Live Review: Busted - The O2, London 10/09/2023
Busted electrified London’s 02 Arena on Sunday night with an emotionally charged and nostalgia-soaked show as part of their reunion tour celebrating their 20th anniversary.
During the hour-and-a-half-long sonic time-travel session, the audience was transported way back to the early 00s to revisit the very best of the pop-punk boyband.
With the crowd already buzzing waiting for the trio to take to the stage, excitement reached a fever pitch as a video of Doc Brown from Back to the Future flashed across the screen.
The iconic film character declared he’d just travelled to 2023 for the Busted reunion, with a little help from a flux capacitor.
The transmission cut on the screen and a bright white light lit out the stage, as the outlines of Charlie, Matt and James appeared and were swiftly met by a roar of screams.
After a quick hello, they wasted no time nose-diving straight into some of their most beloved hits, crashing into Air Hostess to kick things off - their blend of playful pop-punk sounding just as catchy as it did two decades ago.
As the band continued to play through their back catalogue - a slew of bangers that included Meet You There and Loser Kid - they affectionately paid homage to their heyday and cleverly tapped into the vintage renaissance through retro visuals on screen.
Early 2000-inspired graphics included a recreation of MSN Messenger and images of Nokia 5210s, while old footage of the band looped.
Busted were not playing around on conjuring up feelings of nostalgia - they were going straight for the jugular.
Matt did most of the chatting throughout the night, encouraging the crowd: “Do you wanna jump up and down and lose your minds?”
This posed somewhat of a rhetorical question - the venue had already been practically shaking from the energetic audience a mere four songs into the set.
Sure the trio might have aged, James may have developed an American accent, but the hysteria for the band undoubtedly remained exactly the same.
You Said No was the first track of the night to really stretch lead singer Charlie’s vocals, which have become even more impressive in the past 20 years, no doubt thanks to his other gig as lead singer of Fight Star.
A welcome surprise was support band Hanson joining the lads on the stage for perennial classic Mmmbop, one of the first songs James ever learnt on the guitar.
New track Good One slot nicely into the archive-heavy set, proving a slight departure from the energy of their classic hits, but ultimately giving the band a sweet opportunity to plug their new album, coming out this Friday 15th September.
Charlie teased: “Last night on stage, James Bourne said if we get a number 1 album, he’ll get a tattoo of me running naked around the field [a scene from the That’s What I Go To School For video] on his leg”.
After laying out the bet stakes to the audience, they launched into the 2002 megahit (their first-ever single) with James playfully updating the lyrics to match the current era: “So she may be 53, but that doesn't bother me”.
The success of their forthcoming album was clearly heavy on their minds as Matt confessed: “Wanna know one thing that pisses be off? Busted never had a number-one album - McFly have had two. Love those little f***ckers. The PG Busted.”
Keeping the energy high, they then got ready to play Thunderbirds Are Go, their big movie soundtrack hit.
They comically reminisced about being told the film was going to be massive - joking that at one point they were even promised an Academy Award - but ultimately the movie flopped.
Crowd favourite 3 AM was given a rockier revamp, complete with pyrotechnics for an edgier outing.
As someone who last saw Busted live back in the 2000s, it was cool to see how they've matured and the instrumental depth they’ve added to some of their songs.
Again, this was most noticeable when Charlie was really given a chance to let rip on the vocals.
As the end of the gig approached, the trio revisited another pivotal event from their past, the moment they won British Breakthrough Artist at the Brits in 2004 - playing their acceptance speech in the background which Charlie playfully mimicked.
They then covered The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks, with the original performance video of them at the Brits playing in the background.
Gearing up to the final song of the night, Doc Brown careered back into view on the stage screen, declaring that it was time to go back to the future, to the Year 3000, adding: “If you’re gonna bring the band back together, do it with style.”
As the band launched into one of their most beloved songs, it was clear they’d found a style that works for them in the current musical landscape.
They seem very appreciative and aware of where they’ve come from and where they’re going, ultimately stoked to be reliving their greatest hits and under no illusions of who got them there in the first place - the fans.
As Matt explained earlier in the night, when they were discussing what to do for the 20th anniversary the band weren’t sure ‘who they [were] in today’s world of music, in all this ‘shit’”.
“But then we put 11 arena dates on sale, and you sold them out in ten minutes. So we put more dates out, and you sold out those in 30 minutes”, adding: “You have no idea how cool this is for us.”
He revealed the tour has now become the biggest UK arena tour of 2023: “If you want us, we’ll keep coming back. We’re the happiest we’ve ever been.”
And so was the audience at the end of the night, judging by their reaction to the live reunion.
In the words of the band’s new song - Busted definitely made it ‘a good one’.
Words by Monique Hall
Photography by Abigail Shii
