They’ve got plenty of hits at their disposal and The Wanted proved exactly why there was demand for them to come back - with a comeback concert that fired on all cylinders in Newcastle.
The job of opening proceedings at the Utlilta Arena on Friday night fell on the shoulders of American singer Harper Starling, who earlier on in the day told ChronicleLive she jumped at the chance to cross over the Atlantic to do the tour.
Her set was packed full of fierce, retro-tinged pop earworms like Say My Name as she made sure the evening got off to a powerful start.
READ MORE: The Wanted setlist as band start tour without Tom Parker
Former Strictly star HRVY then proved he is just a musician as he is dancer, with a slick and smooth set, which included a hands in the air moment with his cover of Harry Styles’ Falling.
And then came the moment the Newcastle audience, including another Strictly star, Sara Davies, had been waiting for, when The Wanted arrived on stage, rather aptly with the first song they ever released - All Time Low.
The track saw the lads stomp their authority on the pop world back in the summer of 2010 when it rocketed straight to number 1.
And All Time Low is a song that still sounds as fresh as it did 12 years ago.
The Wanted back catalogue was utilised with energetic results from the get-go with Lightning and, my personal favourite, Lose My Mind making sure the atmosphere didn’t dip after a high octane opening.
Friday’s concert was tinged with some sadness, due to the absence of Tom Parker.
Tom won the support of everyone when he revealed he’d been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2020 and he has new forces to miss the first few shows of the tour due to receiving pioneering treatment in Spain.
But, despite not physically being there, the proud northerner was still very much part of the equation, with a loud cheer sounding out around the arena at the mere mention of his name.
His bandmates Max, Jay, Nathan and Siva paused the show to pay tribute to him as cheers sounded out around the arena and they certainly did him proud.
Stand out moments from the show included the string laden Show Me Love (America), new song Colours, which proves the guys are still highly capable of delivering anthemic pop; Nathan’s stellar vocal masterclass in the middle 8 of I Found You and the back to back of Chasing the Sun and Walks Like Rihanna.
While the band apparently don’t care for the latter, there is no denying it’s insanely catchy and a real crowd pleaser amongst The Wanted setlist.
There was only ever going to be one song to round things off and Glad You Came is still a sun drenched tour de force, that instantly transported the hyped up crowd back to the summer of 2011.
While the staging of the show was a tad on the minimalist side, the energy and the vocals certainly weren’t lacking.
And for the Good Morning Britain fans in the crowd there were even a few video cameos from presenter Charlotte Hawkins.
The Wanted are most definitely still wanted and in an era when music can sometimes take itself too seriously, this was a real lesson in how pop should be done.
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