- Fall Out Boy: Heading for the big time
THREE thousand or so kids screamed "Welcome to Perth" into the camera right on cue: Fall Out Boy were filming this moment of audience participation for a documentary about their latest tour, presumably cataloguing their planned rise to world domination.
The sparse black and white stage - consisting of a backdrop with the band's name, a drum riser and three microphones - spoke of this near-naked ambition. It looks like it's built to be seen from the back of a massive stadium, as do the guitars inlaid with lights, shown to great effect on what bassist Pete Wentz described as their "brand new hit single'', I Don't Care.
Their slick new album Folie a Deux indicates that they think they're ready for the really big time but before making that step they need to get their house in order.
It was the second time in 18 months that Fall Out Boy have played Perth's Challenge Stadium and they still haven't got the sound right on Patrick Stump's vocals. The rest of the mix was pretty good but leaving the singer to fight to be heard above the dim was annoying. They have enough catchy shout-along songs but fans pay to hear the singer not the audience singing them.
Wentz had no trouble being heard in his lengthy between-song banter. He was the undisputed star of the show, wearing a thick jacket when everyone else in the oversized gym was sweltering in T-shirts. The girls squealed with his every move; he's worth his weight in non-threatening, tough-guy attitude.
The set list focused on the band's two latest albums, Infinity on High and Folie a Deux, but the four-piece also found time to rifle through their back pages and perform the amusingly-titled song, I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was a Stupid Song Written About Me.
They also ripped into their hard rocking version of Beat It and an agreeably funky reworking of Estelle's American Boy. The thundering This Ain't a Scene, It's An Arms Race shone out among all that surrounds it and if they never better it, Fall Out Boy have added at least one classic to the pop pantheon.
Overall, though, at a time when they should be great every night, Fall Out Boy were merely OK. Nothing more and certainly nothing you'd want to watch on DVD.
Fall Out Boy. Challenge Stadium, Perth, February 15. Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Tuesday; Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Wednesday; Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Friday; Acer Arena Sydney, Saturday. Tickets: $85-$86. Bookings: 132 849.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25062497-5013575,00.htmlLabels: fall out boy, news
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