McFly
Live at O2 Academy Leeds on Saturday, 17th March 2012
McFly's 'Keep Calm and Play Louder' tour brought them to the sold-out O2 Academy in Leeds last night. The audience was largely female though some of the band's youngest fans were also present and clearly very excited to see the talented pop band - boosted further into fame and popularity by various TV appearances, not to mention newly crowned 'King of The Jungle' bassist Dougie Poynter and his victory on I'm A Celebrity, and drummer Harry Judd, winner of the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The band walked onstage to sirens and eardrum-shattering screams before leaping into the dancey 'Nowhere Left To Run' and getting the whole room bouncing along before flying into 'One For The Radio' from their 2009 album Radio:ACTIVE.
The band kept crowd participation at its peak throughout the show, with sing-alongs, friendly banter and joking around that mirrors their ever-pleasant personalities. They looked as though they were having just as much fun as the crowd, leaping about the carpeted stage while managing to play every single song note-perfect.
New songs 'Red' and the beautiful 'Touch The Rain' were greeted with the same enthusiasm from the crowd as the older classics such as 'Obviously' and 'All About You' and 'Red' saw Danny throwing away his guitar and dancing about the stage with a microphone suspended from the ceiling, much to the delight of the crowd.
The band completed a 20 song setlist before coming back for their encore of two songs, 'Walk In The Sun' and their fifteenth top 5 hit 'Shine A Light' from their fifth and most recent studio album 'Above The Noise', before throwing absolutely everything they could afford to lose into the crowd, handing drumsticks and plectrums to the children at the front and Danny leaving girls trembling after climbing onto the barrier for the last few bars of 'Shine A Light'.
The band thanked the audience for their constant support, telling them that they'll be returning to the studio this summer to record their sixth studio album, as well as celebrating nine years as McFly. What a nine years it's been.
