Fall Out Boy: This isn't just a concert review, it's everything

It's also a perhaps ill-advised homage to their song titles, but it felt like the right way to go, and it's not really everything, because there are some things that I am just going to mention to say that I am not writing about them now, just so you know.

My first thought getting out of the concert was that there is nothing like a good concert to cement your love for a band. I had sort of been coming to that realization anyway, having been so blessed with good concerts over the past few months, and it just crystallized there. It was a really good concert.

Where I get to my disclaimer, though, is here, where I need to explain exactly how new my love is. For a long time, I would hear "Fall Out Boy" and picture Gorillaz, because I guess it looked like maybe they were supposed to have some radiation poisoning going on. I didn't get the Simpson's reference until I read it on Wikipedia. Obviously, this is embarrassing.

Several months after I fell for My Chemical Romance (March 2012), there would be links for Fall Out Boy videos, that I eventually clicked on, starting with "Dance, Dance", which I liked, and "Sugar We're Going Down", which haunted me. By mentioning those songs, I am clearly identifying myself as one of those fake fans who only likes mainstream stuff, but I just kept clicking on more, and at some point I realized I was growing to love them. 

(MCR has been a real gateway band for me. I'm not sure when my love for Fall Out Boy kicked in, but it was definitely no later than February 2013: http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-year-of-magical-concert-going.html)

The logical thing to do at this point was to follow the individual members on Twitter, and this led to finding out that they were on hiatus, but it also led to knowing when the hiatus was over. This was exciting, and getting concert tickets was exciting, but here is where the big disclaimers come. I did not like the videos, or the first song I heard off of Save Rock and Roll, though I still liked the album.

So the disclaimer is two-fold. One, I am a really new fan. There may be obvious things that I am missing here, and I may say things that everyone else has already said, and I won't know. Sorry. Two, this will not really be everything, because I am not going to go into some things now.

I probably do have things to say about clubby radio mixes, and the current state of music videos. I have things to say about the irrational stupidity of deciding that a band being successful, growing as musicians, or possibly both (the audacity!) makes them sell-outs. And I probably have some things to say about whether Rock and Roll needs saving, and if so, how to do it. Fall Out Boy can be a reasonable part of any of those discussions, but dragging those topics into a discussion of Fall Out Boy will, I feel, take away from the band, which I don't want to do because I love them, even if I am just a neophyte.

So, in my rambling and disorganized way, I will now try and get into just the band and their music, based on the albums and the concert, and things I love about them.

I love that they brought David Boyd (New Politics) up on stage. It is really easy to abuse opening acts, but good people don't do that. Benign neglect is also an option, but this was really supportive, and that may be admiring them more as people than as musicians, but I'm okay with that. They also brought a roadie (I think) up to sing for a bit. It's also easy to abuse road crew, but again, good bands don't.

I love the ridiculously long song titles, but also that they don't always do that. For example, with "Thriller", that is an unusually short title, and you think it's going to be like Michael Jackson's "Thriller", or at least reference it, and it is totally it's own thing.

I love that little laugh in "Young Volcanoes". I believe it signifies that the thing they have just promised to teach us is in fact not something that they can teach us.

I love the Vines they have shared with us via Twitter. Someone should put together a collection of those to "Thnks fr th Mmrs" as a thank you to both Fall Out Boy and Vine, which is probably going to fall by the wayside now that Instagram is doing video. However, that needs to be someone with some technical skill, not me.

I loved the slide show during the performance of "Save Rock and Roll". A lot of the lights and video during concerts doesn't add much, but this did. And I can't really say that it was that flashy a show anyway, so that's not the point that I'm making, but this in particular, was good. It showed respect to tradition, and emotionally it got me too, mainly because of Kurt Cobain and Joey Ramone. It tapped into something.

Let me say about the concert that there was a lot of heart in it, and consideration for the fans. They passed out water twice, which, I'm not sure if it worked as intended, but they were thinking of us, also shown when they asked everyone to take a step back, and when they would stop playing for a while, and talk, they said good things and I believed that they meant what they said.

I should also add something about that first track that I hadn't liked so much, "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark". I didn't like the radio version, and I had only listened to the album a few times before the concert, focusing more on the rest, but during the concert when they did it, it was a revelation. That is a great song, and probably the one that stuck with me the most from the concert. I hadn't been expecting that.

Other standouts from the concert, for me, were "Hum Hallelujah" and "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race." Oh, and probably "The Phoenix." The thing is, there are songs that you love, and you expect them to do a good job, and they do, and that's great, but then there are songs that you don't expect, or you begin to see the song differently during the performance, and it's different, and it sticks with you more, even though the other things were great too.

Historically, I admit that their debut, Take This To Your Grave, is my least favorite, but that's not saying that it's a bad album. For me, and individual mileage will vary, I feel like there is a sort of coming together with Under The Cork Tree, where there is a stronger sense of identity, and performing at a higher level, but what I love is that they didn't stop there. They build on their experience, and continue to develop. They should.

It does feel like there is some growing disillusionment through Infinity On High and Folie à Deux, but it would be strange if there wasn't. Therefore, I am glad that they took the hiatus, and based on the quality of Save Rock and Roll, I feel like it gave them what they needed.

I will now throw out a few observations that are probably pointless, touching on each band member.

Drummer Andy Hurley has been working out. I know this from Twitter. It was interesting to me how powerful he seems playing the drums now. And it never seemed weak or sounded weak before, but now I just watch and sense power. I seriously don't know what I am saying here; maybe someone else can figure it out.

Guitarist Joe Trohman has probably been working the hardest during the hiatus, doing two other bands, With Knives and The Damned Things. (I prefer The Damned Things for sheer adrenaline value.) I am glad that they are making more use of him in the writing now. I feel like those additional experiences and the person who he is makes them a better band. If that sounds like it is putting any other member down, it is not.

Singer Patrick Stump has such an amazing voice. Has that been said before? Almost certainly. I think it is a combination of skill and work, but also with just some natural gift. One video he posted doing some warm ups actually had me wanting him to record an album of standards; how lame is that? I mean, a lot of rockers do it, but usually after they hit fifty. He would sound great, though. He has a great instinct for music, and it just feels like there is a lot of gentle peace and kindness radiating from him.

Bassist Pete Wentz has such a clever mind. He's not as showy as he could get away with, which is great, but he's really smart, and will take you to unexpected places, and he's a trooper.

So maybe what I am really trying to say here is that with the different skills and personalities that they bring, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This is a well functioning team, and I am glad they are back.

Maybe this was really a love letter.