CONCERT REVIEW! Fall Out Boy @ America’s Cup Pavilion, S.F. 9/21/13

When Fall Out Boy came onto the mainstream scene with their album From Under the Cork Tree & “Sugar We’re Going Down” became a huge hit, I bought their older albums/EP’s & became a huge fan. I was later disappointed by their follow up albums (Infinity on High was just okay, let’s not even get started on Folie a Deux – which I don’t even own) I was about 15 when I became a FOB fan and their perfect mix of dance-y music and angst-y lyrics filled a spot in my heart that was disappointingly starting to fade…but then…Save Rock and Roll was released earlier this year and luckily my roommate at the time was also a huge FOB fan so when she bought the CD the day it came out, I was able to get a listen of the new music, happily rediscover my passion for the band, even getting tickets (FRONT ROW) for The Conan Show when FOB was performing, then going to an autograph signing on Hollywood and Highland the next day! I was beyond happy when I heard FOB was touring again, having NEVER seen them in concert even though I’ve been dreaming of it since I was 15 – so this concert meant a lot to me, a bucket list item 8 YEARS in the making! The concert in SoCal sold out in minutes, so I had to make a trip to my hometown and see the boys in San Francisco. Here’s my recap…

“Pre-Opener”: 21 Pilots
Dear sweet baby Jesus, if I never hear another song from 21 Pilots…I’ll be good. The actual music itself was not bad, but the singer and his lyrics were SO SPASTIC!!!!! The songs were so long you couldn’t tell if it was still the same song or if he’d flowed into something different, one second he’s be singing, then screaming and flailing around, then he’d sound like he was just talking. My head was spinning. He performed this song called “Car Radio”…check out the YouTube video…this is a mild, watered down version of what he actually did… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92XVwY54h5k

“Opener”: Panic! At The Disco
I was 2% excited for PATD, simply because I’m only familiar with about a handful of their songs but having the chance to see them was a tiny side bonus. However, I was again pretty disappointed. I didn’t realize how much I DIDN’T know their music, so I was mostly waiting for them to finish so FOB could come on. Although, I am now obsessed with one of their newer songs, here’s the YouTube…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE381tbQa8
*Please note musical similarities to FOB’s My Songs… & Alone Together. Iiiinteresting 🙂

***Also, the crowd at this point was getting really out of control. I was separated from my friend & pushed to the front…well, pushed to the front, back, down to ground, lifted back up, etc lol, I understand that’s part of going to shows, & I find that somewhat fun, but the crowd at this show was VERY rude. I don’t know if it was because a majority of the crowd seemed to be high school-ers, or if they were just inexperienced concert goers. People were yelling at each other and purposely attacking people that been pushed against them – hello! The crowd is pushing EVERYONE, I’m not trying to shove you or elbow you, it’s just happening, it’s the nature of the “mosh pit” beast – if you don’t like it -go sit in the bleachers! It got so bad that when FOB came out they stopped after the first song & made people step back & help people up that had been trampled/passed out etc, & said for safety reasons we had to be more chill or they’d keep stopping the show. Yikes.

Main Event: FALL OUT BOY!
Seriously…good, but underwhelming. Maybe I had the event built up too high in my head, maybe I was just expecting more after seeing them live on Conan, maybe because I met them face to face I’d already experienced the main highlight of band worship…? All these things are definitely explanations I’m considering for my lack of supreme joy that I thought I was going to feel upon finally realizing a dream 8 years in the making. I seriously thought I was going to openly weep, but no. Not one tear, didn’t even feel emotional enough to cry, not even during my favorite songs, that usually make me feel so much I tear up singing along in my car. (Other people have that happen to them too, yes? …Dear God, what have I just revealed about myself?!) Anyways, it was just…good.
They had no real set pieces to speak of, they played video behind them on a big screen – woo hoo – they have all the money in the world, and those tickets were not cheap, they could’ve had some special effects! Maybe they were thinking special effects would distract from the experience, but they’re a really good live performance band, so fortunately/unfortunately when they perform live, they sound very similar, if not exactly the same, as the CD tracks. I felt like they needed something to spice things up and make me feel like I wasn’t just listening to the CD among sweaty, pushy, teenagers. That made me sound really old.
Another possibility I thought of was that maybe I’m just not a “scene kid” or whatever these kids consider themselves. I usually go to Rocket Summer shows, which are MUCH more underground and it’s a VERY different experience, one that I always enjoy to the highest degree. I’ve made friends at Rocket Summer shows that I still keep in contact with through FB on a semi-regular basis. It was disappointing to not have that kind of camaraderie among the fans at last nights show, but I guess it’s a different environment when you see a mainstream band.

Overall opinion: Commenting only on FOB, if you have the chance to see them sometime – go! It’s a good show, you’ll have fun, live music is pretty much always an awesome experience. For me, now that I’ve seen them once, I don’t know that I would go back to any of their future shows. It depends on how much the tickets are and how much of an effort I’d have to put out to get to it. Despite my lackluster review, it was a good experience that I’m glad I was able to FINALLY partake in. Here are some video clips of my favorite songs and select photos…

Opening song “The Phoenix”
“Alone Together”
“Sugar, We’re Going Down”
“Young Volcanoes”
“Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”
“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
“Save Rock & Roll”