Pop Idols get dirty

Pop bands are an interesting breed. The earnest ones – the Take Thats and Westlifes of this world - do well because they genuinely enjoy what they do. There are those who become successful despite looking, a) like they should be downing cheap cider on park benches, and b) like they might nut you. East 17 and Blazin’ Squad, take note.

Then there are the polished ones: the slick pop machines inscrutable behind their shiny media presence. About four years ago, McFly skipped onto the scene with catchy tunes, bouncy videos and straightened hair. Squeaky clean and predictable, the four-piece notched up an impressive amount of top ten hits and even a sneaky Lindsay Lohan movie to boot.

Late last year, three albums in, the boys appeared on stage at the G.A.Y night in London’s Astoria and revealed tattoos, their arses and a flagrant disregard for the dangers of naked flames and pubic hair combos.

McFly have begun to deconstruct their shiny image, not least by dumping their record label and going it alone. Their fourth album Radio: Active is the first release under their own Super Records, and the iTunes Koko gig was one stop on their publicity rounds.

The new McFly sounds a lot like the old McFly. They clearly have a lot of fun, indulging themselves with energetic jumping around and an unnecessary amount of guitar swapping, and they do what they do well. The crowd screamed a lot, and beat each other to a pulp for ownership of Danny’s sweaty gig towel.

Playing a track the audience loved (Transylvania), then telling them how much it sucked and laughing at them for clapping seemed a little ill-advised, and jokes about bodily functions might have made the parents and guardians squirm, but perhaps this is part of the change in direction.

The band have made much of their new-found freedom without the constraints of a major record label, but was the only difference having a quick bitch about past hits and a couple of jokes about crotch sweat? However successful they are from here on in, they are clearly having some fun and for the time being at least, can still inspire war over soggy towels.