Memory Lane: The Best of McFly

Background

During the band's second theatre tour, the Keep Calm and Play Louder Tour, they premiered three brand new songs: "Do Whatcha", "Red" and "Touch the Rain". It was confirmed soon after by band member Tom Fletcher via Twitter that the band's next single would be the track "Red", as it had been very well received on the tour. However, in September 2012, the band travelled to the United States to play four dates in Los Angeles and New York, during which they premiered a fourth new single, "Love is Easy", and it was soon announced that this would in fact be released as the band's next single, instead of "Red", and that it would precede the release of the band's second retrospective release, Memory Lane: The Best of McFly. It was also announced that in promotion of the album, the band would be releasing their autobiography, Unsaid Things: Our Story. With the announcement of the track listing for Memory Lane in October 2012, "Love is Easy" and "Do Whatcha" were present, but "Red" and "Touch the Rain" were not, but instead had been held back for the band's sixth studio album, in favour of three other new tracks: "Cherry Cola", "Down Down" and "Mess Around You". "Love is Easy" was released on 11 November 2012, going on to peak at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart, and was premiered on BBC Radio 2 Graham Norton at 10:55 on 20 October 2012. The music video for the track was premiered on 9 October 2012.

Track listing

The track listing of the album was confirmed on 11 October 2012, via Digital Spy. Disc two was originally set to contain the B-side track "Easy Way Out". However, pressings of the album do not contain the track, and it has been removed from all digital versions of the album, for reasons unknown. The standard version contains disc one only, and the deluxe version contains both discs.

Tour

In promotion of the album, McFly toured across the United Kingdom in April and May 2013 with 21 performances, with an extra show at Scarborough added in August. The tour ended with the biggest performance at Wembley Arena and was supported by The Vamps. There were originally eighteen shows but a further two more for Glasgow and Manchester were added and a date for Scarborough was also added for August and then another gig for June had been added for Gloucester Kingsholm stadium. Tickets went on sale from 8 December 2012 at 9am and the dates were first confirmed during the Super City: Battle of the Bands in November 2012.

Tour dates

19 April – Swindon Oasis
20 April – Birmingham Academy
22 April – Nottingham, Royal Centre
23 April – Reading, The Hexagon
25 April – Newcastle Academy
27 April – Glasgow SECC Clyde Auditorium
28 April – Glasgow SECC Clyde Auditorium^
30 April – Sheffield City Hall
1 May – Leeds Academy
3 May – Manchester, Apollo
4 May – Manchester, Apollo^
6 May – Leicester, De Montfort Hall
7 May – Cambridge Corn Exchange
9 May – Bournemouth International Centre
10 May – Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
11 May – Wolverhampton Civic Hall
13 May – Bristol, Colston Hall
14 May – Portsmouth Guildhall
16 May – Brighton Centre
18 May – London, Wembley Arena
30 August – Scarborough Open Air Theatre

^ – Extra dates

Set list

1. Memory Lane [a capella]
2. That Girl
3. Star Girl
4. Transylvania
5. Five Colours in Her Hair
6. Falling in Love
7. Room on the 3rd Floor
8. Obviously
9. Corrupted
10. Nowhere Left To Run
11. Lies
12. I'll Be OK
13. Bubblewrap
14. Smile
15. Shine A Light
16. One for the Radio
17. Memory Lane

Notes

The opening was introduced with "Memory Lane" being played with the lyrics, 'So much has changed', repeated without any instruments before "That Girl" was played but, however, the whole song is played before the encore. Only the first half of "Transylvania" was played and "I'll Be OK" was played as a quieter version with only a piano.