MCBUSTED | LIVE REVIEW

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Fri 23 May

It’s easy to forget, with all these 90s and 00s bands reuniting, that not only have they aged but their fanbase has too. Arriving at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, I expected to find a queue of giddy teenagers – but the crowd was made up of punters in their late twenties and early thirties. It seems the McBusted fans, be they from team Busted or team McFly, have gelled well to form one superfanbase.

With a flash of pyrotechnics, bringing the six members from under the stage into our line of vision, the guys literally exploded on to the stage and embarked on an hour and a half of pure punk-pop anthems. Back in the day it was said that these bands were rivals, but apparently that was just for publicity; these guys are, and always have been, best pals. This was definitely evident on stage: McBusted looked like they were having the time of their lives.

This second chance is not wasted on the boys. First time round, their success led to certain members going off the rails slightly, some ending up in rehab. A decade or so on, it’s obvious they’ve matured and now appreciate the privilege of performing in front of hundreds of thousands of people. With most members family men now, partying seems to be retained for the stage. From a set made up of a three-breasted woman (in homage to Busted’s Year 3000) to giant balls being volleyed around the crowd, it was just non-stop fun.

It seems that every other band from the last two decades is reuniting in hope of making a quick buck – witness the prevalence of ITV reality show The Big Reunion. The downside to this, however, is when the cameras stop following them around so do the fans, and their second round of stardom is forgotten as quickly as it returned. Yet there remain the upper echelons of bands who do it all on their own, Take That being teenpop’s prime example – their reformation made them at least as famous and respected as was initially the case.

If they are to stick together, this could also happen for McBusted. They write their own songs, play their own instruments and – strangely enough for a band categorized in the pop genre – they are actually quite good at it.

words DENIECE CUSACK