Having completed his latest charge around a runway that encircles a portion of the crowd, James Bourne looks as if he might expire on the spot. Stopping at his microphone, the baseball jersey-clad guitarist confirms that he is still breathing. Growing old gracefully was never an option for Busted, so approaching their 20th anniversary tour with a dose of humour is a wise move.
Two decades ago, Bourne, Charlie Simpson, and Matt Willis’s initial success – four No 1 singles and a couple of multi-platinum albums between 2002 and 2004 – felt inevitable after mashing together boyband cooing and juvenile pop-punk, two styles of music that were already monumentally popular.
Now, they are three men hovering around the age of 40 playing the role of perma-teenagers, and they seem genuinely happy to do so. The jacked, tattooed Willis is all love – for the audience, for his bandmates – while Simpson grins widely and adds gritty roars to 3am, his still-bleached mop lashing back and forth.
Their set opens with a clip of Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Doc Brown from Back to the Future and exclaiming: “Has it been that long?” The knowing nods keep coming. Enormous screens project old music videos, improbable haircuts and Nokia 3210 graphics, but this self-referential streak only gets them so far.
Musically, everything arrives coated in crunching distortion, perhaps betraying some insecurity at the lack of authenticity that has long plagued Busted. During Air Hostess and an almost unrecognisable What I Go to School For the guitars are a swampy mess, undercutting any hooks and recalling those horrible Punk Goes Pop compilations, which served up downtuned takes on chart staples.
Radiating out from Willis, though, there is enough enthusiasm to power the arena. “I fucking love that Charlie Simpson is in Busted,” he cackles, tacitly acknowledging Simpson’s status as their Ginger Spice, the one who left. At the end of You Said No, he runs over to kiss Bourne on the cheek. Things will never be what they were, but old friendships are precious: as they all cruise towards middle age, Busted and their fans can agree on that.
• Busted play Swansea Arena 5 September, then touring until 10 October.
