Fall Out Boy

Photos & review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

Fall Out Boy arrived at Shoreline Amphitheater on their So Much For (Tour) Dust tour on July 5th, and the 22,000 capacity crowd of emo pop punks were ready for it.

The 28-song set mixed old favorites plus new tracks from 2023’s 8^th studio album So Much For Stardust, and the crowd had the time of their lives singing along to old favorites like “Sugar We’re Going Down,” “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark,” “Thnks fr th Mmrs,” “Centuries,” and “Saturday” (so many mega-hits!) and new bangers like “Hold Me Like a Grudge,” “Fake Out,” and “Heaven, Iowa.”

Patrick Stump’s vocals were stronger than ever, and Pete Wentz added to the intense stage pyro by playing on a flamethrower-equipped bass that shot out a wall of fire. Stump threw in a couple of covers as he talked about his music background with the crowd, calling himself a music nerd, and lauded Elvis Costello as a top personal influence before playing “Allison” on piano, followed by Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.”

The stage and production were amazing, with nonstop pyro and dynamite bang-bangs, plus bubbles, big clear beach balls bouncing around the crowd, confetti, pink paper held over iphone lights to special-glow Shoreline’s beautiful outdoor amphitheater, and a giant inflatable dog on stage. At one point Wentz disappeared into Stump’s piano and quickly reappeared in an entirely different spot for some David Blaine-like magic, and in another moment Wentz brought a little kid up from his seat to a better spot and gave him a guitar pick and t-shirt and treated him like rock and roll royalty.

Supporting acts Daisy Grenade, Royal & The Serpent, and Bring Me The Horizon were standalone fantastic and brought their own fanbases out for the night, and each deserves a full review and gallery of their own. They were all an excellent energetic leadup to FOB’s headlining spot.

Fall Out Boy has a storied history with ups and downs and sideways moves, but bandmates Stump, Wentz, intense drummer Andy Hurley with his inked shirtless torso and his “fuck” finger tattoo, and guitarist Joe Trohman are in prime performance shape on this tour and have done justice to their fans and themselves with this new album. It’s always a great experience to be at a show where you can look around and see twenty thousand fans having the time of their lives, singing every lyric like the music’s ingrained on their souls, like everyone at that moment has something important and life-affirming in common.