If you ever want to witness a 20-something year old completely lose her mind, you should come with me next time I see Fall Out Boy live. They’re one of those bands that I can scream over for days, and their live shows are always amazing.
I saw FOB yesterday for the fifth time (fourth since they came back from their hiatus). No matter how many times I see them, I will probably still lose my voice right around the time when they play my favourite song, “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me”.
The weird thing about this concert was the other bands on the bill. The “Boys of Zummer” tour is a co-headliner, so even though FOB closed, they were preceded by an hour-and-a-bit long Wiz Khalifa set.
I don’t really like Wiz Khalifa, to be honest. I appreciate what FOB was doing, partnering with a band outside of their “scene”, and they (FOB) have always had a hand in the hip-hop world. And I even get that there were a lot of fans there to see both fans. But I don’t always appreciate reeking like secondhand pot smoke (because I’m secretly an 85 year old who shakes her head disapprovingly at kids these days and their mari-ju-ana).
Plus after the two Wiz songs I know*, everything else just sorta sounded the same.
*I know the chorus of “Black and Yellow” and the only reason I know “Roll Up” (which I didn’t realize was a Wiz Khalifa song) is because The Ready Set once covered it for a Punk Goes Pop compilation.
Before Wiz came out, we were also treated to a Hoodie Allen set. Again, not really my type of music, but his one of his songs – which he said was inspired by early 2000’s pop-punk staples like Green Day and FOB – was something I could get behind.
After what felt like centuries (see what I did there?), FOB came out and made it worth the wait (and the lingering pot smell, plus the beer that somehow ended up on my sweater even though I wasn’t drinking).
They were incredible. Opening with “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” seemed like a bold move; even though it’s one of their biggest songs, it’s something you’d expect to hear in the middle of the set. But it worked. One of the reasons I love hearing “Sugar” live is to hear the call-and-response between the band and audience: Patrick will start off belting “AM I MORE” then he steps back from the mic, letting the crowd shout “THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR YET? I’VE BEEN DYING TO TELL YOU” before he comes back in on “ANYTHING, YOU WANT TO HEAR…”
Patrick’s live performance has improved so much since this DVD was made (in 2008).
Maybe you have to be there, but it’s a wonderful feeling, being part of a crowd of 15,000+ (the amphitheatre has a capacity of 16,000 people), all yelling the same words.
FOB doesn’t really talk much on stage; in fact, any talking is usually done by Pete and even he’s gotten better (sometimes he rambles about stuff and you’re just like “dude, get to the part where you play a song!”). Not this time, though – there was minimal talking, which meant they fit a lot of songs into their allotted hour and a half (18 songs in total, including a drum solo, and two acoustic songs performed on the mini stage near the lawn seats).
This being a tour in support of their most recent album, American Beauty/American Psycho, they obviously played quite a few new songs, including a gorgeous acoustic version of “Immortals”, the majestic “Irresistible”, and, of course “Centuries”. I was also really happy that the seats around us were empty because when they played “Uma Thurman”, I was able to, well, dance like Uma Thurman.
Like I said, I could go on about FOB for hours. They’re always incredible live, and, even though they don’t play as many songs from Take This To Your Grave or Folie a Deux as I’d personally like (only “Saturday” and “I Don’t Care”, respectively), they’re so much fun and have so much energy. If you’re a FOB fan, I highly recommend catching them the next time they tour through your area; it’s always good to have a night of dancing and singing-until-you-lose-your-voice once in a while.
bellsiebooks 