Fall Out Boy rocks Barclays Center
Fall Out Boy band members are, from left, Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman. The band gathered as its new album was released this past spring. (April 12, 2013) Credit: AP
You can’t name your album (and your tour) “Save Rock and Roll” and not have a plan.
Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz told the capacity crowd at Barclays Center Saturday night that its plan is to inspire someone in the crowd to join a band that could become the next Green Day or Descendants or, yes, the next Fall Out Boy.
“Rock and roll,” Wentz said, “should be a transformative experience.”
That’s a tall order, but over the course of its 105-minute set, Fall Out Boy certainly delivered. Though the band has been supporting “Save Rock and Roll” on the road since its release in April, the American arena tour began this past week, and Fall Out Boy has built a show to match the album’s huge, anthemic songs.
“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark,” the album’s lead single and one of only a handful of rock songs to muscle its way onto pop radio stations and into the Top 15 this year, is meant to be heard in big spaces, preferably while flame pots belch fire. Wentz does karate kicks, guitarist Joe Trohman does flying leaps, Andy Hurley bashes the drums like there’s no tomorrow, and thousands of people sing along with Patrick Stump.
That kind of teamwork makes new songs like “The Phoenix” and “Alone Together” sound stronger in an arena setting, but it also gives older songs like “Saturday” or even their breakthrough “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” more power, especially as Stump's voice continues to grow more expressive and soulful.
In case that wasn’t enough inspiration, the band brought out some special guests, including Travie McCoy, who joined them for “Billionaire,” and the great Marky Ramone, who drummed with them for revved-up versions of The Ramones’ classics “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “Blitzkrieg Bop.”
The band also makes it very clear, in the encore for “Save Rock and Roll,” that its definition of rock and roll is as broad as possible, posting photos of everyone from Bob Marley to Johnny Cash, from Flavor Flav to Billy Joel, on the big screen, as well as Nirvana and Guns N' Roses.
The “Save Rock and Roll Tour” may be about inspiring the next generation, however, it also proves that Fall Out Boy, like its own heroes Green Day, may not have hit its creative peak yet.
SETLIST: The Phoenix / I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me / A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me” / This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race / Miss Missing You / The Take Over, the Breaks Over / Alone Together / Thriller / Death Valley / Sugar, We’re Goin Down / I Wanna Be Sedated (w/Marky Ramone) / Blitzkreig Bop (w/Marky Ramone) / Young Volcanoes / What a Catch, Donnie / 20 Dollar Nose Bleed (w/Brendon Urie) / I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You) / Billionaire (w/Travie McCoy) / Where Is Your Boy / Dance, Dance / Just One Yesterday / I Don’t Care / My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up) // ENCORE: Save Rock and Roll / Thnks fr th Mmrs / Saturday
