Busted – Source: Official Facebook Page
To celebrate this iconic moment in pop history, Busted put together a one-off show at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
2017 marks 15-years since Busted released their debut album and a generation of teenage girls fell in love with their first guitar band. Yep, you really are that old.
The evening kicked off with an exceptional, goosebump-inducing acoustic set. The band somehow managed to create an intimate feel in such a spacious venue. Amongst some of their more well-known classics, fans were in for a real treat as Busted performed the rarely heard; ‘Over Now’, ‘Without You’ and ‘When Day Turns Into Night’. The acoustic setup allowed Charlie Simpson’s powerful vocals to take centre stage. We had no idea just how much we needed to hear an acoustic version of ‘Who’s David’ until that night.
The second half of the show boasted full throttle, unadulterated pop goodness right from the get-go with non-stop fun from the likes of ‘Air Hostess’, ‘On What You’re On’ and ‘Loser Kid’, with no slowing down all night. The audience never stopped singing every word back to them as if the band had never really been away. Although the trio wasn’t together as Busted between 2005 and 2015; and boy what a long ten-years they were. They were still busy performing for various other projects. All those years of experience have resulted in the guys sounding impressively tight together. Somehow they manage to make their older songs sound just as exciting and fresh as their new ones.
Before performing ‘What I Go To School For’, Matt Willis comments “we wrote this after a few beers as a joke, yet here I am aged 34 still playing it.” This is precisely why the band still works in 2017 – they’re not trying to be anything they’re not. The trio just wants to write and perform brilliant pop songs, and they do a damn good job of it.
When a band and their audience are as passionate as each other, it really makes a difference to a live show. The atmosphere in the historic venue was incredible and so full of love from both sides. The gig coincided with a significant milestone for the band, but they still have so much more to give. At the end of the set, James Bourne mentioned that this was their last show of 2017 before writing their fourth album. A release day fans are no doubt already looking forward to.
Many people are quick to dismiss pop bands as inauthentic without really giving them a fair chance, especially those often labelled as a ‘boyband’. If the naysayers looked a little closer, they’d see that Busted are genuinely outstanding at what they do. They’ve only reformed a couple of years; their live shows prove that pop music still inspires audiences. The Royal Albert Hall was packed full of fans old and new, showing that enjoying excellent pop music has no age limit. Thank you Busted, for helping to keep brilliant pop music alive.
