Live Review: Fall Out Boy – 16th March 2023 – Heaven, London UK
3 min read
Legendary rock band Fall Out Boy returned to London last night, ahead of their show at the O2 and the release of their new full length album, to play an intimate show at the equally legendary Heaven night club. Compact would be a more adequate word. From the moment the lights dim, you can feel a kinetic energy amongst the audience, something only gained from a sweaty, underground gig.
Opening with new song Love From The Other Side, Fall Out Boy rocket to the stage. The energy is electric, the crowd Jumping like it’s a hit from ten years prior, and not something realised just months ago. Sugar We’re Going Down sends the tight crowd into hysterics, the singing louder than the band. A rocked up version of Uma Thurman begins after Pete Wentz does a little house keeping, asking the crowd to step back. “ There’s water around here somewhere,” he says before introducing the song, a smart move in such a small place.
Over a tentative riff, singer Patrick Stump says “this is a very old song, so you know this already?” After a cheer, he follows up with “you gotta sing along then”, proving his point by launching into Chicago Is So Two Years Ago. An intro as iconic as the one to Dance Dance deserves the memorable clap along it gets, as does Thnks fr th Mmrs, and Hum Hallelujah, which also unifies the audience in a biblical singalong of ‘Hallelujah’ that Lenard Coen would have been proud of. “London is the first real place out of America that cared about us,” Pete says, and you can tell he is genuinely grateful.
Apparently according to Pete playing Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet would melt faces, and whether that’s the truth is unproven, however the surprise from the audience is powerful enough. For Saturday, the closing song of the non-stop, no filler set, Pete lets his hair down, and his bass, joining Pete on the platform in front of the main stage for his turn on the mic. The group are gone as quickly as they arrived, making the whole experience feel like a bizarre fever dream.
“In rooms like this, we exist”, a statement that resonated with everyone in the room. Fall Out Boy showed that even after years of sound changes and ups and downs that they can still control the smaller venues, and put on a stadium-sized show anywhere. Flowing seamlessly between projects, they also showed that no matter the genre, influences, and stylistic shifts , they have always been Fall Out Boy.
Setlist:
Love From The Other Side
The Phoenix
Sugar, We’re Going Down
Uma Thurman
Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes
Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy
Chicago Is So Two Years Ago
Dance, Dance
Hum Hallelujah
A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me”
This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race
Calm Before The Storm
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)
Heartbreak Feels So Good
Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet
Thriller
Thnks fr th Mmrs
Centuries
Saturday
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
