I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 20, 2021] Fall Out Boy: Hella Mega Tour: Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer / The Interrupters [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

Both of my kids are pretty big Fall Out Boy fans (naturally, my son likes the older songs and my daughter likes the newer songs).  I really only know them from my kids playing them.  This means, however, that I know most of their popular songs.  So while I wasn’t looking forward to this set as much as the other two, I was looking forward to a couple of songs (I suspected that the “Light ’em Up” song would have excellent pyrotechnics, and I was right).

So after Weezer, we ran off to Chickie and Pete’s to get some fries and made it back to our seats in plenty of time (we somehow just beat the crowd).  A dark cloud floated over the stadium as we were enjoying out fries.  So I looked at the weather app which assured us that there was no chance of precipitation, and moments later the skies opened up and dropped bucket loads of water on us.  We were soaked!

The main concern was that the posters would get wet (they got a little wet but nothing too bad).  As we tried to stay dry, Fall Out Boy came out and we quickly forgot about the rain.

They had a very cool set–it looked like a hole dug into the earth or something (it was a little hard to focs with all the rain) and a video screen in the hole which showed a series of videos that seemed to be telling a story.  In fact, when the set started a narrator told us something (I couldn’t follow it at all) that I assumed had to do with the narrative.

The set was a really nice mixture of old and new songs, covering all of their albums.  The opener, “The Phoenix” featured a ton of fire (yes!) including fire shooting out of the top of Pete Wentz’ bass.   Then came “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” which I think of as “Number 1 with a bullet” and which I really like.  This song rocked and was very fun.

I liked the way they went from that older song to two of their newer songs, “Irresistible” and the crazy catchy “Uma Thurman” which inexplicably features the riff from “The Munsters” but somehow works incredibly.  I realized that I didn’t know much of anything about the guys in the band (I’d heard of Wentz, but couldn’t remember much about why).  So I was really surprised to see that guitarist Joe Trohman had a big mop of hair and I guess I really wasn’t surprised that drummer Andy Hurley had a full shirt of tattoos.

They played two songs from their debut.  That album had a more emo pop sound, but the live version sounded a bit more like their current sound.

For “Save Rock and Roll” they rolled out a piano which they proceeded to light on fire.  The top was on fire for the whole song, and clearly did not damage the instrument at all–but it was cool to see the plexiglass barrier deflecting the fire from Patrick Stump.  They kept the piano out for the next song, “The Last of the Real Ones” the only song from their newest album (2018’s M A N I A).  I don’t know if the new album didn’t do well, but the song sounds a lot like the others (with more piano).

I was also intrigued that Pete Wentz was the only person who spoke to the audience.  It’s pretty unusual for the singer not to talk, but Stump never did, it was all Wentz.  He told us that his son was there, which got an appropriate aww from those around us.

They played two in a row from From Under the Cork Tree (the album my son plays a lot) so I enjoyed rocking out to “Dance, Dance” and “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me.””

There was a lot of fire–a lot of fire– for “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” which was pretty fantastic.  Fall Out Boy did not disappoint with their pyro.  Because there was even more fire for “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up).”

They played one song from their last album before the hiatus, the bluesy and rather kicking “I Don’t Care” followed by the vowelless “Thnks fr th Mmrs.”

Somewhere along the line it stopped raining and they rocked out the meant-for-stadiums “Centuries” which was full of fire, explosions, and lots of lights.  I assumed that that would be the end of the set, but they played one more song.

Pete Wentz removed his coat to reveal a Phillies jersey (to much approval) and they played “Saturday” from their debut.  I don’t know if this was a huge hit for them or not, but it seemed like an odd song to end with after the anthemic “Centuries.”

But whatever the case, the crowd was into it and the set ended pretty spectacularly.

I really enjoyed their set and was really impressed with their live show.

1. The Phoenix §
2. Sugar, We’re Goin Down ¥
3. Irresistible Δ
4. Uma Thurman Δ
5. Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy ±
6. Save Rock and Roll §
7. The Last of the Real Ones ϖ
8. Dance, Dance ¥
9. A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me” ¥
10. This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race ∞
11. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up) §
12. I Don’t Care à
13. Thnks fr th Mmrs ∞
14. Centuries Δ
15. Saturday ±

± = Take This to Your Grave (2003)
¥ = From Under the Cork Tree (2005)
∞ = Infinity on High (2007)
à = Folie à Deux (2008)
§ = Save Rock and Roll (2013)
Δ = American Beauty/American Psycho (2015)
ϖ = M A N I A (2018)