dodie - You Tour

Last night I was at Stylus in Leeds seeing dodie on her You tour. You may know dodie better as her YouTube username doddleoddle. I’ve been a fan of dodie for a number of years now but both of her headlining tours sold out incredibly fast so you have to be very lucky to bag yourself a ticket to see her - thankfully this tour I did just that!

I arrived early at the venue but it was quickly apparent that dodies fans are extremely dedicated with the queue going right around the building. Many of the queue looked like they’d been there for a good part of the day too! Definitely need to mention the crowd at this point, as despite the insanely hot temperatures in the venue I don’t think I’ve been in such a nice audience. Instead of pushing straight into your space, people were leaving it free for you whilst you went to grab water and when people went to the bar they were bringing back extra water for people stood near them etc. 

dodie came on stage to the biggest cheers / screams / applaud / chant I think I’ve ever heard at a concert ever. That noise did not falter once throughout the set with the crowd singing a lot louder than you could hear dodie a lot of the time! 

I found her set to be brilliant and she certainly didn’t disappoint. dodie preformed songs from both of her EP’s as well as a couple of songs she hadn’t physically released including fan favourite, She. dodie has a real innocent charm whilst on stage which I think comes across so well. She also manages to connect with the crowd like very few artists do. Many people stood around me were sobbing throughout many of dodie’s songs. Her realism and openness about sexuality and mental health clearly strikes a chord with so much of her audience. 

I had a great time and would see dodie live again tomorrow if I could. My personal favourites from the set were When, 6 / 10, Absolutely Smitten and In The Middle which even saw dodie playing drums! She has such a wonderful stage presence and her songs live (complete with her talented band) come across so beautifully live and I truly don’t think I’ll see dodie in such a small venue again. She’ll be for sure headlining much bigger things in the future. 

Busted. Blogtober - Day 17

Last night I went to see Busted. Let’s be honest, this is going to be the worst ‘review’ you’ll ever read as I just love this band. They could come on stage, sit knitting for 2 hours I’d still come away thinking it was the best thing I’d ever seen.

A while ago Busted announced a massive one night special date at Londons, Royal Albert Hall. Then not so long ago, they added a northern date at Preston Guildhall. Same set as the Royal Albert Hall just at a slightly less snazzy venue! 

When the news hit that the Preston show was also getting the 2 set Busted show the excitement was ago! Uniquely, the band split the set with an interval in between. The first half being an intimate acoustic performance with the second being a lively electric guitar performance. It’s the first concert I’ve ever been to where that has happened but personally I thought it worked well.

The acoustic first half of the set was a nostalgic rollercoaster to say the least. Something about the band turning their songs acoustic just turns you into an emotional wreck. These are songs which I’d grown up with and have listened to during the good / bad times so hearing them stripped down was an emotional experience to say the least. Not only that but the acoustic songs really showcased the bands talents as performers. Songs such as Meet You There, When Day Turns Into Night and Everything I Knew were all part of the acoustic set before they finished the half with my one of my favourite songs, Sleeping With The Light On. I really could listen to them perform acoustically all day so for me this half was superb. 

The second half saw Busted return to the jumpy, lively performance that you expect when seeing the band. The set list was similar to that of the recent Night Driver tour with the edition of few fan favourites like Loser Kid and That Thing You Do. I don’t know if it was just because it’s been a few months since I last saw them before but I thought the set from both halves was truly fantastic and was the perfect mix of songs both old and new.

These concerts are the perfect celebration of all things Busted. Even despite seeing them rather a lot over the past couple of years, it’s still crazy to me how they’re a band again but I completely and utterly love the fact they are. Honestly if you ever slightly loved Busted give them another listen in 2017 and go see one of the live shows. I can assure you they’re even better than you will remember. I just love them and these shows with the acoustic / section were just fantastic and I’m sure they’ll be being talked about within the Busted fan base for years to come.

