In some ways, McFly are four lucky guys, or five lucky guys if you count their live keyboardist. But I don't think we do. Sorry.
Launched in 2003, the band have spent 18 years together, and although they've not released music consistently for that period (their latest studio album, 'Young Dumb Thrills', was their first in over a decade) the group have remained firm favourites at the top of their genre. Part boyband, part Rock Group, part Pop Punk. And you'd be forgiven for thinking that any of those definitions, and all of them, could be used to describe the band that composed tracks like 'Five Colours in Her Hair' and 'All About You'
The luck, in my humble opinion, comes from the ability to continue to play their music together live and fill arenas like the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, where we lay our scene. Some bands, too many to mention, have lit fires and extinguished their flames in a much shorter time. Guitarist and Vocalist Danny Jones is a talented performer, he knows how to play, but is also equally lucky that he is not currently teaching that guitar craft to a bunch of Sixth Formers at the local comprehensive. Unfortunately, talent has less and less to do with it, and luck counts for a lot.
So in that respect, McFly are extremely lucky, and tonight's performance is an example of that luck. The audience, for one, are compromised of several generations - original fans who have remained with the band since their first live performance on CD:UK - fans who are now, themselves, potentially parents who bring their own children tonight. And you've also got a number of fans in the ages between, some who originally fell in love with the band in 2008 and then some who found them in 2013. But the amazing thing, is that whenever they found the band, they stayed. And despite the hiatus and the supergroup phase of McBusted (which I'm assured we must not mention), those fans have remained extremely loyal.
The group's co-founder, alongside the aforementioned Mr Jones, is Guitarist and Vocalist Tom Fletcher who puts you in mind - through his choice of wardrobe - of Buddy Holly. Mr Fletcher tells the assembled audience, many of whom are not actually listening to him because they're screaming so loudly, that a lot of McFly's biggest hits are based around the same four chords - songs like 'Obviously' and 'Stargirl', and yet it just depends on what order you play those chords in. Indeed, lyrically, some songs are the most basic you could imagine - as 'Room on the 3rd Floor' is simply an autobiographical account of Fletcher and Jones writing staycation in a Hotel room.
But again, this is where luck comes into play, because for every "hit" there is several hidden gems. Songs like 'Dragonball' and 'Red' which work to highlight the variety of this bands work. Another reason that every fan in attendance tonight, even if they're the same age and fell in love with the band at the same exact time, didn't necessarily fall in love with the same version of that band. Just like appealing to Rockers and Poppers; McFly have appealed to chart favourites and curveballs.
Tonight's setlist is peppered with a variety of tracks from their latest album, featuring recent successes like 'Happiness', 'Growing Up' and 'Tonight Is The Night' - songs that have already established themselves as firm favourites in the hearts and minds of fans across the world. At one point, a fantastic video unveils a bear who has come to life, and uses part of the set pieces to take a machine (looking suspiciously as if it came from a certain 80s Disney film) and using its lucky placements to increase his size. This then leads to a massive - and we mean massive - Teddy onstage, complete with moving hands and Terminator eyes.
This months dates are officially the UK Tour the band should have completed just prior to the first Lockdown in 2020. Tonight's date is the fourth date on which this ticket was rescheduled. Again, it is purely luck that the band find themselves in the fortuitous position of being able to play this entire tour just as the England has come out of heavier restrictions - meaning that for most dates the band are the first live music the respective cities have seen almost 18 months. Which itself brings a certain curious percentage to the arena, just desperate for a good nights entertainment.
Regardless of this luck, it's important to state again that McFly are talented, and drummer Harry Judd and bassist Dougie Poynter help complete the groups line up, cementing that the talent is there - and without this, the luck itself would be quite meaningless. No doubt we can look forward to huge celebrations in 2023 when the band tour again to celebrate 20 years.