Busted burst back on the scene with a gig in Manchester

Half Way There finds the trio returning to the hyperactive pop-punk sound for the first time since 2003's all conquering, multi-platinum album A Present For Everyone.

Charlie took time out from preparing for their forthcoming arena tour to talk about the album, a legendary three-gig show at the 100 Club and give credit to North West audiences attending the Manchester Arena.

He was quick to point out his thoughts on the latest album, saying: "The new album is very good I think. It's a big, bombastic loud-sounding Busted record. I think we wanted to just get to the roots of what people loved about the band to begin with really. But do it in a modern way, and a way that we could explore new avenues.

"We worked with a producer called Gil Norton who did like Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World. A producer who I always wanted to work with growing up.

"If I had to show an album to someone that had never heard of Busted before, this is the one I would choose."

In the same week they announced this new album, which would be followed by a major UK arena tour, the boys powered through three riotous sold-out shows at the 100 Club in London.

"That was insane man," laughs Charle.

"Basically the 100 Club is a legendary venue on Oxford Street and a lot of people like it. It's sort of punk royalty - The Clash played there, Sex Pistols played there.

"We just wanted to do something that was exciting for the fans. It's obviously a tiny little place, but we decided to do three back-to-back shows and tickets sold out in about 30 seconds.

"We basically got a load of fans down there, played these back-to-back shows and it was just carnage. There were stage invasions, people jumping on stage, all of our equipment broke because the fans were jumping around. It was just bedlam. It was absolute chaos.

"They were all out in the street. We took them pizza. There was just crazy stuff happening on Oxford Street. It was just a mental night. It was just a really fun way to start the campaign."

After playing these gigs in such an intimate venue, how would this compare to the big arenas?

"I am super excited about playing the arenas. Manchester is one of my favourite venues in the entire country. Manchester crowds are always awesome.

"With this album - it's a high energy album - it just gives us the room, playing the big arena stage - to put on a really elaborate show. So it's going to be a really high impact show.

"We are going to be playing all the hits as well as some of the new tunes. So it's definitely going to be one of the best shows on the tour I'd say," he finished.

Busted will be at Manchester Arena on Thursday, March 28. There are still some tickets available via https://www.seetickets.com/event/busted/manchester-arena/1281855