McFly and Sam Ryder live at Alexandra Head in Cardiff Bay

This was the first time I’d visited the venue and it was unusual to see such a large gap between the crowd and the stage, I’ve seen and this was brought up by the acts throughout the night.

Who's Molly? (Image: Newsquest staff)

First up was the Swansea-based rock band Who’s Molly? who put on a good show and showed promise. The same could be said for the second support act, Cardiff-based Ben Ellis who made sure to pause his set to wish a happy birthday to the mum of one of his band members. There was a nice variety between the sets, with Ben Ellis bringing a more upbeat pop-rock sound before Deco took everyone back to the 80s with their electro-tinged pop sound.

Ben Ellis (Image: Newsquest staff)

Deco definitely took a good opportunity to plug their debut album, bringing it up quite a few times to the large crowd who fully embraced it, having a whale of a time singing along to a cover of Bittersweet Symphony and joining in with taking selfies with the band to submit for a video for single Photograph.

Deco (Image: Newsquest staff)

Up next was Sam Ryder and it is just impossible to not be infected by his enthusiasm. As someone who admittedly hadn’t really listened to the Eurovision star, I was completely captivated by his infectious energy and positive attitude – and of course, the music was just as infectious.

Sam Ryder (Image: Newsquest staff)

Sam commanded the stage incredibly well and had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, singing along to every word and performing whatever actions he wanted, which was shown particularly in Mountain. He was really able to show off his full vocal range which – at times – was very Freddie Mercury-esque and of course performed the song that earned him second place in Eurovision – Space Man.

In the gap between Sam Ryder and McFly, the house music was full of classic rock tunes, fully embraced by the crowd. This was shown as the loudest moment of the night (at that point) came with a full crowd sing-a-long to Bohemian Rhapsody, with one of the stage crew even coming out to film the crowd.

As YMCA plays over the speakers, McFly come out and break straight into Where Did All the Guitars Go? and Land of the Bees, both from latest album Power to Play. Throughout the set, there was a range of hits from the band’s 21-year career including the likes of Star Girl, Lies, Room on the Third Floor and Obviously.

McFly (Image: Newsquest staff)

There was also a nice surprise as a personal favourite of mine – Transylvania – was performed, something that does not happen too often. Throughout the set, you could see that the band were having the time of their lives on stage, with a number of antics and banter throughout.

There was a pause as they tried to read banners before All About You, struggling to see due to the distance (and their age) but then found out someone had potentially been taken ill in the crowd.

A lovely touch came during the song as Harry’s daughter joined him on the drums – echoed during closer Five Colours in Her Hair which saw three of the McFly kids come out on stage. There was also another lovely touch as the band helped facilitate a proposal, bringing both girls up on stage for it to take place – and if you’re wondering, the answer was yes!