McFly: One Night Only… Again! 21/11/2021

Where: The O2 Arena – London, England (UK)

Venue rating: 8.5/10 (Nice location by the river but out of the way, Fun range of shops/restaurants in the building to pass the time – though none were open after the concert)

Who I went with: Paul

Where we stayed: Grange White Hall Hotel, London (we were moved to the “sister hotel” of Grange Blooms Hotel)

How we travelled there: Plane & train /underground

Beverage of choice: Over-priced white wine

SETLIST:

Star Girl
One For The Radio
I’ll Be OK
Lies
Transylvania
Friday Night
Obviously
Wild And Young
Red (B Stage)
Sink Or Swim (B Stage – Acoustic)
Tonight Is The Night (B Stage – Acoustic)
POV (B Stage – Acoustic)
Happiness
Another Song About Love
Growing Up
Young Dumb Thrills (Live debut)
Room On The 3rd Floor
Falling In Love
Dragonball
The Heart Never Lies (Encore)
5 Colours In Her Hair (Encore)
All About You (Encore)

Paul and I originally booked a short trip to London to finally see ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Wicked: The Musical’, which had been a dream of mine for a long time. I was desperate to experience live entertainment again after lock-down, which seemed to last an eternity. I used to always have something lined up, so I wouldn’t get too depressed and all the extra hours I was working would seem worthwhile – usually a trip somewhere exotic. Not being able to do anything or go anywhere besides work made me realise how much I still want to do, like seeing lots of musicals and my favourite bands live. The mental list I came up with seemed to go on forever. I noticed McFly were performing the night after ‘Wicked’ and managed to convince Paul to come with me, since I adore their new album ‘Young Dumb Thrills’ – their first one in a number of years. I was so excited for McFly to make a comeback and they are really fun and full of energy – the perfect band to kick-start the long list of concerts I was eyeing up. Concerts never used to appeal to me as I can be very self-conscious and I’ve been bullied in the past for not singing or dancing along enough but my love for music outweighs the negative aspects. Now that I’m getting older, I care a lot less about what other people think.

We had OneRepublic and Keane booked since early 2020 but they kept getting pushed back. I can’t remember where I saw them advertised but it was probably Facebook. They are my two favourite bands and they don’t tour often, so it was impossible to resist. I picked up ‘Young Dumb Thrills’ after Giovanna Fletcher (wife of Tom, one quarter of McFly) won ‘I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out Of Here’ in 2020 and I came across it in Tesco. The CD stood out because of the distinctive bear on the front – Pistola Bear. I hadn’t thought about McFly for a number of years before that. I didn’t see the series where Dougie Poynter won it, in 2011. That feels like a long time ago already because Tesco don’t even sell CDs anymore. It didn’t feel like it had been ten years since their last studio album. I found ‘Red’ from their ‘Lost Songs’ collection on YouTube and their ‘Dragonball’ single around this time and they became my favourite songs of theirs. The others I was most looking forward to hearing were ‘Tonight Is The Night’ and ‘All About You’, which is a classic. The concert was almost sold out when we booked, which wasn’t a surprise because they are still one of the most popular bands in the UK. I got two seats right at the back of the arena but kept checking Ticketmaster to find better seats. We didn’t manage to get into the “OMFG Zone” but you can see in the picture how excited the fans were to be there.

The O2 Arena is a bit of a pain to get to. Well, it wasn’t too bad but it seems so out of the way. I like the location though, right by the river. We didn’t leave a lot of time to explore the venue but it was full of shops and places to eat. None were open after the show finished, which seemed like a missed opportunity. There was a clear bag policy in place but not a lot of people followed it. It just meant security took longer to search our bags. The queue for the merch store was huge and the entrance to it was out the front, so we gave it a miss as it was cold outside. I wish I hadn’t been in such a rush to get to the arena door because we had seats anyway and didn’t need to queue for ages. We were squashed together with hundreds of other people for a while and Paul was irritated by the conversations he couldn’t help overhear. I automatically tune people out as much as possible, so I didn’t catch any of the things he was talking about afterwards. I hadn’t been to a concert since 2014 and couldn’t remember how it all worked, or what exactly to expect. I need to teach myself to calm down.

The support act was Hot Milk. We didn’t think they were the best fit for McFly but found them okay. They were trying really hard to get the crowd excited but you could see lots of people were impatient to see McFly. A handful near the front were getting into their music though and you could tell which of their songs were their biggest hits by the volume people were singing along. According to Google, they are an emo/pop rock band from Manchester who formed in 2018. We were finding it difficult to place their music into a single genre. The band members include Han Mee, Jim Shaw, Tom Paton and Harry Deller. I just realised they have a Tom and Harry, just like McFly. They are still a relatively new band and maybe haven’t reached a global audience yet. They got quite a lot of people on their side by the end of their set but Paul and I weren’t vibing with them. We found some of the songs catchier than others and I am curious to look them up and re-listen to the songs but I don’t think they’ll become one of my new favourite bands. It will be interesting to see whether they pop up again at any future concerts I attend.

