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It's been quite a few years since Fall Out Boy were in the peak of their pop-punk heyday and there's a lot less fourteen year old girls with streaked hair and leopard print skinny jeans in the queue to see Fall Out Boy tonight than there used to be. Instead, there's a mix of people - while there's still one or two of the aforementioned teenies to be seen, it's mostly older fans, and an equal spread of male and female both.
Instead, the atmosphere is palpable. Only 500 tickets were available to see the band at the tiny venue - a band who, before their three year hiatus, were selling out the O2 Arena. Fall Out Boy are supposed to be on stage at 8.30 but it's nearly 9.00 before they show up (apparently so everyone is able to get into the venue before the show starts) and in the time between, the excitement is nearly through the roof. Every single person feels unbelievably lucky to be here.
Fall Out Boy launch into 'Thriller' the moment they come on stage and judging from the massive grins on their faces, the fans aren't the only ones overjoyed at their return. The setlist is packed full of hits - from a mash-up involving 'Honorable Mention' and 'Calm Before the Storm', both featured on Fall Out Boy's 2002 debut album, to 'I Don't Care', 'What a Catch, Donnie' and 'America's Suitehearts' from their latest album Folie a Deux.
"This is for all you kids on MySpace who say we don't play enough old stuff," Patrick Stump drawls, before the handful of songs from Evening Out With Your Girlfriend start. The great thing about the crowd is that everyone is more than a casual fan - so every word of every song is known, old or new.
'My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark' comes after a speech from Pete Wentz - with the kind of 'stay strange' theme that everyone at the venue would have lived by when they were younger. Something about tonight - or maybe Wentz's apparent total sincerity while saying it - manages to erode the usual cynicism, though, and when Wentz insists, "I want this to be a transformative experience," and the intro to 'My Songs...' starts up, it's difficult to hear anything over the roar of approval.
2013 has been a year of reunions and comebacks, and it would have been easy for Fall Out Boy to fall into the trap of being just another nostalgia band - and there's no denying that there is a certain element of nostalgia involved. But they're not a has-been, and the band themselves insist that they didn't want to come back until there was something new they could bring with them.
This doesn't feel at any point like a band who are past it, and trying to relive their heyday. No, Fall Out Boy have every bit as much energy as they used to, and their skill as performers has only got better - and Wentz still can't resist leaping into the crowd at the end of 'Saturday'.
"This is one of those gigs that you remember for the rest of your life," a girl says to her friend, as everyone shuffles out of the venue, exhausted and sweaty. This is one of those 'I was there' concerts. This is something more than a comeback.
Full setlist:
1. Thriller
2. I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
3. A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me'
4. Dead on Arrival
5. This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race
6. Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner
7. I'm Like a Lawyer With the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)
8. Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today
9. Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy
10. Hum Hallelujah
11. Dance, Dance
12. Honorable Mention / America's Suiteharts / Lake Effect Kid / Alpha Dog / Calm Before the Storm
13. What a Catch, Donnie
14. The Take Over, the Breaks Over
15. I Don't Care
16. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light 'Em Up)
17. Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes
18. Beat It (Michael Jackson cover)
19. Sugar, We're Goin Down
Encore:
20. The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes
21. Thnks fr th Mmrs
22. Saturday
