It’s a rainy Saturday night at Download Festival. Taking to the stage for the first time since 2014 are the first-time headliners, the American rock band Fall Out Boy and what an incredible set they brought for a headline show.
Kicking off the twenty-seven-song set list with ‘Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes’ which started with Patrick Stump being filmed in a hospital bed backstage before jumping up grabbing a guitar and heading to the stage. Maybe to bigger fans of Fall Out Boy, this would be more understanding to the fan base.
Take This To Your Grave
The 2003 album ‘Take This to Your Grave’ is played for the next two songs ‘Chicago is So Two Years Ago’ and ‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy’ getting the crowd ready for the next for next era of albums that are coming ahead
From Under The Cork Tree
Fan favourites are kicking off from the 2005 album ‘From Under the Cork Tree’ with ‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’ and ‘Dance Dance’ which even from the back of the field you can hear the crowd singing every word back to the band bringing everybody in the crowd to a full sing along with friends and other festival goers. To complete the era we finish up with ‘ A little less sixteen candles, a little more “Touch Me” and “Get busy living or get busy dying (do your part to save the scene and stop going to shows). At This point in Fall Out Boys set I had clicked on to them following through all the eras of their albums. Which I thought was such an incredible idea for a headline slot.
Infinity On High
Coming down onto the stage was the sheep from the 2007 album ‘Infinity On High’ album leading into Four more main hits ‘This ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race’, ‘Thriller’ ‘bang the Doldrums’ And massive classic ‘ Thnks fr th mmrs’ which was absolutely incredible to hear fans around the festival singing back in the rain and mud.
Folie à Deux
Jumping swiftly into the 2008 era which included songs from the ‘Folie à Deux’ with another round of ‘Disloyal Order of Water Buffalo’ and another classic of ‘I don’t Care’ songs twelve and Thirteen of the incredible setlist. Even though the download rain was coming down neither the fans nor the band were giving it a second thought.
Saving Rock And Roll
Did someone ask for the rise of ‘The Phoenix’? With lots of fire? Well, the band didn’t fail to impress with amazing pyro with another classic tune of ‘My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (light ‘em up) both from the 2013 ‘Saving Rock And Roll’ 5-year time jump era. This show was for the fans and the night just kept getting better from there!
American Beauty/ American Psycho
Popping up on the big LED screen at the back of the stage was Kill Bills ‘Uma Thurman’ with added cheerleaders on stage which really brought a new element to the stage! With ‘The Kids Are Alright’ and Disney classic ‘Immortals’ which the only letdown was not having a giant inflatable Baymax on stage (From the film Big Hero Six) but still absolutely the highlight of my evening. Taken from the era of the 2015 ‘American Beauty/ American Psycho’
Mania / Piano Interludes
The Mania album from 2018 gets a singular debut on this long set with ‘The Last Of The Real Ones’ being played before some incredible stage changes happen again and we are welcome to the pleasant surprise of the stage being turned into a mountain which we get two beautiful piano interludes played of ‘what a catch, Donnie’ and ‘Golden’
So Much (For) Stardust
Coming into the final few songs of this incredible set list we move into the new era of Fall Out Boy ‘So much (for) stardust) era of 2023, at this point we have been through an epic set list with Fall Out Boy. During this section of the set, Bassist Pete Wentz did a gender reveal for fans who were in the crowd expecting a child. It was a beautiful moment to see a massive band like this still caring for the fans to take a few moments out of their set for them. We are treated to three songs from this album ‘So much (for) Stardust’s ‘Love from the Other Side’ and ‘Fake Out’
Encore
After twenty-four songs I didn’t expect to hear much more from Fall Out Boy but we are treated with Three final songs to end our night on what could be classed as a high with ‘ XO (the magic 8-ball song), ‘Centuries’ and ‘Saturday’. I personally enjoyed the fresh blood of a new headliner after seeing Bring Me The Horizon take a headline spot last year in 2023 and this Year Fall Out Boy also doing the same. Liquid Death Presents Download is stepping up its game with some new well-deserved headliners coming in.
Throughout the night it was an incredible experience and you can see the work and journey that Fall Out Boy took us through on this evening’s adventures through their timeline. With almost everything flowing perfectly. I would have just swapped ‘Saturday’ and ‘Centuries’ around to give it that big perfect finish and all in all, I can’t wait to see what doors will open in future Downloads.
Photos by Karolina Malyan
Artists: Fall Out Boy