Pigs Can Fly Tour - Busted

It seems a little pointless writing this blog post as the tour is over now but regardless this tour has been a huge part of my life for the past month as I attended five dates, so it only seems appropriate to do a little write up about it. It's not a review as such just more of a post of me telling everyone how much I love Busted. Before you start reading expect this to be very biased because I just love this band. They’ve been in my life for over half of it and even after they split up 12 years ago I still went to support James Bourne and Matt Willis on their various solo ventures. For me, this tour wasn’t a nostalgic trip down memory lane, I genuinely have never stopped loving this band and I would’ve gone to see them even if they announced they were all juggling oranges on stage for two hours. 

I think Busted’s Pig’s Can Fly Tour came as a bit of a surprise for everyone when it was announced last year. It has been repeatedly said by every member of Busted since the band split back in 2005 that they would never get back together, well this tour is proof that pigs really can fly! It’s been so great seeing James and Matt performing in tiny venues over the years and McBusted were incredible but nothing compares to having Busted back on stage. 

Support for this tour came from Emma Blackery and Wheatus. I'd never heard of Emma Blackery before, she is a YouTuber so perhaps younger audience members would've known her already. However, the few tracks she did on tour were very catchy and her set was lively and enjoyable. I think everyone my age loves Wheatus and knows at least Teenage Dirtbag word for word. I was surprised at how many of their songs I did know! They were the perfect support for Busted. 

Busted came onto the stage to the newly released single, Coming Home, it’s clear that everyone in the audience shared my enthusiasm about Busted being back with the screams being of deafening levels particularly after the first word that comes out of Charlie’s mouth. The entrance was weird with a hundred or so fans’ being on the stage in pig masks but it was so effective. I stood in the onstage ‘Pigsty’ on one of the dates that I attended and it’s such an unusual way to watch the show. Plus how many people can say they’ve been on stage with one of their favourite bands and got to actually be a part of the show? 

Although Busted were quite successful in the early 2000s, they only ever released two studio albums so unsurprisingly they performed nearly all the songs that you wanted to hear including fan favourites such as What I Go To School, Thunderbirds and Meet You There. The band even treated the crowds to two new songs Easy and One Of A Kind, both of which I’m very excited to hear the Busted studio versions of. Before you know it, they’re onto the last song of the night, Year 3000, which still to this day is one of my favourite songs. The set production of the Busted tour is kept to a minimum so you're focussing on the band at all times and not other things that are happening on stage which definitely isn't a band thing. 

It’s actually insane just how incredible the Pigs Can Fly tour was. I have never had so much eye contact and interaction from a band member before at a concert in my life. Nothing beats the feeling of being stood directly in front of your favourite member of a band in the OMFG front standing area and them making you feel like you're the only person in the crowd. Also on this tour they offered meet and greet opportunities, I’ve met James and Matt many times before in the past but complete credit to the entire band for making the meet and greets not at all rushed and for being up for any photo pose you suggested. If possible I’ve walked away from these shows loving this band even more than I did when a month ago. 

On stage the band was saying how this tour isn’t a onetime thing and with an album coming later in the year, I really hope that this is the case. The last month has provided me with some of the best memories so here is to the next tour!

The Pigeon Detectives

Although I was late in discovering The Pigeon Detectives music, they are a band that I used to really love. Then for some reason I just didn't realise they were releasing new music and I seemed to just forget about them. When I saw that they were performing in my hometown earlier in the week I couldn't resist getting a ticket to the concert.


When I saw them back in 2008 at Glastonbury Festival, I went on a whim really as I only knew a few songs but the performance completely captured my attention. The lead singer gave the most high energy performance I've ever seen and to be honest I didn't know if I ever did see them perform again if the show would be as good. Truthfully, if anything seeing them doing a headline show was even better.


