Review: McFly, Newmarket Nights
The fourth of 2023’s Newmarket Nights at the July Racecourse, saw McFly take to the stage after the final races of the day on a warm but cloudy summer evening. The stage has already played host to Bastille, Craig David and The Haçienda Classical this summer. With Olly Murs set to finish up this year’s run on 18th August.
Punters made their way to the premier enclosure to find their spots in front of the stage nestled between the grandstands, collecting their winnings along the way, while hoping the disputed result of the final race wouldn’t have bookies wanting their money back.
McFly took to the stage in front of a packed audience of all ages, starting with Where Did All The Guitars Go, the opening track off new album Power To Play, much to the joy of a young lad in the crowd with a sign bearing the song’s title.
The band bounced and moved around the stage with the same energy they had 20 years ago when they first started performing together. Taking the crowd back to the first song Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones wrote together, Room On The 3rd Floor, a song built for big crowds like tonight’s to sing the na-na na’s back to them.
The crowd would be treated to a few more songs off the new album, including the fretboard dancing hair metal intro of Forever’s Not Enough. Along with plenty of sing-a-long favourites including Obviously and a cover of The Boss’s Dancing In The Dark. Before closing out the main set with Shine a Light from 2010’s Above The Noise.
After a brief rest they came back on stage in jovial spirits sharing jokes about fish in tanks, before settling into the platinum selling Comic Relief song All About You, with the crowd swaying and singing along. Followed up with the surf guitars of 5 Colours In Her Hair, which had the grandstands bouncing and the crowd close to drowning out the band, singing their hearts out for one last time.
Newmarket Night’s continues to be a great way to spend a summer afternoon and evening, dressed up eating and drink whilst watching the horses, followed up with some great music. Let’s see if they have anything special for their tenth year in 2024.
• Words and pictures : Stephen Keable, Ipswich24
