Rocking Out to 'Busted' & Meeting Matt Willis!
If you're old enough, you'll remember Busted as a pretty popular boy band trio coming to fame around 2001/2002. Ever since I received their first album at the age of 8, I was hooked. I loved everything about their music, the sound, the singing, the guitars, the rhythm. Everything!
My favourite was James. He always has been and still is to this day, my favourite member. But in the last 16 years, I had never seen them live in concert before. I saw them once at a small festival where I live, but they were only on stage for all of 30 minutes, if that. So when I heard they were coming around again, I really wanted to go. Luckily, my boyfriends listens, as this year, for my 24th birthday, he surprised me with tickets to see the trio in Birmingham, on their 'Half Way There' tour.
I was so happy! In fact, 'happy' is probably an understatement. I was so excited to go, every time I thought about it, I found myself smiling from ear-to-ear without even noticing. I'd get butterflies in my tummy and I just felt nothing but pure illation.
I'm not going to lie, I was more excited about them singing their old stuff, and I wasn't left disappointed. About half of their setlist was made up of old classics from their 'Busted' and 'A Present for Everyone' albums. I downloaded their new album about a week before I was due to go to the concert, so I was sure to know all the songs, even the new ones.
But the night was made before I'd even sat down in my seat. We were staying in a hotel, pretty much behind the arena. We only walked the way the staff had told us to in order to get to the venue. As we were walking, it was dusk, so a little hard to see, especially as I didn't have my glasses on. But I saw a man on his phone, playing a bit of music, stood in the middle of the road. Behind him was the stage door and there were a few tour buses next to him.
I thought "no that can't be him, he wouldn't just be stood there would he?". I had convinced myself it wasn't a member of the band, mainly because I'm never that lucky. But lo and behold, it was Matt Willis, the band's Bass player. I couldn't believe it. He came up to us, gave me a kiss and a hug and even agreed to have a photo with me (which you can see at the end of this post). My boyfriend had a selfie with him as well!
He was very nice, a little shy but extremely pleasant and more than happy to have a bit of a chat with us. I couldn't quite get over what had happened. We walked away and I freaked out a bit...ok, a lot! It was a dream come true for me, I could just imagine 8 year old me jumping around, so chuffed that I'd met a member of my all time favourite band. If you'd have told me back then that my 24 year old self would have met a member of Busted, I'd have told you to sugar off!
I'm still in a slight state of shock to be honest, even now, two days after it happened! That aside, the show was fantastic. They were full of energy, loud, the guitar playing was amazing. At one point, James was on the piano and Charlie on the Acoustic guitar, singing a cover of 'Free Fallin' by Tom Petty, which was an utterly breath taking performance. They even played my all time favourite song of theirs - 'Britney'.
I was singing along all night, at the top of my voice. I felt sorry for my boyfriend sitting right next to me! But they played some old classics, 'Year 3000', 'What I go to School For', 'Crashed the Wedding', 'Falling for You', 'Air Hostess', 'You Said No' and 'Sleeping with the Light on', to name a few. They were on from 9pm till about 10:45pm, and I loved every single second. I spent the whole time with a huge smile on my face, excitedly anticipating what the next song was going to be.
They had huge screens up, that started with the year 2019. It then flicked back, 2018, 2017, 2016, one by one, all the way back to 1990, where they opened the show with 'Nineties', a new song of theirs. It then went back up from 1990, again year by year, up to 2002, where they started playing some old songs. They then closed the show with 'Year 3000', and you can guess what happened then! It went from 2002, year by year, surpassing year 2019, and everyone knew what the song was going to be. Before we knew it, the year was 3000 appeared on the screens and everyone was on their feet, screaming, singing, laughing, crying, bouncing, jumping, all over the place, generally having a fantastic time!
I couldn't believe it was over. I never wanted it to end, but I left feeling adrenaline pumped! I even managed to grab some confetti, which came out of a huge canon, and a programme. Overall, I had a fantastic night, one I'll remember forever. They put on a spectacular show, even my rocker boyfriend enjoyed it ;)
They put on an excellent performance, from beginning to end. It was highly polished, and very intimate, regardless of the fact thousands of other people where there, it felt like they were there just for 8 year old me. The whole atmosphere was electric, I wish I could go again and catch the tail end of their tour. If you get a chance and you love Busted as much as I do, then please go and see them, you won't be disappointed!
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I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you love Busted too and if you've seen them live at any point in their 17 years of fame. What's your favourite song and who's your favourite member? I will see you really soon with another post.
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Keep on writing, great job!
ReplyDeleteHey very interesting blog!
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