Anticipation built as a countdown projected on giant screens amped up the fans’ excitement, the numbers dwindled, and Fall Out Boy hit the stage.
Fall Out Boy (photo credit: Pamela Littky)
Fall Out Boy’s Mania Tour hit San Diego, at Viejas Arena on Wednesday. As their latest single, “Hold Me Tight or Don’t” had just dropped.
The album of the same name, M A N I A, has been pushed back to January 19, 2018. Mid-set, frontman Patrick Stump promised fans that it would be worth the wait.
Silly-string confetti was unleashed early on in their set. Pyrotechnics throughout the show lit up the main stage and the arena-long catwalk.
Fans of three generations succumbed to the guilty pleasure of pop-punk, as they sang and danced along.
Most memorable were the two levitating square stages. The entire band levitated on two suspended giant square monitors. Fall Out Boy were ON the monitors, in both senses of the word.
The far-end of the arena quickly and surprisingly became front-row seats as both frontman Patrick Stump and bassist Pete Wentz were perched on top. Performing mid-arena on the second of the magical levitating monitor-stages were drummer Andy Hurley and guitarist Joe Trohman.
As a prelude to their performance of “Young and Menace,” a video played featuring the two Llamas which are featured in the music video of that song. The llamas, initially only visuals on the screen, then appeared on stage, toting air-cannons and shooting out t-shirts to the fans.
Fans interacted, by displaying their middle-fingers, as they performed their harder punk rock edge 2013 track, “Eternal Summer.” The accompanying video graphics featured a fast and furious eyeful of middle fingers. As the video prompted, the audience’s middle fingers raged to the song’s lyrics:
“Hands in the air
Hands in the air
But I’ll save the middle finger for you”
They played a strong set-list of 21 songs, including 4 tracks from the forthcoming album: “The Last of the Real Ones,” “Champion,” “Young and Menace,” and “Hold Me Tight or Don’t.”
As the Band left the stage, the big screen read, “The End.” This was a standout of shows, even for FOB. Fans filtered out of the arena with an excitement-overload high and remain on that post-concert high as they countdown to the release of their new 10 track album, M A N I A, in January.