When the band first came on stage, although the energy was high I didn't know the first couple of songs that they performed. From where I was stood it was painfully clear that a large proportion of the audience were like myself and my have lost track of the bands music over the years. However, the set list was full of fan favourites such as Keep Your Dress On, Take Her Back and This Is An Emergency which quickly got the crowd in high spirits. The hits really got the crowds attention and for the few not so known songs they performed the audience were so hyped up from the hits they started to really enjoy the less popular songs too. The band themselves are the most energetic band that I've ever seen live. The lead singer, Matt, just doesn't keep still. If he's not throwing countless water bottles in the crowd, he's climbing up the stage and if he's not doing that he was walking down the bar into the crowd. It's so clear they love what they do and it really does make the show even more enjoyable.


As the concert was running extremely late they skipped the technicalities of an encore instead telling the crowd to pretend they'd just been off stage instead. The final song of the night was I'm Not Sorry, which is arguably The Pigeon Detectives biggest hit to date, before they left the stage to the loudest cheer.


For the £10 admission price I think it was worth every penny. Maybe I just went originally for nostalgic reasons but its recaptured what I liked about them and I've now downloaded the albums that I didn't own. If you like even just a couple of The Pigeon Detectives songs, I must urge you to go and see them live. What a concert! 

Hollywood Ending - Never Ending Summer Tour

They say when you hear a piece of music you can be transported straight back to the time where you first heard it. Well, Hollywood Ending are a band that I associate with when they supported one of my favourite bands and also they remind me of New York City as I saw them when I was on holiday there. Whenever I hear them I get reminded of these things which isn't a bad thing. If you’ve read my blog before you’ll have read my previous posts about tours they have done in the past so it’s safe to say I like this band rather a lot. 

The Never Ending Summer tour is a little different to tours Hollywood Ending have done in the past as this is the last tour that the band will be doing for the foreseeable future. Maybe it’s because they realise it’s potentially the last time they’ll ever tour together again in the UK, but for this tour the band offered fans more opportunities to spend time with them. As well as the VIP soundcheck and meet and greet ticket package, they also are offering ice cream parties before shows. The ice cream parties were much more intimate than the meet and greet, lasting around thirty minutes, with only 5 other fans in attendance at the show that I attended. It’s certainly a strange experience being sat in a room eating ice creams with the band that you’re seeing on stage in a few hours.  

Support for the Never Ending Summer tour came from Six Stories Told and Astro Safari USA, a band that I saw support Hollywood Ending in America last year. I now own Astro Safari USA’s albums so it was great to be able to see them and know the songs that they were performing but for fans that hadn’t heard them before the offer catchy songs which will get stuck in your head for a long time after leaving the show. Six Stories Told were also entertaining. People in the audience were clearly huge fans of Six Stories Told with many flocking over to meet the band after their set had finished.    

Although Hollywood Ending have recently released their debut full length album I felt like the tour was very much a tour where the set list was based on what fans wanted them to perform rather than a show that saw most of the songs being played form the new album. This wasn’t a bad thing at all as personally I thought the set list was fantastic. 

The band came onto the stage to my personal favourite song from the new album, Zero Gravity before leading on to fan favourites One Wish and Not Another Song About Love. The UK leg of the Hollywood Ending tour saw band member Chris rejoining the band on stage after not being able to fulfil the US dates due to prior touring commitments which probably led to the addition of songs such as Grocery Song Rap. My favourite song of the night and I’m sure many others in the crowd of the Never Ending Summer tour was Boyband Song, a song that was put up on YouTube a year ago. This came with the band ditching the instruments and putting on the boy band dance routine that was in the video. Before you know it the tour is finishing up with You and Don’t Let You Down. Considering most of the band had flown in from America just 24 hours earlier they showed no signs for jet lag and kept the energy high throughout.  

I stand by what I’ve said in my previous blogs and more so than ever now you must go see them in concert. All four members of the band are genuinely really nice people and have some serious talent, truthfully I think it’s a shame that they’re calling it a day. If you miss out on seeing Hollywood Ending on the Never Ending Summer tour, I think you should definitely keep an eye out on what they’re doing after the band.

