So...I took my daughter and her friends to a Fall Out Boy concert (observations)

Cafe Society
1

Back in the day, I saw my fair share of concerts. This was the first rock concert I have seen in …hmmmmm…about 24 years.

I was hesitant about going…but my daughter and her friends LOVE Fall Out Boy…so I went. I was NOT going to let them go alone! The first thing I noticed was that every 15th seat or so had a man or woman my age looking bored :smiley:

OK…it was interesting. The band seemed to be a ‘little girl’ band in that the stadium was packed with teen girls. However, listening to the music I did not get this vibe…so I have to assume that some young really hot guy is part of the band (probably the bass player).

Fall Out Boy doesn’t seem to be a band that has made the big time…the stadium held probably about 6000 people and it wasn’t completely full (though it was at least 90% full).

That being said, when the band started playing they sounded…good. I mean, like studio quality good. I assumed they were lip syncing. After a couple minutes I changed my mind and do not think they were lip syncing…there were too many instances where it sure looked like they were playing.

So, my first question to throw out is…has technology of playing on stage improved that much in 24 years? Back in the day many bands sounded awful! Butchering their own songs. Is it possible this band…practices? Has the talent and work ethic of rock bands dramatically increased in 24 years?

Next observation is how much I liked the music. They were good. They were something I would actually listen to. If this band isn’t in the top tier of rock bands soon I will be very surprised. They sure seem to have the talent and ability to do it.

This caused me to refect on my Dad’s complaint when I was younger…that music had left him behind. The music he liked growing up and now (then) was not what was liked now. He seemed saddened by this. Here I am now, the age he was when we talked and I was listening and enjoying the music that my 16 year old loved and her friends loved. It was a bit surreal.

Speaking of surreal…They had some cover bands playing first. I was definitely getting a ‘Bill and Ted’ vibe :smiley: One band even had big posters up saying 'Be Awesome!" :smiley: There were several ‘Bill and Ted’ moments…so much I thought it was intentional and humorous. However, I don’t think it was. They probably don’t even know who Bill and Ted are.

One old geezers comment on taking his daughter to a concert… :slight_smile:

2

Fall Out Boy isn’t U2 or Coldplay, but they have two top-ten albums, one of which went to #1, and four top-twenty songs, one of which went to #2, so I’d say they’ve hit the big time.

3

That’d be Pete Wentz…and, yeah, he’s the heart-throb one (and he’s also married to Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson’s little sister). (Name drop: I used to work with Pete’s father.)

I dunno; they’ve had a #1 album, and are pretty popular among that teen demographic. They aren’t huge, but they do seem to have “made it”, to a certain extent. I suspect that the economy is hurting all but the very biggest touring acts. (OTOH, I did read that, this summer, Fall Out Boy is touring as Blink-182’s opening act, so maybe they haven’t quite “made it” yet.)

4

I too have noticed this (although I don’t have children,) I first noticed this in college, when I noticed that the same amount of time had passed between the early 70s, the heyday of classic hard rock, and “now” (i.e. the 90s), as had passed between the era of classic hard rock and the early 50s, and kids from the early 70s wouldnt be caught dead listening to pre-rock pop music yet there I was listening to Led Zep and the Floyd, and people still do 15 years later.

I like Fall Out Boy and their genre of music generally but never went to a concert of theirs cause they didn’t seem like they’d be all that great in concert, but maybe I was wrong and should go. It always seems to happen that if I’m only thinking about going to a concert it sells out. I almost did go to a Fall Out Boy concert a few years back but by the time I wanted to go it sold out, same thing happened with Weezer and All American Rejects, yet concerts I really want to go to hardly ever sell out (except Steely Dan but that’s another story.)

5

I have a thirteen year old, and she really wanted me to take her to see Fall Out Boy, but by the time she asked, only scalper’s tickets were available, and were too expensive…

I would have gone though, because Fall Out Boy is one of the few of that genre that are talented, play well and write interesting and catchy songs. I think that, once the next genre comes along, Fall Out Boy will be one of the few bands that makes it out of obscurity.

We remember The Mamas and the Papas, but how many other groups like that released songs in that era? We know and love the Bee Gees and Chic, but a lot of bad disco just disappeared, even if they enjoyed some limited success. Fall Out Boy will be the Bee Gees of this current emo/rock/whatever genre is around now.

