Fall Out Boy + Boys Like Girls + YouMeAtSix @ Birmingham LG Arena – 19th October 2008

Holy cow, the LG Arena is big. There is a sea of mobile phone screens as Boys Like Girls fill the arena with more confidence than one may have thought, considering they have only released their self-titled album to date. However, their familiarity with the songs from touring is in their favour as the band are free to lend more energy to their performance.

Toward the end of their set, lead vocalist Martin Johnson tells the crowd that he “doesn’t care if you hate bands like us”. Judging by the reaction to their final track, the Platinum single The Great Escape, I shouldn’t think that’s an issue tonight: watching so many people jump in time is awesome.

Fall Out Boy enter the stage to screaming so loud it’s more than a little disconcerting. Launching into Thnks fr th Mmrs, the band steam through Thriller and A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More ‘Touch Me’ before pausing for breath. The LG Arena is the seventh stop on their European stadium tour, and the first time they’ve toured in the UK since early 2007. Tonight’s set is comprised mostly of tracks taken from Infinity On High and From Under The Cork Tree, occasionally visiting the earlier albums with tracks like Chicago Is So Two Years Ago.

There’s a lot of movement throughout the set, and every time Pete Wentz crosses the stage I swear that a girl fainted. Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley keep the songs on track, forming the strong backbone that has made the band’s formula so successful, while Wentz goes through a dozen plectrums and plays to the crowd in his role as frontman.
It doesn’t really matter how many times it has been said, because Patrick Stump’s voice is amazing in this sort of venue. Even with a huge number of the crowd singing along, his voice still carries above it: evidenced best with Sugar, We’re Going Down when the crowd shout the opening lines but then submit when Stump comes in.
Wentz entertains the crowd while the set backdrop is rearranged for I Don’t Care, the first single from their new album Folie á Deux. It’s the first time the arena lights come down, and the LED guitars and all-black set are so ridiculous that it’s difficult not to be won over despite the crowd’s mixed reactions to the single.

I’m Like a Lawyer With the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off is introduced with “this is a lovesong” and there is, predictably, a pick up in the level of screams. Hum Hallelujah again injects movement in the crowd but with so many people there’s no room for circle pit, despite Wentz’s efforts. The more flashy pyrotechnics are brought out as the show winds down toward closing but not before a detour via their Beat It cover and the always-popular Dance, Dance that gets everyone in the stands moving.

While the performance was polished and the chick next to me declared it the best day of her life, the problem with arena shows is that one feels they could be just about anywhere. As far as downsides go it’s not a big one, but I wonder if Fall Out Boy knew where they were last night.

Review – Jack Briggs

Photos – Lee Allen

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