The band still have a couple of UK dates left on the Never Ending Summer Tour so go check out a show if you can.

McBusted - The Most Excellent Adventure Tour 2015

Within a few seconds browsing my blog it's pretty obvious that I'm a fan of McBusted which has only made it all the more difficult to write a reasonably unbiased review of their latest tour, The Most Excellent Adventure Tour. I'm completely loving the whirlwind that is McBusted but even despite claims from band member James that this tour was going to top the 2014 tour I was skeptical. They landed on stage in a Delorean on the 2014 tour and was jam packed full of hits from both bands, now armed with a brand new McBusted album would they be able to pull of a tour as good as the first? 

From the opening entrance video which see's the band placed inside an arcade machine, it is clear that the Most Excellent Adventure Tour revolves heavily around video games and all things retro. Popping up from below the stage onto the worlds largest working arcade machine and singing hit Air Guitar complete with a guitar hero game background, it set the tone for how the rest of the tour was to go. Air Guitar led straight onto new album track Hate Your Guts before continuing onto McFly fan favourite One For The Radio. The band continue to play hit after hit including McBusted single, Get Over It, What Happened To Your Band and one of my personal favourite Busted songs, Thunderbirds before heading off to the back of the arena for the b stage segment of the show. 

The band entered the b stage on a flying Delorean, creating parallels with the 2014 tour. The b stage section is notoriously known as being the more disappointing section of the show but McBusted completely dispelled this. Hits Air Hostess, What I Go To School For and Obviously completely kept the audience captivated. McBusted then performed Beautiful Girls Are The Loneliest which I feel is the perfect showcase of just how talented the band are, with just James and Danny preforming the song acoustically.  

It's not every day you see your favourite band walking through the arena to get back to the main stage in a mock up wedding, where Dougie makes a beautiful bride, Matt the groom and the rest of the band as bridesmaids throwing confetti around the happy couple. Echoing once more to last year's tour where Matt wore a dress during the same song, Crashed The Wedding. From then the setlist see's James riding round the stage on a bike for the appropriately named song Riding On My Bike before the band take the opportunity to embarrass the crowd with a kiss cam during All About You.

Then before you know it, it's time for the encore. Finishing with hugely popular songs 5 Colours In Her Hair, Shine A Light and Year 3000. The concert is just over so quickly and even despite playing a 2 hour set I'm sure all of the audience left the concert wanting even more. 

You know that a concert is good when there is not one moment in the entire set you could imagine planning running off for a toilet break. Every single song appears to be a crowd favourite with every person in the crowd singing and dancing along to every song with as much enthusiasm as the first. Although McBusted now have a self entitled album full of brand new songs to work with they don't seem out of place at all with them blending in perfectly with the classic hits of both Busted and McFly. I think the set list was a perfect mix of songs pleasing fans of both bands individually and fans that have joined since the McBusted hype.

The band are just really nice people and they still genuinely seem to be six people having the time of their lives on stage with their friends. I don't know know how long they can keep up McBusted before going their separate ways once again so I could not recommend going to see them more whilst you can . McFly and Busted have a real musical stigma revolving around them but they are really talented band. My opinion? Go to a McBusted concert, you will not regret it.

The Most Excellent Adventure Tour finishes in England April 19th. 

Hollywood Ending - Punk Ass Kids Tour

Fresh from the Turn Up Tour across the pond in America came Hollywood Ending with their UK Punk Ass Kids Tour. I'll keep this blog fairly short due to the fact that the show was almost identical to the Turn Up Tour show that I recently reviewed.

I attended two dates of the Punk Ass Kids Tour, one at The Wardrobe in Leeds and the other at The Garage in London with VIP tickets for both dates. Once again I have no bad words to say about the VIP with the band. They genuinely are some of the nicest people that I've ever met so if you go to a show of theirs do try and get a VIP ticket if possible. You also get the added bonus of being able to watch the band soundcheck, something which is more intimate and acoustic than the rest of the show.

