Busted
Utilita Arena // Birmingham, England // 9 September, 2023
Photos and review by Sophie Jones
So, in the U.K. we’re currently experiencing a heatwave which, quite frankly, has come out of the blue. It was 7 p.m. and it was still scorching hot outside as people made their way to Birmingham’s Utilita Arena to celebrate the first night of two shows for Busted’s 20th anniversary.
The night started in blackness with Top Gun intro music playing before the curtain dropped, revealing Doc from Back To The Future. Sparks flew up as Doc pressed a few buttons before Busted rose to the stage from a platform positioned behind the drum riser. The band stood there for a few moments as the crowd erupted when they saw their silhouettes. Then, the lights kicked in and the boys went into opening the show with “Air Hostess.”
Further into the evening, Matt Willis mentioned they were about to play a new song called “Good Ones” which came out earlier in the week. He then went on to briefly mention it appears on the Greatest Hits 2.0 album.
As the evening went on, the banter continued between all three as they reminisced about Charlie Simpson running around a field in his Y-fronts. Matt said to the audience, “If you get our album to No.1, who thinks Charlie should run a victory lap around the stage in his pants?” The crowd instantly erupted in agreement. The boys then went on to play, “What I Go To School For” before joining fans at the end of the walkway to perform “Falling For You.”
The chemistry and banter between Charlie and Matt was something beautiful and fun to witness. At one point, Matt turned to look at Charlie and said into the microphone, “Come on Rhino, let’s have it,” as Charlie laughed and cracked a smile before they went into “3am.”
Matt also took a moment to speak with the crowd, saying, “We all knew we wanted to do something to celebrate our 20th anniversary, so we announced 11 dates. Quite frankly, [we]shit ourselves [because]you guys sold those out in 10 minutes. So, we added more dates and you sold that shit out, too. Now we’re on tour forever. You gave us all a new sense of confidence and we’re going to do more albums, more tours. We’ll see you on the 30th anniversary.”
To end the night, they took us all to the “Year 3000,” showering us in white confetti as canons were set off from the walkway. Pyro lit up the main stage as the boys ran about their stage set up, giving their last bit of energy to the audience.
