McFly - Manchester M.E.N Arena

Being the band’s sixth tour, you would expect much of same now as they run out of ideas. This is definitely not the case however as this, the band's first tour on thier own record label sees more creativity, surprises and explosions than ever before, ‘The Radio:Active Tour’ being a very fitting name. Storming on stage after a 2 minute intro video is played on the huge screens to hype up the crowd into hysteria, the fierce foursome begin with their first single from Radio:Active; ‘One For The Radio’. The band bounced, jumped and ran their way through their set, seeming never to tire of performing, even though the two front men, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones do complain of illness. Vocally, the boys are flawless with their smooth, untouched voices filling the huge arena, along with their loud and feisty guitar based rhythms to create a really buzzing atmosphere. This time round they are accompanied by backing singers with an incredible range, one of them being Anthony Brant from the not so successful boy band V. Not one trick ponies though, slowing the tempo down at times. They played their classic ‘Room On The Third Floor’ acoustically, without the aid from drums until the very last chorus, building to a truly hairs-standing-on-end crescendo, fire and all.

With the whole set full of surprises, there’s never a dull moment when the boys are performing. The ingenious ‘floating’ stage being the moment everyone remembers most clearly, as the band travel from the front to the middle of the huge arena on a massive see-through ledge, giving fans a real close up of the boys for a few songs. After this came another shock; a solo from Danny Jones, as he throws away his guitar for one song to belt out a totally energetic Micheal Jackson cover of ‘Black or White.’ Worryingly, not looking the slightest bit lost without his guitar, the true extent of his perfectly pitched, slightly husky voice is heard as he entertains the crowd with his ‘rock star’ dance moves, much to his own amusement.

As the tradition goes, ending the show with ‘5 Colours In Her Hair’ gives the boys one last time to show off their talent. Still full of energy the band give it their all, singing the infamous ‘Do do do do dos.’ An impressive improvised twanging guitar ‘solo’ after the bridge comes from Fletcher and Jones, along with some pink and gold fireworks to end the night with a bang. Apologising for only putting on an average performance due to illness, the arena fills with cheers; if McFly can perform that amazingly whilst ill, you should see them when they’re on top form. Bring on next year.