Brad Kavanagh supported at both dates and Leeds gained an extra support in the form of Hill Valley High. Unfortunately I only managed to catch the last song of Hill Valley High's set but the crowd was certainly enjoying it. Brad Kavanagh already seemed to have a reasonable fanbase in the crowd with many singing along to his very catchy songs. For those who weren't aware of his music he slipped in covers of Rixton's, Me and My Broken Heart and Ed Sheeran's, Sing.

Hollywood Ending put on a high energy show at both dates that I attended. The set list was identical to the Turn Up Tour with the exception of You being switched with Girls, Girls, a song from the new EP. The band know exactly how to work the crowd and I can guarantee that everyone in attendance would've enjoyed the show. I attended both dates with people where Hollywood Ending wouldn't fall into their usual music tastes but both left having enjoyed the concert. For me, considering the band are young, it astonishes me just how professional performers they are.

For a band that is unsigned and writes and produces their own music they are certainly making an impact. Every single person in the crowd knew the words to every song including new ones which are yet to be officially released. I was skeptical about how UK crowds would react with Hollywood Ending being less known in this country but they certainly gave the Americans a run for their money. 

The bands music is completely and utterly my taste in music so I may be a little bias but if you see Hollywood Ending are performing at a venue near you I would definitely try make the effort to see them. For the £10 admission fee I can guarantee you'll have a good night seeing them perform.

Hollywood Ending's new EP, Punk Ass Kids is available for preorder on iTunes now

Hollywood Ending - Turn Up Tour

Due to a bizarre series events which would be an entire blog post in itself, I ended up with a ticket to go and see Hollywood Ending on my recent trip to New York City. I have tickets to go and see the band perform during their Punk Ass Kids tour when they return to the UK at the end of the month so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to catch the Turn Up Tour in New York.

Support came from three bands. The Millennium, This Is All Now and Astro Safari USA. The Millennium started off the evening, getting the crowd nicely warmed up and even did a cover of Toxic by Britney Spears. This Is All Now was my favourite out of the supports and I have since downloaded their album. Despite the guitarist rushing off stage to be sick they did a great set and the crowd was loving them in particular after a cover of 5 Seconds Of Summer's popular song, Good Girls. Last on was Astro Safari USA who were my least favourite support band of the night. The bands music wasn't my taste of music and the rap style was the complete opposite to the others. From where I was positioned you could see band members from Hollywood Ending singing and dancing along in the wings throughout the support acts suggesting that they picked some of their personal favourite bands to support them. 

From then it was time for Hollywood Ending the band everyone had come to see. Having seen them for the first time only a few months ago as a support act I was very interested to see how they would pull off a headlining show. Truthfully, I thought they were fantastic. The high energy they brought to the stage didn't falter once throughout the set. It is clear that the New York City show was an important one to them with it being lead singer Tyler's home state and the crowd didn't disappoint in making it a memorable.

Hollywood Ending came onto stage performing upbeat song One Wish from their debut EP before heading straight into a cover of the Friends theme song, I'll Be There For You. Although I'm sure they've played this as a cover every night it felt an extra fitting song to cover whilst being in the home of Friends. The band proceeded onto Don't Let Me Down, which was obviously a fan favourite with the crowd even singing along to the rap in the middle of the song. Two new songs were performed on the night, Zero Gravity and Punk Ass Kids which were just as catchy as the bands other songs and seemed to go down with fans with some already knowing the words. Strangely enough one of the songs that got the biggest reaction was Grocery Store Rap, a song they posted on YouTube two years ago. Although it was very different it proved that they are capable of performing in a style different from their normal sound and fans clearly appreciated them performing it. Before you know it it was time for the encore of the latest single Freak Like Me and a cover of The Monkees hit I'm A Believer.