McFly came out after a short break and never stopped jumping/bouncing all over the stage. They seemed to have an endless amount of energy and I can’t figure out how they can run around and sing/play instruments at the same time. They don’t seem human. They opened with ‘Star Girl’ and sang “Make a little love in The O2” instead of “in the moonlight”, which was funny. Paul didn’t understand what the “GD” on my t-shirt stands for – “Galaxy Defenders”, a quote from this same song. Tom announced he was just voted out of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, when they were over on the B Stage. Everyone booed, as they were sad for him. You could see people checking their phones throughout the night, probably to see whether he made it through to the next round or not. It was funny though because the episode was supposed to be airing “live” on TV that night, when it obviously wasn’t because Tom was here at The O2. They could have picked a different night, to keep the illusion alive. I suppose maybe it doesn’t matter, now he was voted out! It was also quite funny when he talked about how much fans enjoyed Dougie taking over from him when he caught Covid a few weeks back and had to sit out of some of the concerts. They enjoyed getting to hear Dougie sing so much that he agreed to sing a couple of the songs tonight – also on the B Stage. I’d be bitter if I was Tom, too. Instead of whining over Tom’s absence, they fully embraced Dougie.

They performed ‘Young Dumb Thrills’ for the first time, which makes absolutely no sense because they were fresh off their ‘Young Dumb Thrills’ tour. They didn’t sing the title song during their tour! That’s madness. The night seemed to pass so quickly and I don’t think the setlist could have been any better. It had all of the hits and also some of my other favourites. I enjoyed ‘Red’ the most – it has such a strong/distinctive beat and I loved the long red cable attached to the microphone. It’s a shame the B Stage was so far away from us, as we had to strain to see them. Paul’s photos came out pretty well, considering the distance from our seats. We were nearer the stage, to the right-hand side. We were close enough to get a good view of the band when they were dashing around the main stage. The giant animatronic Pistola Bear was creepy and a brilliant inclusion. A big thumbs up to whoever made the creative decisions for this show. There were also flames and excellent lighting effects. And confetti, of course! Confetti always ends concerts on a high note, even though it must be a gigantic pain to clean up. They jogged around the “OMFG Zone” and delighted everyone by interacting with them. At the end, they threw a goodie bag over their shoulders into the middle and everyone fought to catch it.

When they were performing ‘All About You’, Dougie stopped the song to yell abuse at a tall bearded man who left in the middle of it. They slagged him off for quite a while and we couldn’t decide whether it was more funny or cringe-worthy. I think maybe they took it a step too far. From Twitter, we found out he was leaving to catch a flight. The band apologised online and the situation gained a lot of discussion. A girl who clearly found the man attractive Tweeted him, “I’m single if you’re available” and he replied something along the lines of, “I’m not available. I left early to catch a flight!” I “followed” him on Twitter. It’s funny how concerts can bring people together in strange ways. He was a bit of a celebrity after that. I wonder if he’ll ever show his face at a McFly concert again.

Finally, the band thanked fans for their continued loyalty and expressed their amazement about still being able to play huge venues such as this one. They promised new music in 2022, which got me excited. It’s going to be of a high standard, if it’s anything like ‘YDT’. It took us ages to exit the venue and we were almost last out because of where our seats were located. We ended up in a huge queue waiting for the tube and staff even announced we could consider using Uber Boat (if that’s what it’s called). Thankfully, tubes run every couple of minutes and we weren’t standing in the same position for too long. We all filed into the tube station and Paul came up with the genius plan to catch a tube in the opposite (quieter) direction away from central London and then get another one back to guarantee us seats. It worked! We got back to our hotel late at night and I was so hungry. No shops were open, so I made sure to remember to stock up on food in the future. Either leave it in the hotel room, or eat at the event. London can be daunting at night, especially at tube stops which are more out of the way and less policed. A dodgy character was hanging outside our tube station but we managed to avoid him, with a bit of luck. I wouldn’t have liked to have been on my own. My legs were so tired I kept getting that leg-jerk thing in bed. Paul thought the intensity of them was hilarious.

It’s impossible to rate the concert out of ten because it’s really difficult to settle on a score. McFly put everything they have into entertaining their fans and seeing them was definitely worth the wait. I read online that some people don’t like ‘Shine a Light’ for whatever reason but that is one of the songs I’ve listened to the most. Fans seem to dislike ‘Party Girl’ even more but I can understand that one. Ending on ‘All About You’ is predictable but it’s an iconic song that probably enters most people’s heads when they first think of McFly. I would absolutely love to see them again and will be keeping an eye out for future concerts/gigs by them. Their tickets go quickly, so you have to be on the ball. I’m already daydreaming of getting to hear all their new singles live, with an equally electric atmosphere.

GALLERY: