Review by Addie Whelan | Photos by Jacklyn Krol
When hometown heroes Fall Out Boy took the stage in Chicago on Saturday, September 8th, the energy at Chicago’s historic Wrigley Field was out of this world. With lines wrapping around the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium, a feeling was in the air that the night ahead was going to be one to remember, forever.
As openers Machine Gun Kelly and Rise Against finished off their opening sets, merch lines grew shorter and virtually no one was away from their seats. Suddenly, as the lights dropped, the feeling in the air grew to a level of excitement like nothing other as thousands of people were about to experience a band that they know and love.
Stepping on the stage, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman took the stage to the stadium. Surprising fans with opening track, “Disloyal Order of the Water Buffalo,” from ther 2008 release Folie a Deux, the pyro shot off as each band member took to their spots and started the twenty-five song long set list.
As they continued through some of our favorite tracks from their extensive discography, fan favorite tracks like “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” and “Uma Thurman” had fans out of their seats, losing their voices singing and dancing like there was no tomorrow.
Not only did the band perform on a massive stage, but two B-stages were extensively into the audience, allowing fans to get closer and closer to their favorite band members. Not only did the stages allow Fall Out Boy to get closer to the fans, but they grew in size, towering more than 100 feet off of the ground to truly elevate their performance.
When fans thought that was the only surprise, MANIA’s signature llamas, Royal Tea and Frosty, took the stage, using t-shirt cannons to fire exclusive merchandise into the crowd as Wentz and Stump made the journey to another stage, closer to the bleacher seats. Performing signature hit, “Thnx Fr Th Mmrs” and more, Fall Out Boy returned to the stage for a pyro-filled encore. While most would assume that an encore includes just fireworks, a flame throwing bass guitar, fire cannons and more were spaced across their entire stage to fully capture the experience.
Overall, Fall Out Boy’s hometown show at Wrigley Field was nothing short of MANIA. Between a perfectly crafted stage presence to a thoughtful setlist that includes everyone’s favorites, we’ll never forget watching our hometown heroes performing to more than forty thousand people.
Read our review of the Chicago exclusive MANIA Experience here. And check out photos of the show below.
Photos by Jacklyn Krol
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