Review: The Wanted @ Manchester Arena – February 17
Friday saw the boys, Max, Jay, Siva, Tom and Nathan, hit the Manchester Arena for the second date of ‘The Code’ tour.
The Wanted are one of the UK’s biggest boy bands in the UK at the moment. With two number one singles under their belt along with just returning from a promotional tour stateside the boys are now currently gracing stages across the UK in their first arena tour.
After three support acts, The Wanted appeared at 9.15pm to the 18,000 screaming crowd who eagerly awaited their arrival.
As standard to many tours like these, a VT played showing the boy band in a scenario to warm up the crowd. This time it was to crack The Wanted code. Very Mission Impossible-esc which kept appearing throughout different stages of the show.
Kicking off the show with a new song from their second album titled ‘Invincible’ The Wanted fans in the crowd were clearly loving seeing their favourite band on stage.
With a great chemistry between them, the band were enjoying every minute. Especially Max George, who’s home town is Manchester.
A surprising element was the band playing their own instruments in a more acoustic section of the set. Something that The Wanted are not well known for.
One let down, and an area where there was clearly a limited budget was the wardrobe. Maybe not the most essential part to a concert but something that definitely adds to a show.
One piece that stands out in particular was a shocking bright red blazer worn by Nathan. Even band mate Jay felt the need to address this issue with the crowd.
A pleasant surprise in the middle of the set was a tribute to Coldplay as the quintet played a mix of the band’s most recent hits.
I am sure any diehard Coldplay fan would have found their interpretation as a let-down but for a light hearted change of tone it worked quite well.
The set continued with the band playing hits such as ‘Gold Forever’, ‘Warzone’ and ‘Lightening’, which certainly pleased the crowd.
The main stage proved to be quite a simple basic set. There was however a second stage which brought the crowd closer to their fans.
The band also became elevated in the air for some of their slower ballads including ‘Heart Vacancy’.
The concert came to a close with their two most successful hits ‘All time Low’ and ‘Glad you came’. The screams in the crowd were the loudest yet and the band appeared genuinely grateful to be performing at the Manchester Arena.
The show could have been improved by an encore as the show did appear to just finish. However the crowd certainly appeared to enjoy the concert and the infectious enthusiasm of the band left them wanting more.
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