REVIEW: McBusted, LG Arena Birmingham

“We love your sexy accents, Birmingham,” supergroup McBusted told fans, as they rocked the LG Arena this weekend.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see two of your favourite bands play together live on stage? Fans of ‘noughties’ pop sensation Busted, and chart-topping band McFly were not disappointed, as the LG Arena bought them the ultimate English pop-rock super-group.

Boyband McFly, who supported Busted way back in 2004 not long after the band came into being, announced that McBusted were forming last year, ahead of their tenth anniversary. The only member of Busted to not be part of the group is Charlie Simpson, who quit the band in 2005.

Saturday 8th May was another night ticked off the list, for their 34 day UK tour. Completely packed out, the added-date gig was another sell-out for the boys.

As lights went out, and screams echoed the building, a short promotional video played to the arena, in tribute to the film, Back to the future. The film featured Matt Willis and James Bourne, from Busted in a DeLorean styled time machine, choosing to go ‘back to the future’ and turn Mcfly’s tour into McBusted’s tour.

Smashing onto the stage, with bursts of pyrotechnics, neon spot-lighting, and a time machine, McBusted became a reality. Starting with a real hit of nostalgia, the boys played three well remembered Busted songs, ‘Air Hostess’, ‘You said no’ and ‘Britney.’ Before performing McFly songs, ‘Five colours in her hair’ ‘Obviously’ and ‘Shine a light.’ There was a huge buzz from the crowd as each band member showed their sheer energy on stage. Running, jumping, even gambolling – the band were full of beans and very entertaining. Even new dad and lead singer, Tom Fletcher, showed fans that night feeds hadn’t took away his energy just yet!

The group delivered an electronic performance, and hit after hit the audience were singing along, clapping and cheering. Between huge inflatable sports balls in the crowd and a gigantic ‘triple breast’ decoration, the set up was more than impressive; a UFO stage descended mid-show, Dougie Poynter covered Celine Deon, and Matt Willis even wore a wedding dress, for the iconic song ‘Crashed the wedding.’ One very memorable moment consisted of James taking the lead, with his acoustic guitar for a rendition of ‘Sleeping with the light on.’ The audience created a sea of light with torches that lit up the arena.

Not only did the boys show that vocally and performance –wise, they complement each other greatly, they also showed that they get on well as band mates. There was a lot of on-stage banter, particularly between Dougie and Matt, who almost kissed each other in front of a screaming crowd. Matt announced to Brummie fans that he contemplated moving to Birmingham, as it’s his wife’s (Emma Willis) hometown.

To close the show, two classic songs, McFly’s ‘It’s all about you’ and Busted favourite ‘Year 3000,’ both crowd pleasers that left the audience with huge smiles on their faces. Taking fans truly back in time, the super-group’s high-energy performance was particularly out of this world.

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Hannah Deathridge

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McBusted return to the LG Arena for their last Birmingham date, as part of their current tour, on 27th May 2014.

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