Candlelight Red, hailing from central Pennsylvania, took the stage first. Having received national attention in 2010 after winning a Guitar Center competition and subsequently being an opening act for Kiss when their 2010 tour came through Pittsburgh, the band has continued to deliver and raise the bar while gaining a fan base. Opening with “In Your Hands,” lead singer Ryan Hoke immediately had the complete attention of the crowd. The band played songs from their first album The Wreckage such as  “Closer” and “Medicated” as well as  songs off their new EP Demons, such as “Cutter.” This band was nonstop action and adrenaline; hitting the crowd with killer drum beats and chest-crushing bass lines.

Next up was Italian heavy metal band Lacuna Coil. With Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro on vocals the band took the stage playing songs such as “Kill the Light,” “To the Edge,” “Upsidedown,” “Intoxicated,” and “Trip the Darkness.” With melodic vocals and heavy guitar riffs the band gave an exhilarating performance to a crowd that gave the band a thunderous ovation as they closed with the song “Spellbound.”

Following Lacuna Coil was Coal Chamber. Starting their set with “Loco” followed by “Big Truck” front man B. Dez Fafara, rallied the crowd to get their fists in the air. As the crowds energy and interaction with Fafara grew so too did the size of the mosh pit, the crowd being pushed and bumped as people screamed the lyrics with the band, fists in the air. Crowd surfers making their way to the front pit would run to the back of the crowd to once again make their way up front with Fafara often reaching down to slap hands with them as security pulled them up and over the rails.

Sevendust rounded up the lineup for the night. The crowd seemed to have grown through the evening and the sold out show had people packed in the venue shoulder to shoulder. During the set which began with “Decay” followed up by “Praise” vocalist Lajon Witherspoon thanked the Milwaukee crowd for always producing a great audience each time they visit the venue, mentioning that this show was the bands 19th visit to The Rave since 1997. Amid a light show that included laser lights that shot through and over the crowd, there was smoke being blown from the stage while Sevendust played songs such as “Alpha,” “Strong Arm Broken” and “Pieces.”  The band closed out their show with the song “Face to Face.” Leaving the stage, Witherspoon again thanked the crowd for coming out in support of Sevendust, as well as the other three bands that took the stage. The crowd gave them a rousing applause.

The Rave is a venue that delivers fabulous music and atmosphere each and every time. The lineup at Saturday’s show delivered powerful music, without the need for intricate stage set-up’s. There was no need for that as each band, with their unique heavy metal sounds kept the crowd engaged during each set. This is a show worth seeing, the guitar riffs, heavy hitting drum beats, thumping bass and diverse vocals featured by each band left concert goers well satisfied and commenting about each band enthusiastically as they filed out of the venue for their drive home.

Draft Week, Duck., Fighting For Scraps, Set Fire To Reason, AyOh, and Boy Blue were all fantastic.

Thanks to our sponsors Pabst Blue Ribbon for providing an hour of hosted PBR and Gigity.TV for streaming the show worldwide.

You can watch the full show again for free here:  http://gigity.tv/event/1356/

The next Chicago Music Magazine Music Industry Showcase is May 23rd at Double Door

The lineup will be announced soon  so stay tuned.

Discover New Music,

Chicago Music Magazine

On the first day, despite the forecast for rain, the early acts took the six stages alongside a crowd that kept growing as the day progressed. Right after passing through the entrance one of the first things we noticed was the kickoff of Kidzapalooza, a place where families could enjoy music at Lollapalooza. We first went over to check in with Iggor Cavalera, best know as the former drummer of the world famous heavy-metal group Sepultura who was leading a drum workshop, teaching kids the mechanics of drumming with his wife Laima. Together they are the electronic project MIXHELL, one of the many artists performing on day 1.

At the same time, on the mainstage we noticed a performance of the folk group Agridoce, a side Project made up of members from the Brazilian rock group Pitty. Agridoce warmed up the crowd and set the mood for the first of many big names: Of Monsters and Men.

Of Monsters and Men traveled from Iceland to Brazil in order to perform at this year’s festival. They were the first big international act to kick off this year’s festival and they were fantastic.   The five piece group played a charismatic set for the audience which was noticeably familiar to their debut album.

