The seven year old boy sat next to me is hugging the chair in front of him, staring at the stage with eyes like saucers. The crowd is a strange mix of excited children, fluffy-haired fledgling indie boys and what seems like several thousand twelve year old girls wearing bunny ears. They turn the dark arena into a carpet of brightly lit mobile phone screens, poised for the moment that McFly finally bound onto the stage like four toddlers in the grip of a sugar rush.
Mcfly are hardly audible beyond the screaming of a barely teenage crowd as they open with Party Girl, a track from their new album 'Above the Noise'. The band sound very tight and together, but 'Party Girl' is such a blatant 'Bad Romance' rip off that Gaga should be demanding royalties. They follow 'Party Girl' with another new track, 'If U C Kate'. Britney Spears has already tried to pull this immensely clever lyrical trick, but the throng of devoted fans don't seem to notice these two unapologetic examples of musical plagiarism as they're too busy bouncing up and down and pedantry probably isn't on their list of priorities. The band play against a backdrop of swirling neon love-hearts, which seems a little too twee for a song that is less about the wonders of love, and more about spelling out a naughty word.
All snottiness aside, McFly actually sound very professional tonight and display impressive musical ability. When McFly's most defining hits 'Obviously', 'Five Colours In Her Hair' and 'All About You' are played, I surprise myself to discover I know all of the words. The crowd goes wild, singing every line with breathless adoration. The enduring nature of these songs is testament to McFly's talent for melody, and their cheeky onstage persona coaxes even the most unwilling audience member into submission, like a sweetly persistent bear-hug.
It seems that McFly's main priority with this new album is to reinvent themselves as Grown Up Men. Gone are the naughty boys who wonder about whether their love interest cooks in the nude - McFly are older now, and with age comes an appreciation of 'venemous lips and poison perfume'. Yet this gig proves that McFly's most alluring asset is their innocence, their boyishness, and that their musical strength lies in their poppy simplicity. As catchy as the new material is, some of it is a little too desperate to be mature - like when a fifteen year old grows a patchy moustache. The age ranges of the audience seems to demonstrate this. Songs like 'I Need a Woman' seem rather ironic when they're being belted out to a crowd of screaming primary school girls, and 'End of the World'' is a pretty good tune, but not when the audience is full of six year olds who can barely spell 'arm', never mind 'Armageddon'. The latter half of the gig is strewn with huge inflatable plastic balloons that bounce across the audience as the band hang from the rigging like Westlife. At one point Danny Jones dons a pair of ugly sunglasses and begins an ill-advised rap. It all just seems a little confused.
Ultimately, Mcfly are an impressive live band, they are skilful musicians, enviable songwriters and charismatic live performers. But as much as the young fans seem to worship the four boys on stage, it is apparent that the band's new musical direction is aiming to outgrow them. But someone should tell McFly that spelling out FUCK doesn't make anyone grow up any quicker.
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Mcfly are hardly audible beyond the screaming of a barely teenage crowd as they open with Party Girl, a track from their new album 'Above the Noise'. The band sound very tight and together, but 'Party Girl' is such a blatant 'Bad Romance' rip off that Gaga should be demanding royalties. They follow 'Party Girl' with another new track, 'If U C Kate'. Britney Spears has already tried to pull this immensely clever lyrical trick, but the throng of devoted fans don't seem to notice these two unapologetic examples of musical plagiarism as they're too busy bouncing up and down and pedantry probably isn't on their list of priorities. The band play against a backdrop of swirling neon love-hearts, which seems a little too twee for a song that is less about the wonders of love, and more about spelling out a naughty word.
