Fall Out Boy with The All American Rejects and Hey Monday at Vector Arena, Monday 23 February 2009.
Reviewed by Hannah Sarney
After starting my working day at 5:00am, I soon found myself sitting in a school gymnasium listening to the deafening screams of young students who were fortunate enough to host Fall Out Boy for a press conference.
F.O.B. O.M.G. E.T.C.
Patrick Stump, Andy Hurley, Joe Trohman and Pete Wentz filed onto the makeshift stage to dish out admirable advice and quick witted quips in answer to the students’ questions.
In-between their mild-tempered bickering, Fall Out Boy’s messages to the kids overall were: enjoy your music and stay in school.
It was sound advice, but perhaps a lot of them took the latter a bit too literally. The crowd at Vector Arena struggled to fill even half of the venue’s capacity.
Fall Out Boy didn’t seem to care though as they burst onto the stage during the opening set by Hey Monday to… sweep? The clean up of their pint-sized label mates saw the drum kit dismantled mid-‘Homecoming’.
The All American Rejects followed flamboyantly with skin-tight purple acid wash jeans complemented by glittering pink footwear perfect for prancing. Well, frontman Tyson did anyway as he contorted himself around the enormous stage and threw the crowd (and apparently himself) into a frenzy.
An admirable moment that epitomised the notion ‘the show must go on’ came as technical troubles rendered Tyson unable to fix his guitar strap, hold his microphone and keep singing at the same time. However, the song was well underway so the stage tech was roped in as a makeshift microphone stand. They barely missed a note.
Finally after much flood-lit waiting and wondering, Fall Out Boy broke into ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs.’ No, thank you Fall Out Boy. Immediately there were spins, leaps, and spinning leaps a plenty.
I had my fingers crossed for covers of Akon or Marvin Gaye, but Estelle and Kanye’s ‘American Boy’ was a treat and Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ was clearly still a band favourite. Patrick Stump put on a glorious show throughout as he popped, locked and attempted to leave no note untouched.
While an estimated 36 picks were tossed into the crowd during the three acts, an assortment of water and glow sticks were tossed back in equal numbers. Do you pay a lot of money to attend a show so you can throw bits of plastic at the performers? Apparently, yes.
However, it was mostly adulation being directed at the four boys from Illinois. Their line says "throw your cameras in the air and wave them like you just don’t care." But - whether they were tracks from their first EP, previous chart-toppers, or brand new hits - the crowd threw their camera (phones) in the air and waved them in a fashion that suggested they cared about the music immensely.
It was easy to become caught up in it all as Hey Monday’s Cassadee joined Stump to belt out ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’. Four extra drummers kicked off and topped off ‘Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes’ and an assortment of other characters made brief appearances - quite possibly just to say they went on stage.
As expected, Wentz took on vocal duties in-between songs. The teen heart-throb mused on his affections (obsessions) for Twilight teen heart-throb Robert Pattinson. It was almost too much to contemplate both dashing pop kings at once for the group of girls beside me. They immediately paired off for support as their knees threatened to give way and their voices exploded into excited screams.
“I’d let Pete bite me,” said one.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind Patrick as my American S(weet)heart. That boy can certainly sing. He also mentioned that he is harbouring thoughts of emigrating to New Zealand if American dwelling doesn’t work out in the future.
It’s your move Obama.
XO 3 News
source: newshub archive