On the Alternative stage, located in the middle of the Jockey Club grounds, the Toronto based electronic experimental duo Crystal Castles performed a raw emotional set that impressed even those who had never heard of them. Starting with a blast of energy, the concert ended up with a crowd surfing by the vocalist Alice Glass.

As the day came to a close, concertgoers could watch several genres of artists wrapping up the event, from the Brazilian indie-pop group Copacabana Club with a mature performance, to the consistent Cake with an unexpected but satisfying Black Sabbath’s War Pigs version. One highlight of the day was the innovative Red Bull Technostalgia: an analogical mixing of electronic music classics, the project operates with a live band led by the Brazilian DJ Marky. This was a performance that even thrilled Perry!

The night came to a close with Deadmau5 who took the Butantã Stage on his own to perform an impressive set with amazing visual effects as the last act before the first headliner on Lollapalooza Brazil 2013.

At 9:30pm the first night came to a close on the main stage with the killer song Mr. Brightside. At this point the 51,000 music fans went crazy while The Killers played their biggest hit. Brendon Flowers sung the entire concert with a big smile on his face, playing all of the Killers greatest hits, and a few songs from the last Battle Born. As an additional bonus, the front man made sure to speak to São Paulo in Portuguese he recently learned between sets.

Hellbound Glory took the stage at 7:00 p.m. kicking it off with their song “Small Town Shit”. Hellbound Glory’s sound is true to old style country music, while still being modern enough to draw fans from the younger generation. Frontman, Leroy Virgil, crooned the band’s songs to the crowd that was still trickling in during the set. Hellbound Glory has a unique sound that mixes country, bluegrass and rockabilly.  The bands enthusiasm resonated with the crowd as they finished off their set with the song “Repo Man”.

The Los Angeles based rock band Buckcherry took the stage next, starting off their set with the song “Ridin’”.  Josh Todd’s vocals and energy on stage had the crowd singing along as the band played the popular ballad “Sorry” from 2005’s album 15. The heavy riffs of the guitar increased the reaction of concert goers as the band launched in to songs such as “Porno Star” and “Cocaine”. Buckcherry ended their set with “Crazy Bitch” also from the album 15, which had the crowd on its feet and belting out the lyrics along with frontman, Josh Todd.

Between sets the crowd had the opportunity to purchase Kid Rock’s album Rebel Soul for only $10.00 with 100% of the proceeds going to the Shriners Hospital’s. There was a raffle for an autographed guitar which was given away at the end of the show.

The crowd’s excitement ramped up as the countdown for Kid Rock to take the stage approached. Silence fell over the crowd as an American eagle came on the screen at the back of the stage; Kid Rock began with a prayer with the Twisted Brown Trucker Band playing in the background. The stage went black as the prayer ended and moments later Kid Rock took to the air from center stage amid pyrotechnics on either side of him. Opening his set with the song “Celebrate” from 2012’s album Rebel Soul, the crowd rose to its feet and remained on their feet for the duration of the 2 hour set. Kid Rock commanded the stage, dancing, jumping and keeping the crowd engaged playing an assortment of both his new songs and older songs, such as “Redneck Paradise”, “Cowboy”, and “American Badass”.

Taking a break midway through his set, Kid Rock showed off his scratching skills to the delighted crowd, before launching in to “All Summer Long”. He followed it up with “Best Night Ever” a song that pays tribute to Bob Seger. After the song he signed his guitar and handed it out to someone in the crowd saying to security “hand this to the guy in the wheelchair” then to the man he was giving the guitar to “you’ve been rockin’ and rollin’ your ass off all night.” Kid Rock and the Twisted Brown Trucker Band ended the show with the song “Happy New Year” dressing up in gold sequin jackets and party hats, thanking the crowd for spending their hard earned money to come out and see them.

As we left the coliseum Buckcherry was in the lobby doing a meet and greet with concert attendees. The crowd’s excitement spilled out on to the street as we left the venue. Hellbound Glory, Buckcherry and Kid Rock treated the crowd to a great concert with an assortment of music spanning many different music genres. Next stops for the Rebel Soul Tour are April 1 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, April 3 at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan followed by shows April 5 and April 6 at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan.

