Page 64 of Ex in the City
‘Fucking yeah,’ Mikey says with an almost aggressive level of excitement. ‘Come on, lads, I’ll drink to that.’
The boys all raise their beer bottles, clinking them up high. The band members exchange excited glances, and the reality sinks in. The Burnouts are back. It feels surreal and exhilarating and completely terrifying. And the journey has only just begun.
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As the tour bus slows down, approaching the venue in Manchester, we all dive toward the windows, eager to catch a glimpse of the crowd – and to see if there even is a crowd because the fear is (according to the boys) that no one cares about them any more. The excitement – and the nerves – on board the bus are palpable. The boys have swapped partying for feeling petrified. God, I really hope people turn up for them.
The windows, designed to allow us to see outside but keep the crowd’s prying eyes at bay, mean we can all look outside, to see what’s going on, without anyone spotting us.
I sigh with relief. The queue of fans goes on for as far as the eye can see – it even turns the corner; the fans at the back of the line might even be in a different postcode.
‘Good news must travel fast,’ Jamie remarks, peering out of the tinted bus window. ‘It looks like your rumour did the trick, Mitch.’
It isn’t just that the line is long, every single person there looks almost too excited to function, and you can tell they are all here for The Burnouts. Some people are wearing band T-shirts, some are holding signs – oh, there’s a girl with the band’s namewritten across her cleavage, it’s nice to see we’re still doing that in 2024.
Jamie is right, the strategically circulated rumour about The Burnouts making a secret comeback has created the hype, and when these four men appear on that stage it is going to make their year.
‘Look at them, they haven’t forgotten us,’ Mikey says, his eyes twinkling like a kid on Christmas morning. You would think he had just won the lottery, although I suppose in a way he has. If this many people will turn up for a secret show, just think how many tickets they’ll shift on an arena tour.
‘Mate, I’m shaking like a leaf in an earthquake,’ Taz, who is usually the laid-back one, confesses.
‘Come on,’ Mikey says, giving him a nudge. ‘This is what we wanted. We’re going to smash it.’
‘It’s easy for you to say, TV boy,’ Jamie jokes. ‘Some of us were banished to obscurity.’
‘Are you okay?’ I ask Dylan.
He puffs air from his cheeks.
‘Yeah, I’m good,’ he replies. ‘I was hoping for a crowd, but not expecting one, I can’t quite believe it.’
‘Was it always this many girls?’ Taz asks. ‘Like, it’s almost all girls out there.’
‘Girls?’ Mikey says. ‘You mean women. They’re mostly thirty-somethings, possibly married with kids. I mean, look over there – that woman has a teenager with her.’
‘It’s a mix of ages,’ Dylan says. ‘That’s kind of cool. I’d never really thought about different generations listening to our music while we were off the scene.’
I smile – that is nice.
‘We still clearly have an adoring female fan base,’ Jamie says. ‘It’s a shame we’re all taken.’
Ew, that’s less nice.
‘Dylan isn’t taken,’ Mikey reminds him.
‘Then Dylan will clean up,’ Jamie says.
‘Well, that won’t be much different to old times, will it?’ Mikey jokes as he pats his brother on the back.
Dylan just laughs it off.
‘Get ready, mate, you’re going to get mobbed,’ Taz adds.
‘No one is getting mobbed yet,’ Mitch interrupts. ‘This is still a secret gig, so we’ll be sneaking you guys in while the crew bus distracts the crowd.’
‘They know we’re here,’ Mikey points out.
‘It’s a secret gig,’ Mitch tells him with a laugh. ‘Come on, we’re almost there, let’s not ruin the surprise now.’
