The Wanted

By Sarah Chambers

Just 2 years ago, collectively the names Jay, Tom, Max, Nathan and Siva would have meant nothing to 99.9% of the population, but just 24 months later and The Wanted have embarked on their first arena tour across the UK and Ireland.

The tour also known as The Code, or to fans who more affectionately know it as The Wanted Arena Tour (initialise it!) is based around a storyline of the boys being captured and needing a ‘code’ to escape.

Though this was their first arena tour, it didn’t stop the band from putting on an amazing performance. The only thing that gave away that this was their first arena tour was the look of shock and amazement on their faces at several parts during the show, when they looked out into the crowd and saw tens of thousands of people screaming back at them.

Starting off with the upbeat ‘Invincible’ was certainly a wise choice, within seconds the whole arena was bouncing with some even crying at what the boys have achieved over the past two years.

They then took it back to the first album with their third single ‘Lose My Mind’, followed by the quite apt ‘Rocket’, the lyrics of which seemed to sum up what was happening in the world of The Wanted at the moment.

For the first two shows in Nottingham and Manchester the next song would have been ‘Last to Know’, however after this they changed the set and replaced this with ‘The Weekend’.

The boys then continued to mix songs from the old album, with that of the new. ‘Lightning’, ‘Last to know’, ‘Dagger’ and ‘Heart Vacancy’ followed.

It was then time for the boys to prove that they’re not just your “typical boyband” with matching outfits and dance routines with an acoustic version of ‘I Want It All’, a song written by Siva and his brother Daniel. With Siva on acoustic guitar, Tom on electric guitar, Nathan on Piano, Max on Bass and Jay on percussion, it was a very different clever move by the band.

They then put their instruments down and went into ‘I’ll be your strength’, a song written by Jay and Nathan, but not before an emotional speech by Jay: “Sometimes when we read your fan mail we don’t always know what to say, but sometimes just being there helps and this song is about that. We hope that just coming here helps you forget about that stuff. It’s called I’ll Be Your Strength.”

Accompanied by flames and a rising stage it was then onto their latest single ‘Warzone’ which was written by Nathan and Max and provided a spectacle not to be missed.

Another costume change followed and to the delight of the fans, the 5 boys walked through the crowd to the stage (accompanied by a lot of security though!) ready for their Coldplay cover medley. A rather surprising choice of cover for some people, but it has to be said it was one of the highlights of the whole night. ‘Viva la Vida’, ‘Every Teardrop is a waterfall’, ‘Paradise’ and then the boys took up their instruments for ‘Fix You’.

The final four songs received the best reaction of the night including ‘Say it on the Radio’, which despite not being released as a single is one of the fans and the boys’ favourites.

‘Gold Forever’ followed, before they took it back to where it all started with ‘All Time Low’. To see how much they have achieved since the school and radio tours when the song was released less than two years ago is remarkable and proves that you don’t always need a talent competition to make it big in the music industry.

Ending the night on probably the most apt song of the night ‘Glad You Came’, as the arena seemed to agree that they were! An amazing end to a truly amazing night, the boys definitely did themselves, their friends and family and most importantly the fans proud.

All the success both here and across the pond could not have happened to five more deserving and hard-working boys. Here’s to next tour!