Mcfly: Keep Calm and Play Louder

As an 18 year old male, it's a pretty awkward experience being stuck in the middle of a crowd of screaming teenage girls who are significantly younger than you. Luckily, when there's a famous band playing like Mcfly playing, no-one seems to notice who's stood around them. 

And this was definitely the case last night at the Engine Shed. After queuing up for seven hours, it would have been awful to be anywhere but the front barriers, which is where me and my sister were.
A buzz washed through the audience as the lights turned down and the first support act, Count the Days, came onto the stage. One of the winners of Mcfly's Battle of the Bands competition, the 3 piece group from Hertfordshire were full of energy as they got the crowd going with their lively pop punk. 

These were swiftly followed by London based band IvyRise, who had several members of the audience in tears of excitement as soon as they came on. Their upbeat rock songs and passionate stage presence definitely went down well, and their final song, a unique rock cover of  Set Fire To The Rain by Adele, resulted in a fairly big cheer from the crowd. 

Then silence, until an air-raid style alarm began to go off and the fans started to woop and screech louder than ever. It was finally time for the main event, and from the build up, it was hard not to be excited. The lights dimmed and spotlights began circling the room, until lead vocals from Tom Fletcher kicked off the first song of the night, Nowhere left to run.

King Of The Jungle Dougie Poynter Gets Ready To Sing. Photo: Luke Botham

This was followed by quite a few of their most popular songs including Lies, Obviously, Star Girl and Shine A Light. They also sang a couple of songs from their upcoming sixth studio album, such as Red, which is released next week, and Touch the Rain. These two songs definitely went up a notch in rockyness compared to the pop songs seen in their first albums, and the reception from the audience was great. It was a bit different to what we're used to, but it worked well and Danny's voice seemed to suit the style more than I would've expected.

They then went into a rendition and one off medley of other well known pop songs by bands like Busted, and current chart toppers by One Direction, Gotye and Rihanna, which got potentially the loudest and best reaction of the night; even the slightly bored looking parents were joining in when Bon Jovi was added into the mix. 

Tom Fletcher Rocking Out For The Crowd.  Photo: Luke Botham

The happy, cheeky and down to earth characteristics of the band made it impossible not to get into the spirit, laugh, and sing along, and the frequent interaction with and talking to the audience made it feel as if the fans were the most important thing about the gig. Their stories and jokes about each other gave the gig an individual feel and broke it up between songs, and one particular story told by Dougie, in which he called Tom, 'Teabag Tom', set the fun mood for the rest of the gig fairly early on.

All of this proved too much for a few audience members, who were reluctantly dragged away from the venue, and after several girls were taken ill, Mcfly burst into a chorus of Another one bites the dust to try and lighten the mood. 

Danny Jones Sings His Solo, Walk in the Sun.
Photo: Luke Botham

A highlight for us was getting personally tutted at by Tom, who was standing near us for most of the gig,  for getting the timing wrong during Star Girl. I was embarrassed at the time, but I guess not many people can say they've been tutted at by Tom Fletcher. 

Once the medley finished, lead singer Danny Jones performed a slow and calm solo of Walk in the Sun, which I think really showed off his range in vocal ability as a singer. Despite being totally different from the bands normal style, it was still pitch perfect and gave me shivers! This was closely followed by the grand finale of Shine A Light as the whole band rocked the stage for one last time.
After the final song, the guys began to throw guitar picks into the screeching crowd. This was followed by Tom and Dougie, who chucked the remaining water from their bottles at the audience (some of which went in my gob...), and then Harry, who gave up a drumstick for a fan. Danny even jumped into the unsuspecting audience at one point, greeting a lucky few nearby where he landed.

Overall, it was a pretty good gig. They sing brilliantly live, and it's easy to tell how much effort they've put in to please their fans. Their powerful and passionate voices pull everyone in and it's hard not to melt into the atmosphere.  They also sing a large variety of songs, and are clearly trying to reach out to each and every person in the room, no matter how long they've been a fan. 

Danny Sings To The Crowd As Tom Plays The Keyboard.
Photo: Luke Botham