Busted star Matt Willis forgot the words to his own lyrics while performing an outdoor set at Cheshire’s Delamere Forest. The pop punk three-piece, who reunited in 2015 – 10 years after a bombshell split – were part of the Forest Live line-up, a series of gigs taking place around England’s national forests in 2025.
Supported by fledgling pop punk band Soap and Scottish rockers Twin Atlantic, Busted arrived on stage a little after 9pm to the sound of Eminem’s Lose Yourself and a cacophony of screams from the gathered crowd. After delighting fans with a barrage of classic hits like Air Hostess and Crashed the Wedding, they veered into album track territory – which is where things went slightly wrong.
While performing their 2003 track Falling For You, from their second album A Present for Everyone, Matt completely missed his cue to sing, presuming it was Charlie Simpson’s verse instead. The pair looked at each other before bursting into giggles – and for me, it was the best moment of the gig.
Truthfully, things started off fairly tamely, with the boys attempting to find their footing again after their incredible Download Festival performance in 2024. But it was when they really started to banter with one another again that I was reminded of the Busted of my childhood, and catapulted back to being seven years old and experiencing the band for the first time.
A reference to Charlie quitting the band didn’t go unnoticed, either. He first quit in 2005 to join rival rock band FightStar, before launching a solo music career with tracks like Cemetery and If I Lose It. James Bourne, meanwhile, headed off to join Son of Dork when the band split.
When Matt and James came together with McFly to form McBusted in 2013, Charlie refused to get involved. But by 2015 he’d agreed to become part of the line-up once again, helping Busted to release two new albums – Night Driver in 2016 and Half Way There in 2019.
Matt joked with the crowd that Charlie had “been back in the band for a while”, before poking fun at James for turning up to the gig after overnight travel “with just a charger”. Matt was the liveliest of the bunch, engaging with the crowd and running across the stage to ensure both the general access and VIP areas got to see him up-close.
But it was James who lingered on the stage longest, to take a selfie with the crowd and to play an incredible guitar riff as he jogged off-stage.
The energetic set featured all the favourites, from Thunderbirds Are Go to Year 3000, and as the sun set over the trees, it proved the forest was the perfect venue for both the high octane and acoustic tracks.
Upcoming Forest Live gigs include McFly, Sting, Snow Patrol and The Script, and tickets are available here.