ and ‘Living On A Prayer’.
Launching onto the stage, McFly immediately had the audience singing along with ‘Where Did All the Guitars Go', barely stopping for breath in their hit-after-hit set. 'Star Girl' saw the infamous kicks from Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones and Dougie Poynter, as they danced in sync across the stage. Under purple lighting, the audience took the final lines of ‘Obviously’, prompting “hey you're not bad tonight” from the band. A performance about connection, the audience was asked to put their arms around their neighbour in ‘All About You'; ‘Let's sing this like it's New Year's Eve.’ With an infectious energy, the band continued to leap, hop and run circles of the stage, before Jones leapt onto the barrier for ‘Red’, “all the way from the front to the back…everybody gets low, we're going to bounce”. A piano introduction from Fletcher cued the close to their first set with ‘The Heart Never Lies’.
As the lighting rig descended onto the diamond-shaped stage and the lights dimmed to conceal McFly's exit, anticipation grew across the arena. Busted's opening track, ‘Crashed the Wedding' prompted the largest crowd reaction of the night so far, before continuing with ‘Meet You There'. Before the show, James Bourne had written an Instagram statement about pulling out of the tour due to health reasons. Acknowledging this, bandmates Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson shared how much they missed their bandmate; “this is the first show we've ever played without him and it's really weird”. At James Bourne's recommendation, his younger brother, Chris Bourne, joined the band onstage, “you might recognise him from the Year 3000 music video”. Despite his newness in the show, he was not immune to Busted's onstage antics and tongue-in-cheek humour; “I remember teaching Chris guitar when he was six years old, no wonder you're so sh*t”.
The audience took James' verse of ‘Sleeping With The Light On', as phone torches lit up the arena for an emotional rendition of “his favourite song”, the mood kept light with a commentary on his phone use; “he's always on his phone…he'll be there watching a live stream”. Busted closed their feel-good set taking the audience back “to when we didn't give a f*ck about anything” with fan favourite ‘What I Go To School For'.
For many, seeing the two iconic bands play back to back would have been enough. However, the lack of both bands’ greatest hits in their set - ‘Year 3000’ and ‘5 Colours In Her Hair’ suggested the rivals still had big plans for the crowd. As the lighting rig rose, a drum battle commenced, as Eddy Thrower and Harry Judd went drum stick to drum stick, fire in time with the drum beat. Heads swiftly turned as Poynter and Willis appeared in the spotlight for ‘Hate Your Guts’. Standing on opposite sides of the arena, those sitting in the blocks screamed in unexpected excitement as they performed the McBusted hit. The rivalry soon moved from Busted Vs McFly to “my side vs your side”, and the audience was up for the challenge.
Whilst Poynter and Willis had thrown theatrical insults across the arena, Jones and Simpson showed no sign of rivalry as gorgeous harmonies flooded the arena in acoustic duo renditions of ‘3am’ and ‘Not Alone'; “this is the first night so this is a special night”. Busted leapt to the stage for the final time alone for ‘Air Hostess', before McFly took their place for ‘5 Colours In Her Hair’, both prompting a wild reaction from the audience.
What began as a battle of the bands, closed as a celebration of the best of 2000s pop-rock, both bands now on stage as one mega band. Covering McBusted's ‘What Happened To Your Band’ before taking on ‘Shine A Light' and ‘Year 3000’, yellow and red confetti poured onto the jumping crowd.
The real winner? The audience who witnessed the first night of a tour which will make history. The final tickets for Busted Vs McFly's UK and Ireland tour can be found here.
Maisy Neale
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