Growing up, I was always told to never aspire to meet your idols. I was told that my idols would never turn out how I thought they would turn out; that they’d appear nice behind a camera, but not so nice to your face. For the most part, this could be true, but I personally have to disagree with this. Especially if your idols are group from Chicago who call themselves Fall Out Boy.
Back at the start of the year, I bought myself VIP tickets to meet my favourite band - Fall Out Boy. Fall Out Boy have been my favourite band for over 10 years, thanks to my brother introducing me to them a month from I turned eight. I remember it like I discovered them yesterday; my brother, being older than myself, was ‘in charge’ of the TV. He put MTV on, and they were playing music videos from various different artists. One of Fall Out Boy’s videos came on - and I can’t for the life of me remember what song it was - but it caught my attention. I watched the video with my brother, and once it had finished, I turned to him and said “Can you play that again? I really liked that!”. My brother regrettably informed me that you couldn't rewind live TV, but said that they should be on again soon. That was the day that I discovered my favourite band.
Just a little over ten years down the line and I find myself outside Wembley Arena on a partially cloudy Sunday afternoon. My friend Holly leads me round to where the meet and greet entrance is, and stays with me for a while to calm my nerves. When the line starts moving, Holly leaves me and wishes me luck, telling me that she (and the rest of my Fall Out Boy squad) will want to know what happens ASAP. I collect my lanyard and walk upstairs to the VIP bar and lounge area; let the waiting game commence.
The meet and greet was supposedly meant to start at 4:30 (according to the lovely people in front of me in the line), however the line didn't start moving until closer to five. As I got closer and closer to the front of the line, I visibly started to shake. “This is actually happening,” I thought, “Im actually meeting Fall Out Boy. This isn't a dream.” When I got to the front of the line, the security guard smiled at me and said “So, how you feeling?” I replied with a nervous laugh and said “Im really nervous actually, I’ve liked Fall Out Boy for ten years, I’ve waited so long for this.”. The security guard started to pull back the curtain in the doorway and said “Well, do you want to go in there now?”. Like the idiot I am, I replied with a shocked “Can I really?!?” (like the security guard was going to say ‘no’ after I’d waited so long - Daisy you are actually an idiot). The security guard laughed, and said “good luck” as I walked through the door frame and looked left.
Oh shit.
There, right in front of me, were four grinning idiots; Joe, Patrick, Pete, and Andy. I walked closer to them, and whilst grinning like an idiot myself, I said “Hi, oh my god, hi!”. They all replied with a “Hey!” and Patrick even waved slightly at me. On the verge of tears, I said “Can I give you guys hugs?”, to which Joe replied “Well I cant hug you, because I’m still recovering from my back surgery, but I can high five you!”. So I high-fived Joe, and went to hug Patrick - who squeezes you to death, may I point out. Whilst hugging me, Patrick said “So how are you today?”, to which I replied “I’m great, thank you! How're you guys?”. They said “We’re great thanks!”, and Pete (I think it was Pete who said it) said, “It’s good to be back in London.”. I then hugged Pete and Andy, before I had to get ready for my picture.
Before my picture, I turned to Patrick and said “If its okay, can I wear your hat for the picture? It’s okay if I can’t!”. Patrick said “Sure, why not?”, and I stood next to them, putting one arm around Patrick’s waist, and the other around Pete’s shoulders. Patrick took his hat off, and carefully put it on me, just before the picture was taken. After the picture, Patrick took his hat back, and I somehow managed to say “Thank you, it was lovely meeting you!”. Patrick replied with “It was lovely to meet you too, see you soon!”, before I left the room for the next person to meet them.
- - - - -
The concert was interesting. Having been to a Fall Out Boy concert the year before, I knew a rough idea of what to expect. I had never seen or heard of any of the support acts (bar Professor Green, who I had heard of) before the show, so I did not really know what to expect. The first support act on the stage was Charley Marley, who had recently been signed to Pete Wentz’s record label - DCD2 Records. For the amount of people in the venue when he was on stage, Charley Marley did a good job of warming up the crowd. I originally thought he wouldn't be my cup of tea (sorry, I’m stereotypically British, I always use the ‘cup of tea’ saying), but after his set I really liked him.
The second support act were a duo called Matt and Kim. I hated Matt and Kim so I’m going to keep this short. They didn't warm the crowd up at all. No one was signing to their songs, and no one was dancing to them either. Personally, I think that they should not have even been on the tour, because Matt is basically tone-deaf, and Kim just dances on her drum kit and slaps her ass at everyone in the front row.
Profession Green was the final support act for Fall Out Boy’s American Beauty / American Psycho tour. Now, Professor Green isn't my cup of tea, because he is a rapper, and rap is not my sort of music. However he did warm the crowd back up after Matt and Kim’s terrible performance. He also played the one song of his that I like, so I’d give him credit for that, I suppose.
Fall Out Boy’s set outshone the other support acts on the bill. The amount of detail that went into the pyrotechnics, the light sequences, and the order which the songs were played was phenomenal. To be honest, I didn't expect anything less from them, Fall Out Boy know how to put on a show - and they know how to do it very well, in a way that captivates the whole audience.
Fall Out Boy’s setlist on the night was:
Sugar We’re Going Down, Irresistible, The Phoenix, Little Less Sixteen Candles, I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy, Thriller, Alone Together, The Kids Aren’t Alright, This Ain’t A Scene, Immortals, Young Volcanoes, Dance Dance, American Beauty / American Psycho, Jet Pack Blues, Beat It (Michael Jackson cover), Where Is Your Boy Tonight, Uma Thurman, Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, I Don’t Care, Centuries, My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark, and Saturday.
Andy also did a 4-5 minute drum solo, and Joe did a guitar solo.
Overall, I throughly enjoyed seeing Fall Out Boy live again, and I’m so ecstatic that I had the opportunity to meet them. I cant wait to see them when they next tour the UK.
P.S Fall Out Boy, if you do ever read this, please do not have rappers as your supports next time you’re in the UK. Have bands like All Time Low, or AWOLNATION, or Walk The Moon, or PRVIS.
