QUDOS Bank Arena, Sydney
Friday March 2, 2018 :
Fall Out Boy hit our shores again, this time to celebrate the release of their new album MANIA. You can feel the excitement already at Qudos Bank Arena as fans eagerly await their arrival. The lights dim as a countdown hits the backdrop. The whole arena erupts into a chant counting down to zero in anticipation.
The boys hit the stage and open straight up into ‘Phoenix’ with fire blasting from the back of the stage in an amazing display pyrotechnics. Over the next two songs, ‘Irresistible’ and ‘Hum Hallelujah’, the fans are treated to a sensory overload with fireworks and streamers shooting from the stage and lighting rig respectively while the backdrop plays an array of different videos and graphic design elements.
Fan favourites got the crowd moving with ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ and ‘Immortals’, and then Pete took the mic to talk to the crowd and give life advice about being yourself and how “you don’t ever want to fit in, you gotta stay dangerous, you gotta fucking stay frosty” as the band lead into the first song of the night off MANIA – ‘Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea’.
Patrick soon took a seat behind a piano for the next three songs showing us his true vocal ability during ‘Save Rock And Roll’ singing Elton John’s part sounding incredibly like the man himself. Without the restraint of the guitar, Patrick was up dancing feeding the crowd the energy he was getting back during ‘Last Of The Real Ones’ and then slowed it down with a completely solo piano version of ‘Young Menace’.
The lights then take focus over Andy on drums as Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Humble’ plays through the speakers while he smashes out an amazing drum solo. All part of a distraction to get Pete to the back of the arena to a mini stage where a curtain drops and ‘Dance, Dance’ literally starts a dance party on the arena floor. The energy continued with ‘I Don’t Care’, ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’, ‘Hold Me Tight Or Don’t’ followed by everyone’s national anthem ‘Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy’ which had every person singing along in unison. They played ‘thnks fr th mmrs’ and ‘Champion’ before the boys left the stage and the lights dimmed.
Soon the crowd started chanting “Fall Out Boy” wanting a little bit more and surely enough they came back for a four song encore. Moving into ‘Thriller’, then ‘Uma Thurman’, ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark’ and lastly to close the set for the night, old time favourite ‘Saturday’ had Pete off the bass doing vocals and jumping down to the barrier to enjoy the the last song with the crowd.
Playing a wide range of songs from their huge discography, Fall Out Boy took the crowd on a journey from new to old accompanied by the biggest stage show they’ve brought to our shores to date. The pyrotechnics and graphics keeping everyone stimulated and entirely captivated for their entire set. The boys prove yet again why they are one of the biggest and longest running bands of their genre and surely it won’t be long til we see Fall Out Boy again as Pete declared tonight that “Australia would be my favourite fucking island”
Reviewer + Photographer : Alicia Stephenson
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