This past Saturday, I was able to see the award-winning, pop-punk powerhouse band Fall Out Boy at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was a dream come true for me since this was my first time seeing my all-time favorite band front and center in the pit. I was crying, screaming and dancing the whole time. Nevertheless, here’s the breakdown of Fall Out Boy’s Cincinnati stop on their North American “So Much For (Tour)dust” tour.
The show began with the tour openers CARR, Royal & the Serpent and Bring Me The Horizon, or BMTH, who was hands down the best opener of the night. They quickly brought energy to the venue and had everyone going absolutely insane in the pit. People were crowd-surfing, moshing and had massive circle pits going on up top in the lawn section of the venue. It was quite the sight to see.
Finally, Fall Out Boy’s set slowly began with the interlude track, “The Pink Seashell (feat. Ethan Hawke),” nearly three hours after the show began with CARR. The excitement in the venue grew as Ethan Hawke’s monologue from Ben Stiller’s “Reality Bites” (1994) boomed throughout the venue. The track faded into the band’s first song of the night, “Love From The Other Side,” the opening track to their newest record, “So Much (for) Stardust” (album review can be found here). When the red curtain behind the stage slowly lifted, the band members walked out on stage and the venue came to life, cheering and screaming.
The stage was enveloped with pyro and fireworks as lead singer Patrick Stump belted out the lyrics to “Love From The Other Side.” Lead guitarist Joe Trohman stood off to the left side of him, absolutely killing it on the guitar. Bassist Pete Wentz jumped around on stage as he flung around his bass guitar. Drummer Andy Hurley sat further away, behind the singer at his drum kit as he demolished the drum fills during the track.
Eventually, the song ended and the venue was left beaming with excitement. However, the exhilaration didn’t stop there as they continued with high-energy tracks “The Phoenix,” “Sugar We’re Goin Down” and “Uma Thurman.” “Sugar,” as the middle track is mostly referred to, was truly a highlight of the show as Stump began the song with “Am I-” and let the rest of the venue sing “more than you bargained for yet? I’ve been dying to tell you…” It’s a special moment that the band does at every show for one of their most well-known tracks, and it was incredible to hear the whole venue go crazy for it.
The setlist continued with tracks that the band hasn’t had on the setlist regularly in the past: “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More ‘Touch Me’” and “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago.” Although the former track is more frequent in the years' worth of cycled tour setlists, the latter is much less frequent as it tends to get switched out with other songs from that album - “Take This To Your Grave” (2003) - every other show during this tour. This random switching between tracks has been one of the more exciting things about this tour as the band’s setlist has been strictly consistent on their past tours.
The next songs they played were “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy” and “Calm Before the Storm,” which are also from “Take This To Your Grave.” The latter track is another b-side that they whipped out for this tour, and it was absolutely amazing to hear live, especially since they haven’t played the track live since 2007 (check out my ranking on this album here).
The next few songs, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race,” “Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes” and “Heaven, Iowa” were extra special as there was a giant inflatable dog towards the back of the stage that was maneuvered by a puppeteer. The dog, which is on the cover of “So Much (for) Stardust” and lovingly named “Blitz” by fans, could move around and “sing along” to the lyrics of the songs. Specifically during “Arms Race,” Stump walked over to the dog and sang “This ain’t a scene, it’s a…” and the dog opened its mouth to sing “Godd--- arms race” into the microphone Stump held up to its mouth. Stump proceeded to have the audience do the same call-to-action, which is another special tradition the band has when playing this song live.
After “Heaven, Iowa” (which was absolutely incredible - Stump’s vocals were fierce and unwavering as he belted the song’s chorus), the band proceeded to switch up the setlist by adding “Hum Hallelujah” to the setlist. However, this switch up was less surprising than when they had previously switched out “The Take Over, The Breaks Over” (the main song in that spot) with lesser-known b-sides “Bang The Doldrums” and “G.I.N.A.S.F.S.” since both tracks have never been played live before up until this tour. Nevertheless, it was still a fun surprise and the audience was eating it up.
After that surprise track, the band played “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet” and “Fake Out.” The former track is another song that hasn’t seen the light of day since it was last played live in 2009 at *Madison Square Garden. Now, it’s a staple on this setlist having played it live for the first time this past March. On the other hand, “Fake Out” is a significant song not only because it’s off their newest record, but fans have come together to do a massive light show for the song at each stop of the tour.
