It’s been just over a year since Fall Out Boy announced their full time return to being a band and in that time, well… quite frankly, we’ve been spoilt. We’ve had a new album packed with hits, tiny club shows and career defining festival sets so it’s no surprise that on this trip over Fall Out Boy are bringing over a full arena production with them.
he excitement as soon as you walk into the arena is there for all to see and it’s also clear that this isn’t just a nostalgia trip either… the age range is vast with swathes of parents lining the outer circle of the venue and by the time the band take to the stage to the anthemic stomp of ‘The Phoenix’ they’re met with the screams the band have become accustomed to since they established themselves as arena tour mainstays.
The sound here is initially muffled which does detract from the overall show but this is through no fault of the band, the sound gets pulled around and by the time the band launch into ‘A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More “Touch Me” it has the desired effect. As with most arena shows, it’s clear that the set has been practiced to perfection with little room for improvisation and while it does make for a technically tight performance, it would’ve been nice to hear a couple of earlier tracks make the set, but that’s a minor gripe in what is a very, very good show.
The set pretty much flies by with an acoustic interlude at the other side of the arena that does see the band bust out a pretty nice version of ‘Grand Theft Autumn’ the likes of ‘Thriller’ and ‘Young Volcanoes’ also provide the fuel for some great singalongs too and before we know it the band are leaving the stage to the tones of ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark’ before returning for an encore which includes the title track off of ‘Save Rock & Roll’ which sounds just as big in an arena as it did at the 02 Islington Academy last year, providing a real moment for the 6000 strong crowd tonight. The band finish their set with with ‘Saturday’ as expected and as always it goes down an absolute bloody treat.
A year down the line and the Fall Out Boy hype train shows absolutely no signs of stopping any time soon. Where they go from here, I have absolutely no idea but it’s difficult not to see a stadium show or festival headline performance in the not too distant future, with Reading and Leeds showing willingness of allowing new bands the chance to headline with the Paramore/QOTSA co-headline this year and My Chemical Romance back in 2012 it could easily be Fall Out Boy’s turn in 2015.
CHRIS MARSHMAN
