Live Review: Fall Out Boy – AO Arena, Manchester 29/10/23

2023 sees Fall Out Boy celebrate their 20 year milestone since debut album, ‘Take This To Your Grave’ and 10 years since their ‘Save Rock and Roll’ album (which followed after their 4 year hiatus) and following the chart topping success of new album ‘So Much (for) Stardust’ the band are currently touring the UK with support from nothing,nowhere. and PVRIS.

American emo rapper nothing,nowhere. (aka Joe Mulherin) opens the night, bringing his blend of rap, rock, emo and metal to the crowd. While his music is slightly heavier than the likes of Fall Out Boy, he manages to win over the crowd with his cover of Linkin Park’s ‘One Step Closer’. Perhaps surprisingly given the feature from Pete Wentz on the track, ‘CYAN1DE’ is missing from the setlist.

The second support of the night is PVRIS, led by Lynn Gunn. Their setlist includes both electronica and pop, as well as some heavier pieces from earlier in their career. ‘Pieces of Fire’, ‘My House’ and ‘Mirrors’ are heard from the first album ‘White Noise’, but over half of the setlist is dedicated to new album ‘Evergreen’ and single release ‘Monster’ is by far the stand out track of the set.

Touring the UK a mere two weeks after the return of pop punk legends Blink-182 and fans must feel like they have entered a time machine and gone back two decades as emo-rockers Fall Out Boy take to stage. Preceded by their recently released re-imagined version of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ playing over the PA and an introduction featuring Ethan Hawke during ‘The Pink Seashell’, the band enter stage with guitar riffs and fireworks as they launch into ‘Love From the Other Side’.

For anyone who has not been to a Fall Out Boy performance before, they bring with them huge production value and quite aptly during ‘The Phoenix’, the flames light up the stage in a pyro display sure to warm the diehard fans who are on the barrier with bassist Pete Wentz’s guitar even acting as a flamethrower.

Tonight’s setlist leans heavily into the new album but there is also room for the older stuff with classics ‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’, ‘This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race’ and ‘Dance, Dance’ alongside a cover of the Journey’s iconic ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.

Fire is not the only production of the night, there’s an underground seascape featuring a rotating starfish, a gigantic Doberman head that acts as if it is singing along and a huge tree not to mention the copious amounts of cryo, smoke and light effects with ‘Thnks fr th Mmrs’, ‘Centuries’ and ‘Saturday’ rounding off the set as confetti launches over the crowd.

After a bit of a blip with 2018 album ‘Mania’, it’s safe to say Fall Out Boy are well and truly back on track!

Set List

Love From the Other Side

The Phoenix

Sugar, We’re Goin Down

Uma Thurman

A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me”

Chicago Is So Two Years Ago

Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy

Calm Before the Storm

This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race

Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes