Review: Power to Play Tour McFly at O2 City Hall Newcastle

McFly – O2 City Hall – Photos: © Adam Kennedy

McFly came to Newcastle for two nights with their current Power to Play tour and we caught them on the last of the two gigs at the O2 City Hall Newcastle.

This band have been around for an amazing twenty years and upon looking around have managed to bring a fan base that has spanned every one of those years, from young to older fans like me. 

McFly are sometimes cast as Busted 2.0 but started only a couple of years after them, so they’ve been on the circuit together a long time and this foursome have showed they’re a band not to be overshadowed nor a clone.

Touring the Power to play album they haven’t tried to change too much about their sound, it is rather more about bringing it back to where it began with guitars and live performance. Wanting to reach out and encourage the next bedroom musician and a much more of a rock ‘n’ roll feel.

Sometimes I feel the intimacy of an academy gig can make a show and this was a prime example. It was close and personal. The energy was high from the start and for those seated in the balconies it didn’t stay that way for long with fans soon up on their feet. 

Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd all brought the guitar rifting enthusiasm we would expect. You can tell they clearly love this element of being able to play live to fans and still have the same energy as when they first started all that time ago.

With songs like ‘where did all the guitars go’, ‘One for the radio’, ‘Star Girl’, Happiness, to stripped back version of ‘Its all About you’ amongst a set of 21 Songs in total there was something for everyone. 

A wonderful night seeing McFly and live for the first time might I add (even after all these years).