McFly - My Not So Guilty Pleasure

Everyone has what is known as a guilty pleasure, usually something he or she really likes and enjoys but wants to keep a secret, maybe they’re embarrassed or ashamed by it?

For example you might not want anyone knowing that you love watching Geordie Shore and Gossip Girl in your Monsters Inc onesie.  Saturday mornings in your house are spent watching animated children’s films with your cats and eating Nutella on toast, also in your onesie, and you wouldn’t tell anyone that you’re a massive fan of Hanson and sing mmmbop at least once a day, would you? I would, I do all of these things and everyone knows (If they didn’t they do now!) I also love going to see pop rock boy band McFly live every year and I’m going to tell you why…

As McFly recently celebrated 10 years of being together with four sold out shows at The Royal Albert Hall  I thought it’s about time I wrote about them and my not so guilty pleasure.

It all started approximately eight years ago when my cousin Nicola and I went to our first McFly show at the MEN Arena, it was around £16 a ticket back then, bargain! We hadn’t been to large arena shows like this and the atmosphere was incredible. The moment a message appears on the over head SMS screen saying ‘”Mexican Wave” and suddenly an arena with a capacity of 23,000 people is Mexican waving, “Scream if you love Danny”  the sound of screaming girls runs in echoes around you. This is before the band have even stepped onto the stage.

Many people think these shows are filled with thirteen year olds, the majority of the people there are actually in their 20’s. When McFly began they were on our TV’s every Saturday morning, you couldn’t put on CD:UK or TOTP without seeing them. Back then these fans were those thirteen year olds. I’ve seen fans ranging  from 8 to 58 and that includes men, not just the ones who’ve been forced to go! We once saw a little boy of around ten years old in an entire McFly tracksuit, he is obviously a very cool kid.

On two occasions my cousin and I almost missed out on our yearly tradition of seeing McFly together. We found ourselves ticketless and ready to accept defeat when the lovely Clint Boon got us places on the guest list at the O2 Apollo, what a gent!

(Clint has a lovely family and one of his boys has been fund-raising for a great cause close to their hearts, full story here – Hector’s Fundraising)

The second time Nic and I almost missed a McFly show was the most bizarre of all. Ice Watch hosted a contest to win tickets to see McFly so naturally as we didn’t have any I entered to try and win tickets to the show, in order to try and double our chances I entered using my pet cat Milly’s Facebook page. Everyones cat has a facebook right? Sadly before the close of the contest Milly who had been in the family for over sixteen years became sick and went to catnip heaven, two months after this Milly won us tickets to see McFly in Leeds. The contest results went up and on the list was ‘Milly McCat’ Try explaining that one to the poor confused lady at Ice Watch. Milly obviously wanted us to go, thanks Milly!

This year was the McFly 10th anniversary and it also happened to be our 10th show.
We had fantastic seats on the balcony of Manchester Apollo behind the Jones family, the lovely folks at Manchester Apollo exchanged our standing tickets for seats after we explained that Nicola was carrying her first child, a little girl named Matilda who arrived in August. Very exciting! So thanks to Manchester Apollo and baby Matilda we had an excellent view for our 10th show.

As you can see I was more than prepared to introduce Matilda to the tradition her mum and I share and she already has a baby vest ready to grow into! Give her five years and she’ll be joining us to see them, a fan in the making I’m sure.

I managed to take some fab pictures at the Love is Easy tour and the overall show was just amazing. The biggest surprise was James Bourne of Busted coming on and playing Year 3000, in that moment I think I was thirteen again. Presenting the show was Antony Brant who used to be in boy band V and the main support band was indie pop boy band The Vamps, I have a feeling they are going to go far with those cheeky smiles and feel good music, a lot like McFly in the early days.

Watch the following video from our night at the Manchester Apollo to see Danny J split his pants… You know you want to 😉

From being boys with skater mop tops and chubby cheeks wearing band shirts to being well dressed sophisticated men, we grew up with them. They’ve flown the length of the MEN arena whilst playing on a glass bottom stage, taken to walk ways with T-shirt guns and beach balls and sold out the Royal Albert Hall, four times! Seeing McFly live isn’t like seeing any other band, and this is why I keep going back. When you buy a ticket to see them it isn’t just about the music, they really do put on a show. It’s almost theatrical they have great sets and themes for each tour, this usually includes a great surprise that you won’t be expecting and if you’re really lucky you’ll get to see Doug flash his bottom! 😉

In the words of McFly themselves

“Don’t pretend you hate us and then sing along, ‘Cause we all look the same in the dark”

Do you have a guilty pleasure that you hide from everyone? Or are you more like myself and find yourself shouting about it and not caring what anyone thinks?
Let us know in the comments!

 

 

join-the-conversation
  • I love mcfly! I wish I could have gone to the Royal Albert Hall!
    I think it’s great that the concerts are filled with people of all ages.They’re suitable for everyone really!

    • LeeLee

      They certainly are!

      I even see parents having a great time, it’s just really entertaining and fun.
      They also still have a laugh and adult jokes without it being anything that could offend people who have little ones there. I just love it! Xx

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  • LeeLeeLoves

    Yep… Totally one of their songs 😉 Xx

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