The light show, put together by the So Much (for) Stardust Project, consisted of fans holding up their phones with their flashlights on and covering them with cutout pink seashells that had been passed around by members of the project prior to the show. The effect caused the entire venue to turn a soft pink while the band continued to play the soft and melodic tune. It was very beautiful.
After “Fake Out” was another one of the band’s surprises on the tour. For this surprise, a piano moved out on stage and Stump sat down to play an impromptu medley. For Cincinnati, Stump decided to throw a curveball by playing two of the most heartbreaking, melodramatic tracks the band has in their discography back-to-back. A portion of “What A Catch, Donnie” played first and then slowly transitioned into “Golden.” Both tracks have been played randomly throughout this tour during Stump’s playtime on the piano, but they’ve never been played back to back. People in the pit (myself included) were crying their eyes out until Stump transitioned from “Golden” into a partial cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which had the entire venue singing along.
With the piano out now, the band proceeded to play “The Last Of The Real Ones” and “Save Rock And Roll.” The latter had the audience turn on their flashlights again, filling the venue with a bright white light. Again, it was another beautiful sight to see, especially when paired with the song’s booming drums, emotional lyrics and Stump’s powerful vocal runs.
To get rid of the piano, Wentz crouched on top of it with his hood up and recited the words to “Baby Annihilation” into a microphone with heavy distortion over his voice. Wentz spoke, “This palace was crystal, but the world was a cruel joke / What is there between us, if not a little annihilation …” before lifting up a black curtain placed on the piano, shaking it for a few seconds and then dropping it to reveal that he had disappeared like a magic trick. From there, the piano wheeled off stage as the rest of the members continued into another partial cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.”
After “Crazy Train,” they played the ultimate pop-punk banger, “Dance, Dance.” At the beginning of this track, it was revealed that Wentz transported himself all the way to the top of the venue by the lawn to play bass. Towards the end of the song, he made his way back to the stage by walking through the crowd as he continued to play. When he got back on stage, the song was over, and “Hold Me Like a Grudge” played next.
When “Hold Me Like a Grudge” ended, the final and biggest surprise was next. This bit, called the “Magic 8 Ball,” is a part of each show where a giant Magic 8 ball appears on a giant, round screen placed at the top of the stage. Each “Magic 8 Ball song” is a different song each night. These songs range from old Fall Out Boy b-sides, songs they haven’t played in years or songs that have straight up never played live before.
For Cincinnati, Wentz asked, “Should we spin like your favorite record used to?” The Magic 8 ball replied, “Without a doubt.” From there, the band played “Favorite Record,” a b-side from their 2015 record “American Beauty/American Psycho” that has never been played live before. The audience was ecstatic and the energy in the venue was tangible. Afterward, Stump stated into the microphone, “I think that was the best we’ve ever played that song.” It was a magical moment and being able to hear that song live was out of this world.
Fall Out Boy continued with their encore, which consisted of “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up),” “Thnks fr th Mmrs,” “Centuries” and their final track, “Saturday.” During this part of the show, I had some trouble in the pit due to exhaustion and nearly getting my neck snapped by crowd surfers, but the security at Riverbend helped me out by making sure I was okay and by giving me water. A huge shoutout and thank you is in order for the security at Riverbend -- they were some of the coolest people, and I appreciate all their hard work, not only for what they did for me but for the other people in the venue.
Nevertheless, the encore songs were fantastic - Wentz brought out his flamethrower bass for “Light Em Up” and Hurley absolutely killed the drums on “Thnks fr th Mmrs” - and they were all tied up neatly in a bow once “Saturday” came on. To add an extra level of uniqueness, Wentz hopped off the stage and had security hold him in the pit for him to sing the last few words of the song. Since I was right there, I was able to hold his hand a few times since he was grabbing people’s hands in the pit.
In summary, the “So Much For (Tour)dust” Cinncinati show was absolutely wonderful, and it will be a night that I will never forget. Each of the FOB members was lively, putting their hearts into the entirety of their 28-song-long setlist, and I could tell that they were having a terrific night as well. It was also amazing to see Joe Trohman back shredding on the guitar as he had previously taken a brief break from the band to focus on his mental health. The theatrics of it all was truly breathtaking, and their crowd work was done flawlessly. My only issues with the show were the problems I had with the pit, as I briefly mentioned before, but that didn’t affect my ability to have a great night overall.
If you haven’t seen Fall Out Boy live yet, I highly recommend doing so, especially on this tour. Even if you’re not a hardcore fan like I am, you will still have an incredible night just rocking out and experiencing a stellar concert. Again, check out the “So Much For (Tour)dust” tour this summer at a show near you!
Rating: 5/5
