Fall Out Boy

support n/a
author TL date 01/03/13 venue Binuu, Berlin, GER

If I was a cynical person, I could probably question if Fall Out Boy haven't been starting their reunion with training wheels on, booking shows across Europe in small/medium sized venues that would eaaaasily sell out in minutes. I am not a very cynical person however. Rather I am all over this intimate opportunity like a fat kid is over cake, and as our photographer Jill and I board a flight to Berlin, to collect tickets from Universal's mega-office there, I am constantly in danger of sprouting pigtails out of sheer excitement. No less so when entering the venue Binuu, which is located in the ground floor beneath Schlesiches Tor U-Bahn station in Berlin and which - although its cloakroom staff is definitely working double time to try and cater to the maxed out audience - seems like a really cool place, with two bars, a smoking lounge upstairs and a low ceiling in the actual concert room. Considering that this show sold out almost instantly, it's quickly getting crowded and while both levels of intoxication and anxiety rise, I'm rocking steady to the sound of Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Heads Will Roll" flowing from the speakers (apparently on repeat?) and waiting to see who the "support" that's stated on the ticket is going to be. As it turns out however, it must have been printed on by mistake, because when the lights dim and the background music fades, who enters the stage is none other than the four Chicago dudes we've all been waiting for.

For more photos from the show, check out Jill's flickr

Fall Out Boy

Now, you know how when you're cooking something, you often need to wait for water to boil before you can really get started? Ever noticed how that's often the case with shows as well? Not so with this show, as Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley come on stage and kick things off with "Thriller" and the crowd instantly calls every lyric back to them at a volume that is competing fiercely with the instruments, which are otherwise mixed to aggressive levels from the word go. "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me" follows, signs with the lyric "WE'VE BEEN MISSING YOU TO DEATH" - that have somehow been distributed in the line before the show - pop up all across the venue, and the entire front venue is a mass of bodies jumping, dancing, moshing or reaching out towards the stage, all still singing almost every word at the top of their lungs.

We also get "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"" from "From Under The Cork Tree" before the band wisely give the already panting audience an early breather with "I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off". The sound has been gradually fine-tuned up to this point and the band has been looking pretty energetic, brandishing guitars high and doing well timed pop-punk jumps off the drum platform. Wentz and Trohman do theirs to incite the crowd in front of them, with a cool swagger that fits their status as maturing rock stars, yet while Wentz addresses the crowd as often between songs, Patrick Stump is clearly the focus of attention these days. So I get a little worried when his voice sounds a little short on the (admittedly ridiculous) top notes of "I'm Like A Lawyer...", yet he makes a seemingly impossible return to form almost immediately afterwards, showing his ever improving capacity as a singer when he later nails the living daylights out of "I Don't Care" and new single "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark".

In keeping with my lame cooking analogy of earlier, the show is kept at a feverish boil, with 'lulls' only occuring once or twice, when the band wisely reduce the pace with songs like "Lawyer" and "What A Catch Donnie" to give the crowd some breathing room, and with the activity on the floor only varying from "everybody off the floor singing full power" to "front half of the room rocking back and forth and everybody still singing full power". Generally the big singles and the classics from "Take This To Your Grave" predictable harvest the loudest reception, and to the band's credit, they completely abstain from conventional showman-bullshit (like extending songs for unnatural singalongs for instance), rather opting to just drop their own playing and singing away when coming up on their most famous lines, which the crowd easily carry with fanatic dedication. Moreover, they put any doubts about the intentions of their reunion to shame with the wide smiles and vivid performances they put in especially during older songs and the amazingly well received "My Songs..".

Being the kind of band that could almost pick their setlist at random and still keep the fanbase happy, it also speaks to Fall Out Boy's credit, how they decide to squeeze in a medley of more rarely played fan-favourites: Even I fail to recognise "Evening Out With Your Girlfriend"-classic "Honorable Mention" and "Folie A Deux"-demo "Lake Effect Kid" mixed in between "American Suitehearts", "Alpha Dog" and "Calm Before The Storm", of which especially the latter gets such a stormingly heart-warming response that it completely takes my breath away (this being the song that originally got me into the band).

Meanwhile, time passes at lightspeed as classic after classic comes racing off the setlist and the band explain that one of the reasons for keeping their reunion and tour on the down low is that they wanted to get back to playing smaller, rowdier and sweatier shows like this one, and with both themselves and their fans drenched by now, it looks like they've gotten their wish. Things start blurring together in a steady stream of euphoric moments, as the people sing the "Boycott love! Detox just to retox!" catch phrase of "Folie A Deux"-opener "Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes" as loudly as they deliver the choruses to "This Ain't A Scene, It's A An Arms Race", "Grand Theft Autumn" and "The Take Over, The Breaks Over". Wentz sounds more mature and confident than ever, roaring out the defiant screams that have stubbornly stayed in the band's performance, while Trohman cranks out a mean solo during the cover of Michael Jackson's classic "Beat It", and Stump stays superhumanly sharp on his notes despite performing with high levels of flamboyance and energy throughout.

So, following a predictably booming rendition of "Sugar, We're Going Down", it's probably more of an indication of people having given it their all, than of any lazyness or apathy, when the chanting for an encore is just loud as hell. Ever true to their roots, the band return and deliver "The Patron Saint Of Liars And Fakes", "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" and "Saturday", the last of which still sees Wentz surrender his bass to a crew member and meet crowd at the fence for his closing howls. And with that it's over - a two hour hit-parade that met expectations so head on that you almost forgot how ridiculously high our expectations rightfully were coming in. So yeah, I guess you can say it's easy-mode when a band this big plays in a venue this small, getting a crowd synergy like this - But then I bet any of us will see few enough concerts in our lifetimes, where everybody; every soul from the stage front to the soundpit, is singing almost religiously to over 90% of the lyrics. So I just praise the powers of the universe for putting me in the position to be part of one.

9

Setlist:

  • 1. Thriller
  • 2. I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
  • 3. A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"
  • 4. Dead On Arrival
  • 5. This Ain't A Scene It's An Arms Race
  • 6. Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner
  • 7. I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off
  • 8. Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today
  • 9. Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy?)
  • 10. Hum Hallelujah
  • 11. Dance Dance
  • 12. Medley (Honorable Mention, American Suitehearts, Lake Effect Kid, Alpha Dog, Calm Before The Storm)
  • 13. What A Catch, Donnie
  • 14. The Take Over, The Breaks Over
  • 15. I Don't Care
  • 16. My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark
  • 17. Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes
  • 18. Beat It (Michael Jackson cover)
  • 19. Sugar, We're Going Down

- Encore -

  • 20. The Patron Saint Of Liars And Fakes
  • 21. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
  • 22. Saturday

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