My only negative about the show is that they didn't perform for long enough! Hollywood Ending were only on stage for around an hour. I don't know if it was due to a venue curfew but I personally would've enjoyed a longer set. I certainly wasn't ready for them to go off stage when they did.

I was able to meet the band before the show and I have to say that they really are genuinely nice people which only adds to the bands likability. In my opinion with their catchy songs and infectious personalities it won't be long before Hollywood Ending are the next big thing. The band are currently tying up a tour of the US but they are on the way to the UK at the end of the month with concerts nationwide. If you see that they're performing at a venue near you I would highly recommend going. I know I for one cannot wait to see them again on there return to England.

Kate Bush - Before The Dawn Tour

Before I start this review it's worth making note of the fact that I wasn't born for years after Kate Bush was originally very well known and I was merely accompanying someone who really wanted to go to the show. Due to this my review is based from someone who knows only two Kate Bush songs (one of which she didn't perform) and didn't really get the hype over her comeback concerts.

You could feel the excitement surrounding Kate Bush's comeback shows from the second I got to Hammersmith, after all these are her first set of concerts in over 30 years. A definite buzz could be felt from around the Hammersmith Apollo which only magnified in size when I took my seat. The excitement was emphasised when Bush took the stage to an astonishingly loud standing ovation. 

The concert itself was split into three very distinct sections. The first seemed for me seemed a gentle introduction to Bush. It was all about her and her voice as she sang through her songs. Honestly I had never heard of any of the songs she was singing in this section so I found it to be a little boring. However despite this the crowd was loving every minute of it and gave standing ovations after every song. On reflection is was enjoyable to be able to see her perform with little theatrical elements. 

It was when hit song, and the only song of the night that I knew, King of the Mountain was played when things started to get really interesting. It had suddenly turned into the kind of Kate Bush concert that I had described to me. It was visually astounding and frankly just plain strange at times but it was easily my favourite section of the night. It begun with confetti falling from the ceiling and then before you know it Bush was stranded at sea. It was simply the best theatrical production that I've ever seen during a concert. A helicopter flew over the crowd, strangely masked fish men patrolled, a living room was brought on and the stage was transformed into the ocean to name some of the effects. I found it impossible to draw my eyes away from the stage. Despite the fact that I thought the effects were fantastic I found that I paid very little attention to what was being sung. Usually I attend a concert to listen to my favourite songs being sung live whereas in this section of the Before The Dawn concert it celebrated theatrical elements more than her singing. I do think though that perhaps that wasn't a bad thing as the other sections did put more emphasis on her vocal performance. 

After a short interval the third section based on album Aerial began. Some lovely sky visuals were projected in this segment which provided a nice balance between the first two parts of the show. Interestingly the final section featured Bush's son Bertie McIntosh, who portrays the painter that on the album was originally played by Rolf Harris. Bertie even managed to get a newly penned track to sing himself. I felt the addition of Bertie provided a break from Bush's unique vocals. However, I'm sure fans who came would have probably preferred another Kate Bush performance in its place.

Kate Bush certainly gave her fans a show staying on stage for three hours. It was refreshing too to be watching a concert without a sea of cameras. The forced camera ban certainly made the audience appreciate what was happening on stage rather than what was happening through a screen. Although the concert wasn't one of my favourite events I've attended I honestly don't think my opinion matters. Because for the thousands of fans lucky enough to have a ticket to see her on her comeback at the Apollo it certainly was a night they wouldn't forget for a long time and well worth the wait. 

Popshack Live

Popshack Live is a concert targeted at teenagers hosted by popular YouTubers and Radio1 DJ's Dan and Phil. Popshack featured various up and coming artists, YouTubers and X Factor contestants. I attended the live event at the London's Indigo venue at the O2 last Saturday.

