Detox Just to Retox

Two Fridays ago, I took a little bit of a trip back to college. Fall Out Boy had a small venue show in Salt Lake City and I could not pass up attending for old time's sake! When I bought the tickets back in February (I think), the only one of their new songs out was "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light 'Em Up)," so I had no clue if I'd actually like their new songs or not. Granted, as someone who has loved all of their albums, I wasn't too worried about it.

Originally, Julia was going to come with me, but she had to go out of town for the weekend, so Ashley joined. We had a very different concert-going experience than my Fall Out Boy days of my youth. There was no waiting in line for hours to make sure I could be on the barricade. I didn't even want to mess with trying to be in the pit and leaving covered in other people's sweat. Instead, we happily waved our IDs and went up to the 21+ upstairs. We were one row of people off the front of the balcony, but they were super nice and actually let us have their spots for the encore.

It was fantastic! I love their new album and haven't seen them live since before Folie a Deux was released, so about half of the show was songs I'd never heard them play live before.

Highlights

• The encore. Oh my goodness the encore! "Thnks fr th Mmrs," "Save Rock and Roll" and, of course, "Saturday." Probably the best encore performance I've ever experienced at a concert.
• The new music. Like I wrote above, I really like the album Save Rock and Roll. All of the songs sounded fantastic live.
• The music period. Every time they launched into another song, I got that feeling you get when your favorite song comes on. Over the course of ten years, somehow all of their music has stayed relevant to me and I enjoy it just as much (and more in some cases) as I did when I was a college fangirl.
• Energy. Despite being more than five years older than the last time I saw them live, these guys have not lost an ounce of their enthusiasm for performing. Joe was still spinning all over the place, Andy was a human tornado on the drums...hell, I'd even say that Patrick has more of a stage presence now than ever before.
• The little things. Ashley and I noticed Pete waving to his little four-year-old song offstage and making funny faces at him. The lick-lick salute. The guitar spins during "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race." Knowing all the places to clap and shout the background vocals. I suppose you could say knowing all of these things is the product of ten years of going to Fall Out Boy concerts.
• The crowd. It was by no means a perfect audience (does that exist?), but everyone there knew all the words to all the songs and (at least to me) appeared to truly be there for the music. The enthusiasm for "The Disloyal Order of Water Buffalos" was just as intense as it was for their hit singles.
• Being an adult. I know that sounds strange, but I feel like I was able to enjoy myself so much more as an adult than I did as a 20-year-old because I'm more confident in who I am. I was rocking out and couldn't care less what anyone thought about it. And that lack of inhibition made the concert all the more enjoyable for me on a personal level.

What a great time! They won't be coming to Salt Lake City on their arena tour (and it would be soooo strange to see them in an arena...definitely have not had that experience before!), so I'm not sure when I'll see another of their shows, but it will hopefully be sooner rather than later. 

XO.