CityLife

McFly

POPTASTIC: McFly

Apollo, Manchester

March 10, 2012

Buzzing from their winter of success on reality TV shows, McFly are back on tour and rocking it more than ever before,

In front of a backdrop of Union Jacks and pictures of the Queen and Winston Churchill, the pop four piece perform hits from across their five studio albums, and three previously unheard tracks on their Keep Calm and Play Louder tour.

But the gig is anything but calm, as lead singers Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher race about the stage furiously and drummer Harry Judd drums relentlessly throughout,  Meanwhile bassist Dougie Poynton’s giddiness means some of the audience banter doesn’t make a lot of sense (including: “Do you guys all speak English? Sick”). However the high-energy routine sees them pack an incredible amount of hits old and new into a tireless 70-minute show.

They kick off with angst-ridden song Nowhere Left To Run, from their latest album Above the Noise, and the screaming girls in the audience are immediately enthralled.

There’s a clear progression in their music and performance from when they started out – there’s less doo-wopping and sharing of the mic, and much more concentration on creating a rockier, more alternative sound. Yet the band still manages to keep that incredible catchiness in their lyrics and a pop edge, which makes many of their tracks singalong classics.

Tunes such as Lies, Sorry’s Not Good Enough featuring Fletcher on the piano, and radio favourites Obviously and All About You are executed perfectly. Jones and Fletcher’s contrasting vocals make some fantastic harmonies, and a slowed-down, acoustic version of No Worries is beautiful in its simplicity.

Finishing the night with their most recent hit Shine A Light, McFly lay on an upbeat end to a fun evening. If the screams of their fans are anything to go by, I’d say we haven’t heard from the last of these boys yet.