In case there is any question as to whose concert this was, it was Fall Out Boy. Clearly a play on their recently released album, So Much (for) Stardust. I believe this marks the fifth or sixth time I’ve seen these guys, so did my sister and I really need to get tickets to go? No. But when the prices drop so low on resale, well, then we had to!
It really couldn’t have been a more perfect storm of circumstances. Yes, the prices dropped to probably about half of what was originally being asked, then the weather was beautiful but mild, and then we even managed to get in and out with much fanfare (or time spent). We more or less were walking around getting food and whatnot during the opening band, Carr’s set, but then we eventually made our way down to our seats for Royal and the Serpent. I’ve seen them before, so I wasn’t surprised by how good they sounded. They’ve had their fair share of radio play in the past, but I’m sure this tour is getting them some new fans.
Up next was a quite impressive opening band, Bring Me the Horizon. Not that I personally find them impressive, but the fact that they are a pretty huge band themselves that they decided to OPEN for Fall Out Boy. That’s pretty cool. The crowd was packed in for their set and was amped as soon as the first song kicked off. Thanks to my sister, I too knew several of the songs. Compared this to the last time I saw that at Rock on the Range almost eight years ago when I didn’t know a single song. I know for a fact I zoned out back then, because I don’t recall how anything sounded. I was actually quite impressed with the vocals and the energy levels of the band. It was also quite exciting when he did a lap through the venue. And Oli Sykes didn’t just stop with the people in the pavilion. He ran out into the lawn. The packed tight lawn. Brave man. But good fun!
I know the sets for this tour have been quite elaborate, so I was pretty surprised that they got everything torn down and set up for Fall Out Boy’s set in like 20 minutes! That almost never happens! They kicked off with their latest album’s lead single, “Love From the Other Side,” and the rest of the set from there was electric! I felt they had a nice mix of songs from all of their discography, though they paid the least amount of love to MANIA (deserved). This means though, that I had no clue about the songs selected from Folie A Deux, and barely from Take This to Your Grave. I know, I’m a fair-weather fan. It looks like on each stop of the tour they’ve been debuting a song they’ve almost never played live before, so that means we were treated to “27.” Again, it’s off that record I basically never listened to. Oh, well. Aside from all their own songs, they broke up the set a little bit in the middle with a medley of random stuff. It was all fun and all very good and I had a blast as usual.
They played for an almost uninterrupted hour and forty minutes, which I think is the longest I may have ever seen them play. Whether it’s the first or the fifth (or sixth?) time I’ve seen them play, they have never disappointed me. I’m glad my sister and I made this tour stop work and I can’t wait to maybe see them again – festival anyone?!