Busted reunion: 2016 tour confirmed as Charlie Simpson returns

Charlie, Matt and James will play a string of UK gigs next May

Busted announcing their split in 2005, but ten years later they are getting back together (Getty Images)

Busted are officially reuniting and going back on tour next year.

Charlie Simpson, who quit the chart-topping trio in 2005 after reportedly growing tired of pop songs, has rejoined Matt Willis and James Bourne to play a string of gigs across the UK from 11 to 31 May 2016. Oh and and as if that isn’t enough, they’ve been writing new songs too.

The “What I Go To School For” gang posted a video on YouTube to make their exciting announcement. The six-minute clip sees the boys share the story of the band and reflect on Simpson’s sudden departure.

“He was a real asset, he brought so much to the table,” gushes Willis. “The band looked cool when Charlie was there. I never thought it would end. I thought we’d be Green Day in 20 years. I thought we’d carry on forever.”

Simpson said: “I felt a huge amount of guilt when I left Busted the first time because I knew that they didn’t want to stop and that was hard to deal with. We were really good friends and you don’t want to upset anyone you care about. But staying in the band at that time could have risked our friendship.”

Unsurprisingly, fans are going crazy for the news on Twitter after waiting ten long years for the reunion to happen.

Willis and Bourne joined forces with McFly in 2013 to form supergroup McBusterd, fulfilling fans’ wildest fantasies of hearing both “Year 3000” and “5 Colours In Her Hair” at the same concert.

Simpson opted not to take part as he was busy with metal group Fightstar and solo stuff, but now he’s decided that actually, Busted are pretty damn cool after all.

Tom Fletcher of McFly and McBusted first sparked rumours last month when he posted an Instagram photo of himself playing guitar and looking up, with a caption reading : “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Charlie freakin’ Simpson! Or so rumour has it.

Busted announcing their split in 2005 (Getty Images)

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday 13 November.

Tour dates in full

11 May - Wembley, The SSE Arena

14 May - Glasgow, The SSE Hydro

15 May - Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena

17 May - Sheffield Arena

18 May - Nottingham, Capital FM Arena

20 May - Birmingham, Genting Arena

21 May - Manchester Arena

22 May - Liverpool, Echo Arena

24 May - Cardiff, Motopoint Arena

25 May - Bournemouth, BIC

28 May - London, The O2

30 May - Belfast, The SSE Arena

31 May - Dublin, 3 Arena