With support from Boys Like Girls,
Wembley Arena,
October 22nd 2008
Firstly, my sincere apologies to You me At Six for missing their opening set. Due to Wembley being the hardest place in the world to get to, I was late. However I promise to give them a full review next week when they headline in Brighton.
When I did finally arrive at the arena, Boys like Girls were about to take to the stage in front of 20 thousand screaming Fall Out Boy fans (and quite a few people who should know better). Despite only a five song set they were damn impressive, even though at times the venue?s terrible sound quality stood in their way. Made up of tracks exclusively from their self titled (still no new songs), they?re fun to watch and clearly had the time of their lives up there. By the time they close with ?The Great Escape?, the room is sufficiently hyped up for what?s to follow them..
Before the show, I had the lowest expectations of Fall Out Boy?s live capabilities. I?ve purposely missed them several times over the last few years, not through any disike for them, but because a thousand and one people have told me their live sets verge on painful. I don?t think I?ve ever been proven so wrong in all my life.
With a good mix of songs from all their albums (yes, even a few unexpected treats from Take This to Your Grave), they played for a good hour and a half, and it was every moment exciting. With their success, they have the ability to create excellent light shows that make their pop-punk sensibilities seem right at home on such a massive stage. I would love to see Fall Out Boy in a small club setting (damn the eighty of you who were at London Dungeons last night!), but their arena shows are just spectacular.
Patrick?s voice is almost perfect and however much you may hate Pete Wentz, he?s a likeable character to watch on stage. His stunt of throwing his bass to a roadie and jumping in the crowd to add his contribution to the end of ?Saturday? is a brilliant way to end such an enjoyable evening. Cheers Fall Out Boy, you blew my expectations out of the water.
Andy R