9 years after they split up, Busted were back at The Odyssey Arena last night minus one -insert joke about Charlie’s eyebrows here- but with a little help from their friends McFly.
As it nears 7.30pm, the venue isn’t quite full yet – a reflection of the crowd that newly formed supergroup McBusted attract. Almost everyone is in their 20s, barely teenagers when the band broke up back in 2005, they’re just about adults now and their sensibilities betray this. Gone are the days of queuing up hours before the doors were due to open because everyone knows that McBusted won’t be on until at least 9pm…
The three (yes, three) support bands before them are suitably pop-punk, touting their latest singles, free online downloads and Twitter usernames, as well as taking ‘selfies’ with the crowd as you would expect. Over all the standard is extremely high. First off UK bands Young Brando and E of E do their thing, then come US Hollywood Ending – which features James Bourne’s brother Chris. The great thing about having three support bands is that there’s barely enough time to get a drink between bands (again, something you couldn’t do last time you saw Busted because you were 11) so you aren’t standing around waiting for ages with nothing to do.
Finally the moment everyone’s been waiting for. The lights go down and a video plays on the screens which adorn either side of the stage. We see the tear-jerking press conference where Charlie Simpson announces he’s leaving the band, followed by some footage of James Bourne telling Matt Willis that they have to go into the future to save McFly. Next thing you know, the Back to the Future theme is playing and a flying Deloreon appears on stage with a bang. The boys have arrived and there’s huge smiles from everyone as McBusted launch into Busted hit Air Hostess.
How does it feel? They poignantly ask the crowd, and are greeted by woops and cheers in return. There’s a very different atmosphere to this gig, very nostalgic, care free and fun loving – a lot like being young again. Despite the fact that the audience have grown up a bit since the last time they saw these bands, McBusted seem to be dead set on appealing to the crowd’s inner child with their immature humour – there’s boobs, willies and poo jokes galore.
