Busted

You have no idea how much this night meant to me, despite the claims that this would never happen I have been waiting years for this reunion. Busted were a massive part of my childhood and now I was finally living the childhood dream. It was such a friendly, buzzing atmosphere upon arrival as everyone looked forward to what would be a fun evening that would bring back the memories and emotions.

The opening acts for the night was Youtuber turned singer, Emma Blackery, and US rock band Wheatus. Now before this I had never known that Blackery was, or had plans to be, a singer. I had recognised her name from the suggestions section on my Youtube homepage where her channel has over a million subscribers, but I was pleasantly surprised. Her larger than life voice and short set of catchy, upbeat pop-rock songs had a old-school feel, something from the early noughties pop-punk/rock scene, like think of how Avril Lavigne used to sound like. Whilst not being the most groundbreaking new material I have ever heard, I do look forward to hear what else she has to offer. There was a further blast from the past when Wheatus hit the stage. Even if you don’t know the name you will have almost certainly have heard ‘Teenage Dirtbag’  at some point in your life. With a short set of classics like ‘A Little Respect’, ‘Lemonade’ and, of course, ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ everyone got excited for what would be a nostalgic filled evening.

Soon the wait began for Busted and the teasers started, which first included a large pig balloon floating around the arena and sudden pauses of the music playing with brief films of people wearing pig masks in random locations that helped to excite everyone with what they were about to see. A rather scary technique I might add. The films got longer and the official intro started that concluded with all three members of the band appearing on screen and the onstage pig sty was revealed where lucky fans were given to opportunity to watch and be a part of the show.

Busted opened with their new song ‘Coming Home’, an instant reminder to everyone that Busted was back and then going straight into ‘Air Hostess’ and, for me at least, the emotions and memories git me all at once. The set was filled with classics like ‘You Said No’, ‘Crashed The Wedding’, ‘Falling For You’ and ‘Sleeping With The Light On’, along with a section where they moved to a central stage and played slower songs ‘Meet You There’ and new song ‘Easy’. I think it was at this point that I realised how much I loved going to gigs when I saw everyone with their phone lights on and singing along during ‘Meet You There’.

There was never a dull moment. The evening ended perfectly with an encore of ‘3am’, which had previously been one of the last singles released before the band’s split in 2005 and their most famous anthem ‘Year 3000’ which during no seat was sat in.

In the days leading up to this I was worried if this would end up being a huge disappointment, but as I sat there with my friend at the end in shock in that we had just seen our childhood I knew that it had been worth the twelve year wait.