Dead Sara Setlist:

Sorry for It All  

Test on My Patience

Lemon Scent

Face to Face

Blue Was the Feeling for You (unreleased)

Weatherman

After about a 30 minute setup period the crew cleared the stage, the house lights once again went dark and  MUSE for just under 2 hour period showed  a packed house at the United Center how to create and deliver an emotional prog-rock focused audio and visual experience.  The show itself is a spectacular designed specifically with the audiences perspective in mind.  From beginning to end everyone in attendance is taken on a journey through every kind of emotional moment known to man (or women).   Through the use of audio and video resources and production the band and crew created moments of resistance, aggression, passion, sweet solitude, and awe all at the hands of one of the most dynamic rock bands in the world.  The survivalist messages that ring throughout almost every MUSE song became anthems amongst loud cheers.  Although the band is certainly not the most original in the world, they make up for it through production and delivery. Every square inch of the gigantic stage was utilized as a giant video screen.  The performance itself was being filmed and footage from the cameras could be seen on screens interlaced with the band on the stage.   There was not much that this show did not have production wise.  There was smoke, there were lasers, there was lots of intelligent lighting. There was an extension in front of the stage that allowed for Bellamy and Wolstenholme to go closer to the crowd on some songs.   The set design was brilliant with a pyramid of video screens raining down from the rafters after the first song.   The band itself did not talk to the audience much during the 2 hours.  It was almost as if the show is so planned out with music and production that there just isn’t time to engage in a conversation with the audience.  The band did perform well. Matthew Bellamy’s voice sounded as good as it did the last time the band was in Chicago. Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard also performed well each adding their personalities into the mix.     There were some amazing moments of music too.  At the conclusion of Hysteria right before the band played Animals, Bellamy came down onto the extension of the stage and performed an interpretation of part of the Star Spangled Banner on guitar to an extremely loud roar of cheers from all over the arena, as if to pay tribute to the country (USA)  that really has become a second home to the band.  Just after Knights of Cydonia, Wolstenholme alone in the light on the stage began Monty Jam with a harmonica solo that got everyone clapping along.  Overall, it was a fantastic grandioso, innovative,  exciting musical experience from beginning to end showcasing one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

Song wise, some highlights of the 2 hour set included:  Panic Station, Resistance, Hysteria, Knights of Cydonia, Follow Me, Madness, Uprising, and an encore featuring Starlight and Survival.

MUSE @ United Center, Chicago, IL  on March 5th 2013 Setlist

The 2nd Law: Unsustainable

Supremacy

Supermassive Black Hole

Panic Station

Resistance

Hysteria

(Star-Spangled Banner intro)

Animals

Knights of Cydonia

(Man with a Harmonica intro)

Monty Jam

Explorers

Follow Me

Sunburn

Liquid State

Madness

Undisclosed Desires

Time Is Running Out

Stockholm Syndrome

(Rage Against the Machine’s Freedom outro)

The 2nd Law: Isolated System

Uprising

(Extended outro)

Encore:

Starlight

Survival

By Michelle Stroner

Last night, February 28, 2013, Castle Chicago hosted a preview party in honor of the grand opening of Castle, the product of combining Excalibur and Vision Nightclub. Since both clubs were under the same management, it was only a matter of time before they were to be rebranded and revamped into one venue. Even though it’s now one venue, there are four different rooms that people can go between, each with its own music and overall atmosphere. The distinction between the different environments was made clear last night, as most of the middle-aged crowd was on the lower, more chilled levels, and the younger crowd mostly stayed on the upper club levels. Located in the heart of River North, the opening of Castle should bring in returning clients as well as generate new clientele with the changes that have been made to the venue.

Industry and media representatives as well as local government celebrated this event that is a new beginning. Upon arriving, guests first enter into the Craft Pub and Eatery, which takes up most of the main floor and the basement. This area allows people to order from a diverse menu of food and drinks. It was definitely one of the more crowded spaces as guests wanted to try anything and everything on the menu. It’s one of the more relaxed rooms that caters to the bar scene, playing older music that everyone knows. In the basement, there are billiard tables and more seating areas. Going back up to the first floor, it also holds the Cabaret room, a more sophisticated area dedicated to more of the live entertainment side of things. There are even dueling pianos at the front of the room, which makes for a fun time.

