Charlie Simpson rejoins Busted

Fightstar mainman Charlie Simpson has rejoined Busted for a 13-date arena tour of the UK and Ireland.

Simpson left the pop punk boyband in 2005 and vowed never to return. But at a press conference in London, Simpson joined Matt Willis and James Bourne to announce the 2016 tour, which kicks off at Wembley Arena on May 11.

Explaining his decision to rejoin the group, Simpson says: “Staying in the band at that time could have risked our friendship. I’ve lost count of the number of times where I’ve said publicly I wouldn’t do this again. But I have changed my mind.”

The trio also confirmed they were working on new material.

Willis and Bourne are also members of McBusted – a hybrid group featuring members of Busted and McFly. It’s not clear what Busted’s reunion means for McBusted’s future.

Busted released two triple-platinum selling albums before Simpson’s departure 10 years ago. Fightstar released their comeback album Behind The Devil’s Back in October.

BUSTED 2016 UK & IRELAND ARENA TOUR

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

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.