Can you pinch me please, because I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming. Having grown up with their music over the last 20+ years I was excited to get the opportunity to live out another little teenage dream this year and shoot McFly at the end of October, at their Bournemouth show for Bring The Noise. I think the last time I saw them, I was at Uni, many moons ago, but coincidentally at the BIC again. Talk about full circle.
To kick things off, the support act was LostAlone, headed by lead singer Steven Battelle who worked with McFly on their latest album, Power To Play. Makes sense for his band to be joining the tour in support. They got the crowd going and were a great start to the gig.
After a patient wait between acts, everyone was ready for McFly to come out and do their thing. You’ve got to give it to the guys, they really bring the energy to the room. Bassist Dougie Poynter rarely stays in one place for very long, bouncing across the stage, and Tom Fletcher again doing the rounds of the stage in between his vocal parts, throwing in his well known jumps every now and then (see GIF below).
McFly fans have always been very loyal, and just to prove this, I met a lady there who had come with her wheelchair-bound son who, she told me, was down in the front row, and that this was their 3rd show of the week (and this was the 3rd show of the tour). Altogether they’d seen them 77 times - he was 24!! I actually spotted him in some of my crowd shots later on when going through the images and he really did look like he was having the best time. One of the best parts of my job is seeing what the music truly means to people. Some people can’t stop smiling, some people jump about, some people have a little cry - it’s really wholesome to witness each and every one.
The crowd didn’t stop moving, and for the most part there was either a sea of phones or hands up in the air. Steven Battelle from LostAlone joined the lads for one song which went down very well, and a particularly fun part of the set was when a member of the audience got chosen to come up on stage and be bell ringer for a song. A lady called Beatrice was chosen for this one, in her beautiful bright yellow coat, who clearly had a lot of fun on stage with them (but then honestly, how could you not?)
There’s no doubt that this gig was a highlight of the year for me, and guess what… I might have got to photograph them AGAIN this year too! Keep your eyes peeled for that one.