Fall Out Boy @ Luna Park BigTop, Sydney (09/03/07)

Fri 16th Mar, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Strolling through Luna Park’s iconic smiling mouth on Friday night, I couldn’t help approaching this show with some trepidation. It’s no secret that Fall Out Boy’s primary demographic is screaming teens, but even still I wasn’t prepared… Smells like teen spirit indeed! The location – with Luna Park’s sideshow alley teeming with families out for a Friday night of wholesome fun – just served to make it all the more surreal an experience. The father desperately trying to scalp a ticket off someone at the door for his dejected daughter was a nice touch too.

This was Fall Out Boy’s first ever tour of Australia, and triumphant from a sold out show at the Hordern Pavilion the night before, spirits were high. They kicked things off with ‘Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued’ (I’m going to fill up half my word count here just typing the names of their songs), the opening track from their 2005 album ‘From Under The Cork Tree’, and the crowd response was immense. People were losing their shit, figuratively, and, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was happening literally too. Say what you want about the band being for ‘the kids’, but you have to respect anyone that can illicit such a response. It’s mesmerising to watch.

The band’s dynamic, whereby bass player Pete Wentz is the official ‘leader’ and mouthpiece, with singer Patrick Stump preferring to let him bask in the spotlight, is interesting, but it works for them, so whatever. Seeing this dynamic played out live, however, is another thing entirely. From up in the over 18s balcony (not surprisingly, quite spacious tonight), it was visibly obvious that the crowd gravitated towards Wentz on the right hand side of the stage. Every time he pulled off one of his patented ‘anti-clockwise-pirouette’ moves, a hundred fists would pump in appreciation, and in between songs when he’d idly chat the crowd listened intently, screaming in appreciation when he cracked a joke.

A few songs in Wentz made a plea for the crowd to stop throwing crap at them (I have to agree, it seems weird you’d shell out $60 for a band and then spend the show trying to hit them with your empty Coke bottles?) The band’s roadies were obviously getting tired of playing the role of tennis ballboys, running across the stage collecting debris every 30 seconds. With an exhaustive touring regime in place over the coming months, they obviously can’t afford the downtime a sprained ankle would cause, and with Wentz and guitarist Joseph Trohman doing emo aerobics all over the place, if the rubbish was left to accumulate it was only a matter of time until someone tripped up. So I guess it makes sense… from a business perspective anyway.

With their new album, ‘Infinity On High’, dividing fans of their work somewhat, it was perhaps not entirely surprising that they played only a few tracks from it tonight. The album’s slick and well produced sound isn’t totally conducive to a high energy rock show, so an even smattering of material from across their 4 albums was served up. As it’s their maiden voyage to Australia, their set might have also been more of a ‘greatest hits’ type than usual. The loudest cheers were reserved for ‘Dance Dance’, ‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’ and current single ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’, but generally every song the band played was met with delighted shrieks.

In interviews Fall Out Boy have said themselves that they aren’t particularly amazing or tight live, that they just like having fun. They proved this to be true tonight, with the show entertaining as much for what was happening on stage as down on the floor. It was good, harmless entertainment – nothing more, nothing less. They don’t take themselves too seriously, and that’s the key ingredient in why they function so well. It’s too much fun to ignore.

Check out the pics from the gig here