Source: Graham Berry
Having seen Fall Out Boy quite a number of times over the years, from festival slots and arena shows to smaller, more intimate gigs, both pre and post hiatus, I found myself watching their Reading co-headline slot thinking: “Am I missing something?” Or more aptly, are the band missing something. And the answer I came up with was yes. They had a spectacular show with more fireworks than were really necessary, pyrotechnics, dancing girls and trapeze acts. But all of this seemed a distraction from how boring the band themselves were.
Now this isn’t a personal dig at the band. There are times I’ve seen them when they’ve been sensational – the post-hiatus comeback they did on the main stage a few years back was nothing short of amazing. But 2016’s set – considering it was a co-headline performance – just didn’t seem to be good enough. I know the band themselves aren’t the chirpiest of people on stage, but if ever they were going to crack a smile it should have been for that moment they headlined a huge festival.
The setlist wasn’t my personal cup of tea – I haven’t been a fan of the past few albums, and Take This To Your Grave is more my thing, but I can’t fault that because the band have progressed, matured and are playing to their target audience, which is great. But the songs they did play didn’t seem to have the intensity that you’d expect. The moment a big chorus kicks in should be when a band sound massive, but that just didn’t happen, everything seemed a little lackluster. It’s not like the band don’t have a solid back catalogue, but when supposedly anthemic choruses like ‘Irresistible’, ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’, ‘Save Rock and Roll’, ‘Uma Thurman’ ,’Dance Dance’ (I could go on) kicked in, it just didn’t happen.
I can’t even blame dodgy sound or a boring crowd, as I was pretty close, pretty central and the crowd knew the material and were singing along with the passion you’d expect for a headline band. The band just didn’t seem to respond to this in a way I’d have expected.
Maybe Reading Festival isn’t as big a deal for Fall Out Boy to headline, having not been brought up coming to the festival as teenagers themselves, but for me the risk of the co-headline just didn’t pay off when you compare the set to Biffy Clyro’s sensational 90 minutes. Sorry Fall Out Boy, I’ll always love you but maybe I’ll stick to listening to you through headphones from now on.
