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I finally got to see Fall Out Boy! After being a fan of their music for so long, the chance finally came along for me to see them play live, and even with the three-digit price tag, I figured it would be worth it. Wouldn't want to wait another five years for another chance, right?
I did go with a few of my friends this time around, and we noticed pretty quickly that things we're quite different for a show of this scale. Having a priority entry was a big clue, but on the day itself we found out that there were already people queueing there since the morning for an 8pm show. Wild. One of my friends went early anyways, to get merch and also to join the priority entry queue (they bought it but the rest of us didn't). The rest of us met for dinner nearby and then got to the venue shortly after doors opened. The early friend helped me to get merch, so I didn't actually visit the merch booth, but I gotta say that the merch selection was a bit small and that was a bit disappointing. Still got a shirt, though.
There was definitely a lot of wait time, as we entered the venue two hours before the show started. We found ourselves in a pretty decent spot, right in front of the VIP area that was situated in the middle, relatively close enough where we could kind of see the stage, but also we were comfortably close to a big screen. The VIP area behind us also meant that we were somewhat protected from the squeezy crowds, so it was probably the best place we could've ended up. I was expecting a big show to be quite different from a small show, but it still surprised me. We were sitting down when we were waiting, and nearing the start of the show, I stood up and looked around and was just shocked by how many people there were.
All that waiting time meant I had time to get a vibe, and it was really interesting to see. Fall Out Boy is a band with more than two decades behind them, and they definitely have a lot of dedicated fans from different age groups, but the audience demographic was strangely dense in the 30-40s age range (well, from what I could tell). There were not as many teens as I expected, which kind of surprised me. Also, the venue was playing a lot of old emo songs, I don't think I heard a single big rock song from the past 5 years the entire time, but the people were having fun and karaoke-ing while waiting for the show to start.
When the show finally started, everyone was pretty excited. They started off the set with Love From The Other Side, and they were definitely starting off super solid. Hearing Patrick's vocals sound as good as it is live is definitely an experience, Andy's killing it on the drums, Joe's laying it down on the guitar and Pete is just being Pete. Big show venue definitely had different acoustics, I realised that the volume was softer because it didn't sound like hearing-damage volumes even without earplugs, maybe it had to do with the distance. It also did mean that a lot of the time, the band was partially drowned out by the crowd singing and shouting, not something I was particularly bothered by but interesting to note. Fall Out Boy kept going, song after song, they barely had a break between songs, which is kind of crazy especially for Patrick. It must be a strain on the vocals. It's crazy that all the way until the end of the show, Patrick's vocals didn't dip at all. That's some professional shit right there, even with all the high notes, long notes and vocal runs.
Joe got to go off on the guitar quite a bit too, I think there are some parts where he plays a bit differently than studio, there's definitely a bit of shredding that's not on the actual song. Andy also goes off hard on the drums, I always knew he was a super tight drummer but hearing it live and seeing it in front of my eyes hits different. Pete was holding it down on the bass the entire way through, some iconic basslines too to boot, but I loved him screaming the most. Just throwing it in like nobody's business, and it's actually super strong now, even clearer and grittier than his nothing,nowhere. feature would suggest. I want to say he also did some shrieking, but the crowd was getting pretty loud at that point and I couldn't really hear it clearly. Patrick also did throw in some grit at times, I think it would be cool to see him use it more, but maybe not all the way to pure screaming. Would be a waste of his vocal talent.
I did love to see the pyrotechnics, lighting and visuals of their set, it's definitely not something you'll see in small shows, gives you something to look at even if you can't see the band clearly. As the show went on, they kept jumping throughout their discography, shuffling between newer and older songs. I've listened to all their albums a decent amount, but I was definitely lost on some of the older cuts. I was vaguely aware of what their setlist would be like, since they had a similar setlist for their entire year of touring, the only real questions would be if they'd throw in a bonus song and what the 8 ball song would be. For context, they were doing this gimmick of playing a random song from their discography for each show, and it quickly became clear that no song was off-limits since they started pulling out some real deep cuts in their US tour leg. I wasn't hoping for anything in particular other than it being a song I knew, and they ended up playing XO, which I'm pretty happy to have gotten.
The whole show was ninety minutes, definitely didn't feel like it but that's just how shows are. I was actually quite surprised after the fact that they managed to squeeze so many songs in. The setlist was twenty-two songs, they really were speedrunning it. They didn't talk much during the show, there were maybe two or three windows of time where they spoke for a little bit, but most of the show was just song after song. I think their setlist was pretty great, can't expect them to be playing all the songs I like but they had a good selection of big hits and deeper cuts. I also thought it was great that they genuinely played live. Other than the electronic elements on the backing track, it was pretty clear that all the members were playing live, you could hear if they were improvising or if they made minor mistakes (of which there weren't many). I just think it's cool that a band as big as them still care about the live experience.
I can finally cross seeing Fall Out Boy live off the bucket list. It was definitely more pricey but I think it was worth it for the experience. I definitely realised that I do prefer smaller shows more, though, it just feels more intimate and lively when there's less people in between you and the band. I will admit though, it is fun to see a show big enough to have all the fancier showbiz elements. Going with friends also made it more fun, hopefully I can find some metalcore lovers for future shows. Also, I lowkey wished they had openers, it does feel a bit weird for them to be the only band playing at a show. I guess none of their support acts from the bigger tour legs could make it out to Asia.
(Also, I never knew concrete floors could wobble like that, but I guess when you have a whole venue of people jumping up and down in sync, it's gonna bend.)