McFly returned to Cambridge for their second sell out night at the Corn Exchange for their Power To Play tour. It’s hard to believe that it’s 20 years since UK’s best boyband first burst on to the music scene.
I arrived a little late and just caught the end of the support act LostAlone. Lead singer Steven Battelle co wrote several songs on Power To Play. The audience is dominantly female, a mix of teenagers with their parents and twenty somethings. Despite it being only November, a number of the audience are sporting Santa Hats (some with lights), Christmas jumpers and tinsel.
After a short break, the lights dim, YMCA heralds the start of the main event. The arrival of McFly on stage is greeted with applause and screams from the audience. There’s a wall of phones as the band launch into Where Did All The Guitars Go? the single from Power To Play. Already the audience with hands in the air were singing along. Land of the Bees and One for the Radio quickly follow but the singing from the audience continued unabated.
Harry tells the crowd that their first night in Cambridge was the best night of the tour. He encouraged the audience to make this the best. There is an instant increase in the volume from the audience.
During Everybody Knows, a cow bell is brought on stage. The band pick a young girl, Maya from the audience to join them on stage to play the cow bell. It turned out it was her first ever gig.
Things are slowed down for an acoustic break featuring songs Not Alone and All About You from Tom and Danny whose vocal styles seem to be perfectly matched.
The set is brought to a close with Red. After a short break, the band are back on stage for a three song encore, Forever’s Not Enough, Honey I’m Home and Five Colours in Her Hair which has everyone singing along and bring the evening to the perfect end. I’ve seen McFly a couple of times before but this was their best performance.
Set List
Where Did All the Guitars Go?
Land of the Bees
One for the Radio
God of Rock & Roll
Friday Night
Corrupted
Lies
Route 55
I’m Fine
Too Close for Comfort
Everybody Knows
Star Girl
Happiness
Obviously
Not Alone (Tom & Danny only)
All About You (Tom & Danny Only)
Shine On
Red
Encore:
Forever’s Not Enough
Honey I’m Home
Five Colours in Her Hair
Words and Photos by Mark Stimpson
