THE GALLERY: Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

 

 

 

Words & pics by Eleanor Sutcliffe

I’ve always wanted to see Fall Out Boy. Ever since I smuggled my brother’s album collection from his room and listened to them on my paint splattered stereo, I’d been determined to catch the band live and in action. 

Due to Arena Birmingham’s new security procedures, getting into the venue took longer than usual. So, I unfortunately missed the first support slot – MAX. However, I arrived in time to catch Against the Current – and what a set it was.

Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor SutcliffeBursting on stage to their single ‘Wasteland’, singer Chrissy Constanza weaved her way across the platform belting out track after track of pure, unaltered pop rock. Songs from their debut album In Our Bones, such as ‘Blood Like Gasoline’, went down a storm with the Arena crowd, as did their closing track ‘Gravity’. Hopefully, it won’t be long before Against the Current head out on their own UK headline tour – they’ll have gained enough fans from this run with Fall Out Boy to do so, that’s for certain.

Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor SutcliffeFall Out Boy are no strangers to theatrics and this show was no exception to that rule. As the house lights went down, and the stage lit up with a video of crashing waves and a timer, the room erupted into a cacophony of participation as fans counted down with the clock. Opening with their track ‘Phoenix’, I was expecting drama – however, as countless pyro flares went off (and I felt my skin burn from the heat) I realised I may have underestimated just how much effort the band would have put into production.

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor SutcliffeYou name it, they had it. Pyrotechnics, smoke grenades, strobes, even two levitating stages by the sound desks clad in LED screens – if you haven’t heard of Fall Out Boy before, I urge you to see them play not just for the music, but for the experience. It’s rare these days for a band to put together such a strenuous, precise set, and to pull it off with seemingly effortless ease that I cannot even begin to comprehend how.

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor SutcliffeBounding up and down the central walkway, singer Patrick Stump and bass guitarist Pete Wentz seemed to possess endless energy throughout the set – sprinting up and down continuously, only stopping to haul themselves onto the two levitating stages at the end. For all of those who had queued to hug the barriers down at the front, this must have been incredibly frustrating – however for the fans cooped up in the balconies, it was a real treat. If you can’t get to Fall Out Boy, rest assured they’ll bring their show to you.

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor SutcliffeStill riding high on their own phoenix from the flames, and a cemented return to form with MANIA – their third album since the ‘decompression’ – their set list was as varied as ever too. Newer material such as ‘Young and a Menace’, played by Stump on a grand piano, nestled in next to fan favourites such as ‘Dance Dance’ across a 23-song set that was sure to please everyone in the Arena crowd.

There was even an array of challenging and (no doubt intentionally) incendiary video screen clips – from babies swearing during ‘I Don’t Care’ to footage of Princess Diana’s life and untimely death during ‘Champion’. You could almost feel the Daily Mail journalists sharpen their Parker pens at the latter.

But as for the four lads from Illinois, on stage and at the centre of it all, Fall Out Boy pulled together a set that was both provocative and thoroughly enjoyable. And for me, bucket list – tick.

 

 

 

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

For more on Fall Out Boy, visit www.falloutboy.com

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Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe Against the Current – supporting Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18 / Eleanor Sutcliffe

For more on Against the Current, visit www.atcofficial.com 

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.gigsandtours.com

For more on Arena Birmingham, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.arenabham.co.uk

BPREVIEW: Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18

Fall Out Boy @ Arena Birmingham 27.03.18

Words by Ed King

On Tuesday 27th March, Fall Out Boy perform at Arena Birmingham, with support from MAX and Against the Current.

Doors open to Arena Birmingham at 6pm, with Max on stage at 6pm and Against the Current at 7:45pm. Fall Out Boy will be performing from 9pm, with the show scheduled to finish by 10:30pm.

Tickets are priced at £32.50 / £42.50 depending on positioning within the arena, plus booking and fulfillment fees – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours.

For direct gig information, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here. 

Fall Out Boy are back on the road with their MAN I A Tour, kicking off a series of 11 European dates at Arena Birmingham. After finishing their UK dates at London’s O2 Arena on 31st March, with stops in Cardiff (28th Mar) and Manchester (29th Mar) in between, Fall Out Boy will go on to play a series of gigs in France, Holland, Germany, Belgium, China, Singapore and Japan, before returning to the US for a series of dates on home soil.

Fall Out Boy will be back in Blighty for two gigs the Reading and Leeds Festivals this summer, should you miss the European leg of their world wide tour and not be able to afford an Uber to Asia or North America. Mind you, knowing Festival Republic the hole in your pocket might end up just as uncomfortable. For full details of all Fall Out Boy shows, click here.

Stalwarts of the new wave pop/punk scene, Fall Out Boy smashed a small hole into the scene with their 2003 album, Take This to Your Grave. Signed by the then relatively small Fueled by Ramen (and subsequently swallowed up by the then relatively monolithic Island RecordsFall Out Boy put some strong feet forward with their twelve track debut. And whilst it may not have been an immediate commercial success, Take This to Your Grave would cement itself into the mindset of the burgeoning pop/punk culture – receiving plaudits and high chart placements in the mainstream media listicles that would try and surmise the genre many years later. But love it, loathe it, own it, or lost it, fifteen years since its release Take This to Your Grave is widely respected as a defining moment in the pop/punk scene.

Fall Out Boy would go on to release a further three albums, before juggling band members, negative press attention, blotter acid, and the ill fated 2008 release of Folie à Deux would push them into a break up. Or hiatus. Or decompression. But whatever the word, the bursting bubble kept Fall Out Boy collectively off a stage and out of a studio for the next few years – finally stepping back into the limelight with their fifth studio album, Save Rock and Roll, in 2012.

Described by Rolling Stone magazine as a ‘rather stunning renaissance’, Fall Out Boy managed to pull themselves back from the cultural abyss with Save Rock and Roll – paving the way for a renewed touring schedule and their second ‘comeback’ album, American Beauty/American Psycho, released on 16th January 2015.

Nearly three years to the day later, and Fall Out Boy released MAN I A – the band’s seventh studio album, with a extensive worldwide tour to promote it kicking off in September 2017. Hitting the No1 spots in both the US and Japan, reflecting two of Fall Out Boy’s strongest fan bases, MAN I A would also reach top ten chart positions in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Finland and the UK – with the album’s latest (and somewhat cathartic) single, ‘Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)’, released in January 2018.

Fall Out Boy start the UK leg of their MAN I A Tour at Arena Birmingham on Tuesday 27th March, with support from Max and Against the Current.

‘Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)’ – Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy perform at Arena Birmingham on Tuesday 27th March, with support from Max and Against the Current – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours. For direct gig information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.arenabham.co.uk/whats-on/fall-out-boy

For more on Fall Out Boy, visit www.falloutboy.com 

For more on Max, visit www.maxhellskitchen.com

For more on Against the Current, visit www.atcofficial.com

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.gigsandtours.com

For more on Arena Birmingham, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.arenabham.co.uk