We went to Regent Street yesterday to see Busted switch on the Christmas lights, little suspecting that we were to be plunged into a Conservative party rally. “You asked us to join the Euro / AND WE SAID NO!” sang the three well-off young scamps as a huge flashing “BLIAR” sign flickered behind them. “When I say Oliver, you say Letwin!” cheeky Charlie yelled to the screaming crowd….
OK, actually there was no mention of Toryism whatsoever. What shilling there was happened entirely at the behest of Disney, whose The Incredibles dominates the Regest Street lights. I don’t know about you, but little says Christmas to me like a huge illuminated cartoon woman looking like a spider monkey. So the lights themselves have turned out ugly and nasty, but the spectacle of turning them on was… well, it was alright. There really wasn’t very much room around the stage, and a big cordoned off area separated the lucky few at the front from the throngs (quite modest throngs) up and down the street.
The kids seemed to be lovin’ it though, with plenty of Santas wandering round and some of them making an attempt to jive to the modern pop-rock sounds of The Busted. Who played three songs, all hits, all at the mercy of some pretty dreadful sound. I saw one full-on Busted jump and a couple of other attempts at ‘moves’, but the whole performance was a bit perfunctory. Any sense of event was created entirely by the enthusiastic crowd screaming for their favourites (Matt, then James, with Charlie a distant third, and serve him right for being indie). The funniest moment was the MC shouting out “So are we all going to see The Incredibles then?” and being met with near silence. Good marketing there, lads.