Who: McFly
Where: The Hexagon, Reading
When: Tuesday 23rd April 2013
I have to start by saying I’m a massive fan of McFly. I’m not ashamed of that fact.
In pop years they’re practically grandads. You might not realise they’ve been together for 10 years, had 7 number one singles, and owned their own record label. Or that they’re currently recording their 6th studio album. To put things into perspective, their ill fated predecessors Busted only lasted just over 2 years. As they sing in their opening track of the night, an acapella version of ‘Memory Lane’, so much has changed...
The embarrassingly bad compere who opens the show is a little unnecessary, and there’s definitely too much Y.M.C.A, it’s the pre-set warm up song AND part of a later medley. It makes it all seem a bit provincial. Or maybe that’s just the venue?
‘Star Girl’ is McFly at their whimsical best but they choose it as their third song, possibly peaking too soon, as I’m sure this has been saved for the encore in previous tours. They dig out all the oldies like That Girl, Five Colours in Her Hair and Obviously, and give their all to the performance. There is a mid gig lull though with darker songs like Nowhere Left To Run from the more recent Above The Noise album, which are not the bands’ typical crowd pleasers and cause the show to loose a bit of momentum. And admittedly I took the opportunity to go to the toilet whilst they played Love Is Easy, the first song in their encore. Sorry.
That said, they still have so much energy and enthusiasm, and a great connection with their fans. At one point Danny asks the audience if anyone knows what was the first song they ever wrote for McFly? A couple of girls at the front shout out the answer, to which he playfully replies “you’ve seen this before, get out!”
Boybands seem to have taken a backwards step recently - One Direction, The Wanted - essentially five boys stood in a line. But a bit of talent, playing your own instruments and writing your own songs seems to be the key to longevity. McFly have still got it. Girls still throw their bras on stage. The fans still scream. This is The Best of McFly, as the name of the tour states. They rocked Reading, for the most part.
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