Live Review: One Direction, McBusted

McBusted are irrepressible fun live. Playing to this particular audience, they seemed like the older, cooler guys with laddy humour and way too many guitars for a pop group. Tom Fletcher’s effervescent dancing multiplied by hits like Year 3000 and newbie Get Over It meant all were supremely warmed up.

As the first night of the Australian leg of their world tour, the anticipatory nerves of the audience radiated onto One Direction, arriving through projectile fog to open with Clouds. Each member has his place in the live arena; Harry Styles is the consummate pop star, all legs in the air, long hair in the breeze; Liam Payne is the professional, wrangling his bandmates; Louis Tomlinson is the desperate jokester, terrified of silence and very conscious as to whether they’re actually performing well or just winning simple applause for being there. Zayn Malik is the voice, the guy who could say nothing but when he does, you hear a stadium-wide sigh, and Niall Horan’s just happy to be there.

This new tour is essentially the Where We Are shows with a fresh paint job. The set relies heavily on Midnight Memories as opposed to Four, hinting at the tired cyclical nature of their careers, giving them no time to rehearse new songs beyond those already churned out in TV appearances. A shame, given those are the songs that shone brightest live – see Girl Almighty’s winking sensuality and Night Changes’ ballad strength. The less pop-orientated tunes like Happily and Strong were effervescent, and the fireworks punctuating big tunes Where Do Broken Hearts Go and Best Song Ever made it all the more exciting. And when Zayn Malik hit a high note, you better know we hit the floor.

These boys deserve credit for thrilling a 45,000-strong crowd with nought but songs and lights. No dance moves, no pop circus, just an earnest desire to entertain.