Fans label Charlie Simpson a ‘sell out’ following news of Busted reunion

Pop group return after 10 years for an arena tour and new music

Fans of Charlie Simpson’s work as a solo artist and Fightstar member have reacted negatively to the news that pop group Busted will reform with their original line-up.

Simpson finally agreed to reunite with bandmates James Bourne and Matt Willis, with the trio announcing today that they are working on new music together and embarking on a 2016 arena tour.

During their original run, Busted released two multi-platinum albums and scored four Number One hits with ‘You Said No’, ‘Crashed The Wedding’, ‘Who’s David’ and ‘Thunderbirds’/’3AM’ .

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After Busted split, Simpson’s rock band Fightstar released three albums before going on hiatus in 2009. Simpson began to release solo material, including 2011 debut ‘Young Pilgrim’, but returned to Fightstar with a new album called ‘Behind The Devil’s Back’, which was released last month (October).

Simpson had repeatedly denied the possibility of a Busted reunion over the years, now stating that he has “changed his mind”.

While some fans have reacted positively to the news of Busted and Simpson’s return (one wrote on Twitter: “I just can’t help but bloody love the fact he’s back”), many more have posted negative comments online.

“I’m a bit baffled with Charlie Simpson rejoining Busted after bringing out a f**king bang on album with Fightstar?” one fan wrote on Twitter, while another added: “How skint must Charlie Simpson be? What a way to follow up ‘Behind the Devil’s Back’…”

Simpson took time today to reassure fans that his reunion with Busted will not prevent him making further solo albums or new music with Fightstar in the future.

See a collection of tweets below.

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http://storify.com/nmemagazine/busted-fans-react

Announcing the news at a press conference in central London today (November 10), James Bourne said of reuniting with his bandmates: “It was just a really fun time. We just felt like we were hanging out with old, good friends. It was no pressure, it was just for us to see how it would go.”

“I honestly think I’ve lost count of the number of times I said publicly I would never do this again. And I genuinely meant that,” said Simpson, whose decision to leave Busted so he could concentrate on his other band Fightstar ultimately caused the trio’s split in 2005.

“But you know, I have changed my mind and that’s due to circumstance,” he continued. “We went to Philadelphia, we wrote new music and that changed everything. I was very ready to go to Philadelphia and come away thinking this just doesn’t feel right. And the fact that it did feel right was as much of a shock to me as anyone.”

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At present, the band say they are unsure whether they will be in a position to release new material before they begin their 13-date tour of the UK and Ireland next May. “We’ve started working on it already, we’re really stoked about it,” Willis said. “We’re going to go on tour – and there might be new music before that, hopefully, if we get our act together.”

Bourne and Willis, who have toured with McFly as pop supergroup McBusted over the past two years, added that McFly are fully behind their decision to resurrect Busted, and had sent them good luck messages before the press conference.

Busted will play:

London, The SSE Wembley Arena (May 11)
Glasgow, The SSE Hydro Arena (May 14)
Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena (May 15)
Sheffield, Arena (May 17)
Nottingham, Capital FM Arena (May 18)
Birmingham, Genting Arena (May 20)
Manchester, Arena (May 21)
Liverpool, Echo Arena, Liverpool (May 22)
Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena (May 24)
Bournemouth, BIC (May 25)
London, The O2 (May 28)
Belfast, The SSE Arena (May 30)
Dublin, 3Arena (May 31)

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