It’s been three or so weeks since Fall Out Boy announced the end of their hiatus, returning with news of a largely secret new album and some tiny club shows that would have been beyond a fan’s wildest dream before they took a step back three years ago.
Despite arriving at the venue not long after 5pm, the queue was already 300 people deep, with a dedicated group of fans at the front who had been there since 2pm (or before), some of them queuing without even having a ticket in the hope of picking one up. That just about sums up the demand for tickets tonight, and there’s little doubt that the band could have filled the venue many times over.
Fast forward to a few hours later, and hundreds of excited people were stood on the floor of Camden’s Underworld waiting patiently for their favourite band to hit the stage. As soon as the lights dimmed it was like old times once more:
Coming on to ‘Infinity On High’ opener ‘Thriller’ tonight (complete with its Jay Z backing track and a brilliantly placed pause before the initial riff kicked in), Fall Out Boy kicked things off in style and ensured that the crowd were nothing but absolutely fervent in singing along from the word go, with the pace showing no sign of letting off during the double whammy of the next two songs, ‘I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy…’ and ‘A Little Less Sixteen Candles…’. By the time they started playing ‘This Ain’t A Scene…’, people were being dragged out of the crowd, unable to handle the sheer heat and general ridiculousness of what was happening.
Chat from the stage was kept to a relative minimum during the set, with the band already conceding that they were pretty jetlagged. However, this didn’t stop them putting their all into the performance itself, with massive highlights coming in the form of ‘Take This To Your Grave’ anthem ‘Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today’, a medley of rarities designed “as a middle finger to the kids on Myspace telling us we don’t play rare songs” and recently released “comeback single”, ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark’, which really does have to be seen live to appreciate just how huge it does sound.
It felt like no time at all before the band had departed to the sounds of ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ before coming back for a three song encore, and it’s here that the night reached a whole new level. Around the time that the opening riff to one of my favourite songs of all time ‘Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes’ kicked in, I had resolved to miss my train. It was all immediately worth it. Proceedings were wrapped up with traditional set closer ‘Saturday’, a song which was made for nights like tonight (even though it’s a Monday) – a song that was born to get people crowd surfing and a fitting end to an incredibly special show.
Fall Out Boy didn’t have to do this. They could have announced a ‘Take This To Your Grave’ anniversary tour in huge venues and fucked back off laughing into their pay cheques. What became absolutely clear tonight is that the band are back because they want to be and that fact means more to their fans than anything else. Those who were in attendance tonight should count themselves extremely lucky. For those who couldn’t attend: don’t worry too much, the band are back in it for the long haul.
“Welcome, it’s here.”
CHRIS MARSHMAN