6

Didn’t know that. I based my observation on the fact that they used a smaller venue and not the huge one next door and also that tickets were pretty inexpensive. Standing room was about $9 and good seats ran, I think, $23.

7

!Hijack! Spend whatever you have to to see Dteely Dan - worth every penny… :slight_smile:

8

Ahhh…that’s who my daughter/friends were talking about when they mentioned his name :smiley:

9

A few days after the concert, I absconded my daughters Ipod and listened to Fall Out Boy. They sure did sound as good/nearly as good as their album. The lead singer is…AWESOME DUDE! He really is very, very good IMO.

Agreed on my Dad’s music…it was boring and awful and so very very uncool.

Steely Dan is still alive? :wink:

10

Hm. That is pretty cheap. Other than Bonnaroo (a four day music festival where tickets cost $250), I generally only go to concerts featuring lesser-known indie artists (Regina Spektor is probably the best known and most popular, and her highest charting album peaked at #19), and $23 is on par with my cheapest tickets.

11

You made me doubt my memory so I went back in looked at ticketbastard account history (I bought them as Christmas presents)…and it was $34, not $23. I do seem to remember standing room was under $10 though.

12

$35 is the average price I pay for tickets, so you still got quite a bargain.

I’d’ve expected them to be more in the $50 to $75 range.

13

I didn’t even know Fallout Boy was on tour but I knew you were talking about Blink 182 the second I read this. There is a Bill and Ted vibe there and it is most heinous.

By the way, your instincts are right on. They are a great band with musicians that actually have talent. Read their lyrics (not sure if those are the work of Mr. Wentz or Mr. Stump)and you’ll see they are quite clever. I’ve also read that they don’t drink or do drugs, and while I have no idea if that’s accurate, it seems if true that could have an impact on their performance / work ethic.

14

The cover bands were…

{I may butcher these names…}

Hey Monday (not bad)
Metro Station (I liked)
{something} Starship (didn’t really like them)
Arrgg…can’t remember the 4th but they were pretty good as well.

Yes…4 cover bands and was getting a strong Bill and Ted from the middle 2. It started at 6:30 and went 5 hours…the crowd was getting a bit ansy for Fall Out Boy to finally come out.

15

Wentz writes lyrics. Stump writes melodies and sings - and yes, he is a great vocalist.

As for concert sound, yes there have been HUGE technical advances. On stage, you can actually get buy without crushing sound behind you in the “backline” of amps - it can be, well, civilized - because with speakers these days you can use a bunch of smaller ones more spread out amongst the audience. So whereas before, rockers would have many Marshall stacks behind that - all moving serious air - now you can get by with a 50-watt amp, mic’d up to the PA…and so, yes, if you ARE seeing a huge backline of stacks then either they are empty and just there for show, or the band can’t afford to have a better system and are crushing their hearing, old-school style…

So yeah, the sound can be great - but you definitely want the band to mix it up a bit and vary how the songs are structured or sound - so you can tell you are getting a live performance…

16

Cobra Starship.

Metro Station is notable as one of the members is Miley Cyrus’s brother (or for those of you not up on today’s pop culture, Billy Ray Cyrus’s son).

17

Are you talking about just the performance, or also the sound? These days big acts use line-array PA systems that are superior to the old ones even 10 or 15 years ago. (I haven’t actually heard these new systems myself, so maybe I should get out more.)

18

Both. The singing was very good and the sound sounded studio-like.

As Wordman answered my question…this could explain the huge quality difference from memory of back in the day to the FOB concert recently seen.

However, my gut tells me that FOB has a goodly amount of talent as well.

19

Ahhhh…that explains the talk of Cobras and people in the audience holding up a fist with the 2 out fingers extended and thumb curled (looks like a cobra) I get it now!:stuck_out_tongue:

Metro Station was, IMHO the best of the 4 cover bands and Cobra Starship the least…they didn’t suck…just the weakest.

20

I’ve only seen them live on TV, but they seem to put on a good show, which a lot of rock bands seem to have forgotten how to do these days.

As much as I find Pete Wentz (the bass player) odious and douchey, I’ve gotta admit - if you can play a double-time bass line whilst pogoing and jumping off the speaker stacks, you’re pretty good, or at least well-practiced.

They all seem to be very solid musicians, and the singer, Patrick Stump, is fricking amazing. If and when they break up, I really hope the Stumpster branches out beyond the faux-emo-tinged-with-R&B-and-metal-references.