Fall Out Boy - Main stage

Quickly becoming the emotive voice for the collective teenage conscience, Fall Out Boy deliver a stunning and polished live performance. Beginning their set with ‘Thriller’, the first track from their latest album, ‘Infinity On high’, the clap-happy group demonstrated the clear atomic chemistry between lead singer, Patrick Stump, and bassist, Pete Wentz. Stump’s vocals were on perfect form, with his range shifting from dulcet tenor to on-pitch falsetto, and it was clear that combined with the almost acrobatic pirouettes of Wentz, the band were radiating something incredible.

With cameos from various performers, including Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, it was a stage show not to be missed, especially when they covered their favourite “Emo” song, Akon’s ‘Don’t Matter’, there was an understated humour that wasn’t lost on anyone, as is was played to ironically appreciative applause. It was closely followed by the Fallout Boy classic, ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’, to a choir of voices from the audience, but I still couldn’t make out quite what the lyrics were…

At one point Wentz pleaded with the audience not to scream until they recognized the next track, and when people realised that it was a cover on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, scream they did. After this, the band expressed their gratitude at having no bottle thrown at them during the performance so far, and demonstrated their gratitude by bringing a friend on to stage who proceeded to smash a real glass bottle over his head, instantly being followed by one of the stand-out performances, ‘This ‘ain’t a scene…” with it’s throbbing disco beat.

There was an anecdotal twist the song ‘Thnks fr th mmrs’ (‘Thanks for the memories’) with Wentz recalling a female French acquaintance of his. Following this was the ultimate crowd pleaser, ‘Dance, Dance’ where the crowd lost all inhibitions, and even members of the audience who had been skeptical about Fallout Boy fell under their gamma-ray power. After a brief extract of ‘The Power of Love’, the band finished with ‘Saturday’, a knock-out track from their second full-length album ‘Take This to your Grave’. One of the lyrics being woven through the crowd was “Good to go”, but I can confidently assert that nobody at all wanted them to.  

James Wright