Considering the concerts target audience was teenagers I found Popshack Live to be very poorly organised. Tickets were so late in being dispatched that many, including myself, had to face fairly long but thankfully quick moving queues at the box office in the evening to pick up tickets. Due to this I was very concerned about what the organisation of the concert would be like.

I had VIP tickets to Popshack meaning that I had entry to a meet and greet before the show started with various bands and artists who were performing at the event, including Hollywood Ending the band I was attending the concert to see. Despite my concerns about organisation, the meet and greet soon cleared my doubts and was actually put together brilliantly. It's the first time I have attended a meet and greet which wasn't rushed at all. The room was incredibly hot and we had to wait a fairly long time to get into the meet and greet area but I think everyone in attendance would agree that it was completely worth it. It was refreshing to be able to actually have conversations with the artists instead of the usual quick hello and photo. Due to not recognising any other artist I only met Hollywood Ending, but from glances around the room every performer involved in the meet and greet session seemed to be making a effort to spend lots of time with fans who wanted to meet them.

The concert itself featured performer after performer, many only performing one or two songs each. Each artist performed a cover song which managed to get the crowd singing along throughout. Covers included hits like Teenage Dirtbag, I'm A Believer and Everything Has Changed. I really enjoyed that artists covered a popular song as it made performances much more enjoyable to know a song that was being sung. Performers included the likes of Union J, Matt DeFreitas, Bribry, Kingsland Road and Connie Talbot. Between performances hosts Dan and Phil kept things entertaining by doing live Dan vs Phil challenges, some even featuring the acts who we're performing. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my meet and greet experience and I did enjoy some of the acts but overall Popshack Live wasn't for me. However for the target audience I think this concert is fantastic. The audience seemed to know who every performer was and were constantly screaming with delight throughout every song that was sung. Considering the minimum ticket price was £15.00, a price I believe is quite achievable for a 15 year old to afford, it was a good evening. For the teens who are wanting a fun evening with their friends seeing some of their favourite singers and YouTubers I think Popshack Live fits the bill perfectly. 

One Direction - Where We Are Tour

No matter what your opinions of them and their music, it is undeniable that One Direction are one of the most popular bands on earth right now. I found myself with a ticket for their first show at Wembley Stadium last night. 

Support came from Australian group, 5 Seconds Of Summer who had also supported One Direction on their previous Take Me Home tour. They performed a number of crowd pleasers including recent hit She Looks So Perfect and new single Don't Stop. They certainly were a perfect warm up band and managed to get the crowd singing along to every word.

Despite the fact that One Direction have easily sold out the 90,000 capacity stadium for 3 nights, I just don't think that they had enough stage presence for a venue as large as Wembley Stadium. I have seen them at various points over the years and I have to say that it was the worst performance that I've ever seen them do.

It was revealed by the band that it had been 4 years since they were formed as a band at Wembley Arena and now they were performing at a sold out Wembley Stadium. Unfortunately despite this the band didn't seem as excited to be there as the fans were. Very little conversation took place and although at times they did look overwhelmed to be there I believe that their hearts didn't seem to be in it. Perhaps they were simply just too overwhelmed, but whatever the reason it didn't come across so well.

Although I thought it was one of the worst performances I've seen the band do it was a fairly enjoyable show. You can't deny that their biggest hits such as Live While We're Young and Kiss You, are very catchy and they didn't fail in getting most of the crowd up dancing when they sung them. I wasn't aware of a few of the album tracks from the newest album that they performed. Surprisingly this seemed to also be the case with many of the people stood near me, many of whom started playing on their phones when some of the more unknown tracks were performed. Wembley Stadium was the perfect venue for the hits but some others seemed to fall a little flat. The stand out songs at the concert were McFly penned Don't Forget Where You Belong which saw all the stadium light up throughout, previous album song C'mon C'mon and What Makes You Beautiful which arguably got the biggest cheer of the evening.

