"Punk Rock will never leave you alone!"
Pete Wentz - Fall Out Boy's bassist/primary mouthpiece/purveyor of awkward screamed vocals - yelled the emphatic, if a little calculated line as the band launched into 'Alone Together', a track off their fifth and most recent album, Save Rock and Roll.
But leave us alone they did, and it was a cold, lonely four years of darkness indeed. This time, it was different: I wasn't watching in envy on YouTube as the band played for the lucky ones who caught 'em pre-hiatus. This was happening IRL, gurl. Fall Out Boy weren't only making music again, they were playing on our occasionally hazy shores (we remember, Indonesia).
I recall a time a couple years back, when the quartet had been on hiatus long enough for me to miss 'em, particularly given how their solo projects weren't really up my alley. I looked up their Wikipedia page and read the entire thing; the music, controversies, successes, struggles and eventual break-ation.
So you can understand my restlessness while waiting for FOB to take the stage. The opening act, Melbourne-based Empra were solid if underwhelming, though not lacking for in enthusiasm. They did their best for a crowd with eyes and ears set only for FOB and managed to warmup the somewhat tepid crowd of 4,000. The song 'Zoe Tay' was a nice touch and a special request from the Live! Empire crew.
The largely dormant crowd turned into a whole other creature once the self-proclaimed "Saviours of Rock and Roll" took to the stage to the screams of many teenaged girls (and myself). Launching right into 'Thriller', it was momentous just seeing the band strut their stuff on stage. From seeing guitarist Joe Trohman's parachute-shaped tresses threaten to give him whiplash as he spun round and round to Pete Wentz's incessant prowling of the stage. Vocalist Patrick Stump was impressive throughout, playing both rhythm guitar while never failing to hit all his notes with his trademark croon.
FOB blasted through hits from each era of the band's musical progression, with fan favorites 'This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race', 'What a Catch, Donnie', 'Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy' and 'Dance, Dance' all being performed. Pete Wentz sure knew how to stir up the fans with an impassioned (read: rehearsed) monologue about why the band took a break and why they came back. Apparently, they wanted to know "where the f*ck are the anti-heroes?"
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