As guests make their way up the grand staircase, they will encounter the biggest room of the venue, Palladium, which plays a variety of EDM; last night, it was house music. I’ve been to the club before when it was just Excalibur, and I liked it. But after seeing the changes, I like it even more. The whole layout is more practical. The stage is still in the side room on the right when guests walk up the stairs, but instead of walking into the side room and having the stage be on the right, it’s directly in front. The stage was switched so that it now faces out into the other big room on that floor, which is what needed to happen since that space was barely being used before. Because there was no stage/DJ in that room, people that hung out there would just have some drinks and maybe do a little dancing. At least that’s my experience with the older setup. Now that the direction of the stage has changed, it makes for much better use of the space that’s available.

Also in the side room with the main stage, which resembles The Executioner from Excision’s latest tour but on a much smaller scale, are multi-level bars and seating areas. The right side of the room has a staircase that leads to a small seating area just above the dance floor. The left gives guests more access to seating and a couple separate bars. Instead of just going up one flight of stairs, guests can take a winding staircase up to a third level which gives access to the top viewing area as well as a bar. Going up even further, the ceiling had a few interesting props for entertainment, including a rope, a bar that looked like it could be from a trapeze act, and a drape of silk for a performing aerialist. Unfortunately, these items weren’t in use when I was there for the preview, but I can’t wait to see them in action when I come back for events. Luckily, the lasers and lights all over the room kept guests entertained.

As club-goers make their way towards the back left-hand corner of the bigger room near the bar and VIP tables, they’ll find a small set of stairs that will take them to Sanctuary, the former Vision. This room also plays EDM, but it’s more top 40s remixes than anything else. The layout of Sanctuary was not changed very much at all. Only some décor, lighting, and seating had been altered. Vision was my favorite club at one point (about a year and a half ago), but after a while I noticed that the club was becoming less and less crowded. Most people that came to Vision would just spend most of their night at Excalibur. Knowing this, I found it interesting that most of the changes made to the venue were on the Excalibur side. A revolving door was added to the ground floor of Sanctuary that connects to the main room of the Craft Pub and Eatery. I would like to say that because of the renovations, the Vision side will become more popular again, but after seeing the minimal changes and the lack of people that were in that room on preview night, I can’t say with certainty that I think it’ll happen. Hopefully the door on the main level will help generate traffic into that part of the venue instead of just having one entrance connected to Palladium.

Even though I’m skeptical about how successful the Sanctuary room will be, I have no doubt that the new Castle Chicago venue will come back with a bang, as last night turned out to be a success. The March 1^st grand opening will have Roger Sanchez as the main DJ in Palladium and Chris Cox with Phil Da Beatz and Milty Evans in Sanctuary. March 2^nd it will be Chris Lake, Garrett B, and RJ Pickens behind the decks. With an opening weekend of what seems to be great acts, Castle should be rocking the whole time.

About Castle Chicago:

Castle Chicago: A Celebration of Life and Nightlife

Castle is dedicated to the style and spirit of those who celebrate life and the pursuit of happiness. Throughout its various environments, Castle seeks to create an innovative, unique blend of influences from around our world in the areas of music, fashion, decoration, performing arts, technology and social interaction.

Palladium manifests the power of sound, light and technology to energize the human spirit and create a bond through the vibrant beats of musically inspired performers, dancing and sensory exploration.

Sanctuary is open to all lifestyles, exploring and encouraging levels of understanding and friendship through communal enjoyment of innovative music, dance and visual arts.

Cabaret is a celebration of fun and togetherness among the closest of friends and strangers from around the world, in an unabashed display of humor, dancing and entertainment on a live stage.

Craft Pub & Eatery provides comfort, warmth and relaxation, with the luxury of quality craft cocktails and chefs creations to satiate the palate and restore the energy and spirit of those who make Castle truly a Celebration of Life and Nightlife. The street level Castle Craft Pub & Eatery serves a wide variety of high quality sharable items, featuring hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza prepared in a 900 degree wood-fired brick oven, as well as hand made sandwiches and chef-inspired small plates, microbrew draft beers and handcrafted cocktails. The atmosphere is that of a regal English pub, with comfortable bar seating, cozy booths, and living room lounge pits across various areas of the pub, as well as billiard tables in the lower level. Guests can watch the Castle chefs create their dishes in the open kitchen, built around the wood fired brick oven.

