McFly returned to a sold out Southampton Guildhall last night with a performance that saw a couple of thousand screaming girls do their best to damage my ears. Luckily for me, I had earplugs.  Many fans had been camped outside for over a day before the gig  to guarantee themselves a place near the front to see their heroes who now boast a couple of reality TV stars in Jungle winner Dougie Poynter and Strictly champ Harry Judd. But despite their on-screen successes, they are clearly loving being out on the road again.

The Keep Calm and Play Loudertour visit saw a professional, polished performance of over 90 minutes with a mix of ‘classics’ from their 6 albums from their 9 year career. It would be easy for me to slate the band for their cheesy pop singalongs, but it would be unfair on them – it’s what they do, and they clearly do it well.

If there was a prize for the band who managed to mention Southampton, McFly would win hands down, with the town being name-dropped at least 30 times (but always a guaranteed winner to get even more screams).  They also had a few bra’s and knickers thrown at them onstage…..and apparently some sunflower seeds too (not sure what that was about!)

All the hits (I think) were there, including Obviously, It’s All About You and Five Colours In Her Hair.  They often turned in to medleys and even mixed in Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

There were more fellas in the audience than I imagined and I couldn’t help but chuckle when a 6 foot/ 40something finally started dad dancing when they closed the night with Shine.  I think he’d been itching to dance throughout the whole set….

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