Show Review

On a rainy Tuesday night in Downtown Los Angeles, hundreds of teeny boppers left their Middle School and High Schools to head to the Fall Out Boy show. LA Sports Arena was sold out, compacting 30,000 screaming kids into one sweaty mess; the rafters in the back were packed, the floor was packed, even the dirty hallways of the old Lakers’ home arena were packed with sweaty, tiny kids. And suddenly it dawned on me: Fall Out Boy are f**king huge.

We unfortunately missed the openers From First To Last and Hawthorne Heights. I have to admit I was a little disappointed to miss FFTL, as I’d been meaning to check them out for some time now—but not that disappointed. I mean, I have a job, I have to work. I don’t have time to skip 8th period and wait in stop traffic to make a 6:30 start time. Sorry…I’ll push my angst aside as best I can.

So, after about 20 minutes waiting to get into the venue, $8 for parking, and a mess with security (no cigarettes? Give me a break), we got into the venue. Promptly, we sucked down some warm, overpriced beer as The All-American Rejects were taking the stage. It felt more like I was watching a baseball game than anything else, and I was even on the floor. The place was packed, swarming with mommies, daddies, but mostly youngsters; I guess I wouldn’t expect anything less, it was just surprising as hell to see so many young people in one place. Maybe I’m getting too old for this stuff.

The All-American Rejects, putting all personal notions and beliefs about the band aside, were actually surprisingly decent. Their singer had an adept notion and way of hitting all his notes, and they sounded incredibly loud and on-key (maybe even a bit too loud). Blaring guitars and a sort of confused energy from the band tended to eventually get a bit annoying, but overall they sounded great—and on key. Though their set had a few cheesy moments, but I guess that’s what you can expect from AAR anyways.

I hate to mention it but I just found it funny how much advertising is being done by the phone companies at these shows. On the Yellowcard tour, for example, at the Avalon, there were Verizon advertisements everywhere—and a huge screen up between sets with advertising all over it. Pete Wentz’s strategy was also revealed to be pretty hilarious—but smart—as this time Amp’d Mobile screens were up and videos from Panic! At The Disco, The Academy Is, and Gym Class Heroes all came on in between AAR and FOB. I also noticed a very interesting but subtle branding technique the band / Decaydance is using: the music videos all cited “Decaydance” as the label instead of Fueled By Ramen. Just found it interesting how much branding works and how much Fall Out Boy is using their power to market other artists—but I won’t comment on this any more.

As Fall Out Boy took the stage, donning a magnificent background display courtesy of Rob Dobi, it hit me again: this band is friggin’ huge!!! The entire floor and crowd shook as men, women, and children alike jumped for joy to a multitude of songs. Patrick Stump (or should I say, Pete Wentz) and company were incredibly impressive, dancing and exploring every corner of the stage with an insane energy. Stump in particular was also quite insane as he hit every vocal line and often extended his range almost to just show he could sing so well.

To top it off, the amazing back panel displays (did I mention they were ENORMOUS?) collapsed and changed every few songs—to reveal images of a toaster above a bathtub, a match about to hit a flood of gasoline by a car, and a distraught Pete Wentz (I assume) getting out of bed about to step into a bear trap. What was even more impressive was the explosion of fire cannons that lit up on “Sugar, We’re Going Down.” Yes, fire cannons exploded balls of flame behind the band during that song.

For some reason, I really wanted to say I hated their set, that I’m confused as to their stardom, but tonight it just came too clear: Fall Out Boy are successful due to their talent. I might not be the biggest fan of ‘From Under The Cork Tree,” or even “Take This To Your Grave” for that matter, but to say I didn’t have a fun time watching the band perform with sheer perfection would be a complete lie.

review by Andrew Martin