Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham, 27th March 2018
Due to the early start time of 7 pm, we unfortunately missed the first support act of the evening Max. After appearing in movies such as The Last Keepers and Love & Mercy, Max is currently signed to Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz’s record label DCD2.
We were however in our seats by the time that Against the Current took to the stage, backed by an illuminous retina burning neon of their logo, blasting straight into ‘Wasteland’ before treating the ever-growing crowd to a ten-song set. Donning a sparkly gold jacket and grey tracksuit bottoms, lead vocalist Chrissy Costanza proved energetic throughout their set and made the most of the huge space available. New tracks ‘Voices’ and ‘Stranger Again’ were debuted alongside older cuts from their 2016 album ‘In Our Bones’.
Personally, knowing the band from various covers on YouTube, I was expecting the band to perform some covers as part of their set, however it was no bad thing that the band decided to showcase their talent through their own original material.
As the stage is set prior to Fall Out Boy’s arrival, the huge screen behind the stage showed ocean waves that eventually led into a countdown to which the band blasted onto the stage out of the floor to ‘The Phoenix’. And as fireworks flew across the stage it was clear that it was going to be one of those shows. Pyrotechnics were pretty much a constant throughout the evening, from bangs accompanying the signature drumbeat of ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ to the obvious flames that feature in ‘My Songs Know What You Did in The Dark’.
Visually the band also drew from Big Hero 6, Kill Bill and footage of the Royal Family to accompany the performance, whilst a long runway throughout the arena allowed the band to get in amongst the packed crowd. A middle section saw the band take high above the crowd as floating stages allowed the band to perform tracks such as ‘Thnks Fr th Mmrs’ and ‘Dance Dance’, following a stunning drum solo from Andy Hurley despite some early technical difficulties.
Musically the band were also on fire, with lead vocalist Patrick Stump leading the charge with magnificent talent and vocal ability highlighted on tracks such as ‘Save Rock n Roll’ and ‘Young and Menace’. It’s well known that over the band’s career their recorded output has become more and more digitally led, however with the full band experience in the live environment tracks such as ‘Immortals’ and ‘’Irresistible’ are brought to life. With the setlist drawing from all moments of the bands back catalogue there’s little that’s not included, from early highlights of ‘Saturday’ and ‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy?’ to recent tracks such as ‘Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea’ and ‘Hold Me Tight or Don’t’.
A highly well executed and attractive looking show, it’s clear that Fall Out Boy have graduated to arena status with grace and talent and the UK can look forward to what will certainly be a fantastic headline performance at the Reading & Leeds Festivals in the summer. Thanks for the memories.
Fall Out Boy Setlist:
The Phoenix
Irresistible
Hum Hallelujah
Sugar, We’re Goin Down
Immortals
Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea
Centuries
Save Rock and Roll
The Last of the Real Ones
Young and Menace
Drum Solo
Dance, Dance
Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)
Thnks fr th Mmrs
I Don’t Care
This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race
HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON’T
Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy
Champion
Encore:
Thriller
Uma Thurman
My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
Saturday
Reviewer: Dan Earl
Photographer: Chris Bowley