For the atmosphere alone it was worth going to the concert. I had access to the front standing zone with a good view of the stage and the very large runway. A big fault I thought was the fact that the band were not constantly shown on the screens. Although I had a perfect view of everything anyone any further back would've been struggling to see the band at all. The show was full of pyrotechnics and to see Wembley Stadium all lit up was fantastic. The major flaw of the stadium itself was the sound. I fully appreciate how loud a One Direction concert can be but at numerous points during the show, particularly when it was band member Niall's turn to sing, the crowd was so loud you couldn't hear him at all, just the sounds of screaming. With this being my first Wembley Stadium concert, I'm not too sure if this was a case of bad sound or if the crowd were just that loud.

Obviously if you're a huge fan of One Direction you will love the concert but if you're only a fan of the hits I would advise giving this tour a miss, save the £50 minimum admission fee and go see the movie when it comes out in December instead. 

McBusted Tour 2014

Today marks the end of the 2014 McBusted arena tour. I was lucky enough to experience not one but four tour dates, three of which I was in the front standing zone dubbed the OMFG zone. I have been a fan of McFly, James Bourne and Matt Willis for as long as I can remember so you can expect this review to be slightly bias.

I saw support acts Young Brando, E of E, The 3 Dudes and Hollywood Ending over the various dates I attended. The only one of the bands that impressed me was Hollywood Ending, an up and coming band from America, whose set featured catchy pop hits not too far away from the McBusted sound. Not so surprising when you discover one of the members is in fact James Bourne's younger brother. 

I was excited for the McBusted tour from the second it was announced. I have heard skeptical opinions about the super group collaboration, McFly haven't been able to sell out an arena tour for a number of years, Busted split up 10 years ago and this new venture didn't feature Busted member Charlie Simpson, could both bands really pull off this tour? The simple answer is yes. 

The concert begins with a flashback to January 14th 2005, a date that is engraved in any Busted fans mind. The press conference where Busted announce that they are to split is shown. Busted members James Bourne and Matt Willis then have to undertake a mission to go back to the future in order to perform with McFly. They appear on stage in a real life Delorean car before McFly literally pop up onto the stage. The introduction was very well thought through with the Back To The Future film references for McFly and the press conference for Busted and was a great way to introduce both bands onto the stage.

Considering they had only debuted McBusted at McFly's Royal Albert Hall concerts a few months earlier the whole band were playing tight together. It was like they always have been one band and not two.  The tour is just one hit after another, from the first chords to Air Hostess to the last strum of Year 3000, fans were singing along to ever word. You'd be surprised at how many hits the bands have had between them and the tour proved that collectively they're musical force to be reckoned with. The biggest surprise for me was that all 6 members of McBusted had the biggest smiles on their faces throughout the concerts. It was refreshing to see them all genuinely seeming to be having the time of their lives whilst on stage. Something which was never seen with Busted. For Busted members James and Matt the tour is the first time since Busted that either have performed to a sell out arena but for not one second would you think that it has been ten years. Both still ooze stage presence, perhaps even more so than when they were in Busted. 

It soon becomes apparent that the big selling point of the McBusted tour is Busted. The set list is jam packed full of Busted songs with a few of McFly's biggest hits squeezed in for good measure. Is this necessarily a bad thing? I don't think so. When they're performing the songs it genuinely feels like McBusted are performing them and not McFly singing Busted songs and visa versa. 

I feel as though all the band members have realised that this tour is more likely than not going to be a one off so have pulled out all the stops for the tour. From the Delorean entrance to the flying UFO bstage, the whole tour is just a whole new level to anything that McFly and Busted have ever done apart.

If you went to see the tour because you wanted a Busted reunion tour or you're a McFly fan or like me have supported them all over the years, the tour was definitely a success. Whether McBusted continue or the band members go back to life prior to McBusted, I'm very happy that they did the tour. I don't think anyone will look back at it and see that it hasn't been an accomplishment. Quite honestly it is one of the best live shows that I have seen in a long time and I'm so glad to have been in the crowd to witness it.