The Castle also offers Chicago’s most distinctive non-hotel private event spaces with built-in AV capabilities found no where else in Chicago, including LED video walls and 3D projection systems, for private events from 30 to 3,000.

The Castle is located in the heart of Chicago’s River North dining and entertainment district, 632 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago 60654, (312) 266-1944, www.castlechicago.com.

facebook.com/castlechicago  |  facebook.com/palladiumchicago
twitter.com/castlechicago  |  twitter.com/palladiumchi

I had a 100 level GA ticket, and it was an interesting experience. As a fan, I would have loved to have been on the floor, dancing with everyone else, but being up a little higher was great for viewing the show and all of the special effects. Unlike most EDM shows, since this one was in a big stadium, Swedish House Mafia could do anything they wanted. They had a big DJ booth with five horizontal panels that had colors and designs flashing on them throughout the show. There were also two screens, one on each side of the stage that projected the show and fans from the crowd onto it.

The coolest parts of the concert were, hands down, the pyrotechnics and the amount of lasers they had. Sparks rained down on the stage during “Reload” a Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash collaboration. Fire shot up from the stage floor for the Swedish House Mafia and Knife Party collaboration “Antidote” as well as other tracks. Explosions and fireworks were timed perfectly to the drops of several songs. With all of that going on, there is no doubt that the light show of lasers was the highlight of the special effects. Being dead center in the back of the arena in the 100 level section definitely had its perks. I could see every single laser that made up the designs of the show.

The colors and movements of the lasers was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, so it was really great to experience that with other EDM fans. Sure, almost everyone at the show was rolling, smoking, or drinking, but that doesn’t change the fact that rave-goers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. You’re going to party with the people around you for the next few hours, so why not make friends with them? They’ll share their rave-shades with you, offer you some water if you’re thirsty, and hype up the energy by just having a fun time dancing with the people around them.

And the dance music was awesome. Swedish House Mafia opened with “Greyhound,” which instantly had the crowd jumping and dancing.  The group didn’t deviate much from their own tracks, but with so many hard-hitting beats, they didn’t have to. They played a remix of Usher’s “Euphoria,” a remix of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” the original version and the vocal version of Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso’s “Calling,” Axwell’s remix of “In My Mind” by Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl featuring Georgi Kay, “Miami 2 Ibiza” featuring Tinie Tempah, and “One (Your Name)” featuring Pharrell. “Don’t You Worry Child” featuring John Martin was played as confetti blasted up over the crowd, and “Save The World” also featuring John Martin was played as big balloons fell from the ceiling. Swedish House Mafia closed out their set with a mashup of “Don’t You Worry Child,” “Reload,” and “Save the World.” At the very end of the show, credits rolled on the screen, thanking every single fan for coming out and supporting them.  Except for a massive thank you at the end of the credits, the last words to roll were:

YOU CAME.

YOU RAVED.

WE LOVE IT.

The opening of the show started with a countdown, which lead into a video presentation about the non-for-profit. After the video presentation, a member of TWLOHA was lit up with a bright light randomly in the balcony telling everyone in a very poetic and god-like voice “Come closer, come into this, come closer; you are quite the beauty. If no one has ever told you that before know that right now you are quite the beauty. There’s joy in your mouth, how your mouth dances with your teeth.”

Shortly after his poetry, Abby & Noah Gunderson made the stage with a surprise appearance by Aaron Roderick Gillespie of Underoath on the drums.  Throughout Abby & Noah’s performance another surprise performance, Jonathan Mark Foreman made the stage to perform during their set. At this early point of the show, the intimacy of an acoustic show reminded me of what a rare opportunity that it is to see all of these artists up on a stage performing acoustically.

After Abby & Noah’s set the founder of TWLOAH made his way to the stage in Bull’s basketball shorts that he borrowed from one of his friends who formally was on the Bulls.  As he enlightened the guests of the show with some more poetry they prepared the stage for Now, Now.

Now, Now’s performance was just as awesome as the one before with a special appearance from Bryce Avary singing a part of the vocals.  By this point, I was expecting all of the artists to fill the night with surprises. Cacie Dalager’s bells attached to her ankle caused her to stop the set a few times and joked about how the bells kept falling off.

When Bryce Avary made it to the stage, he mentioned his solo project and his current one. He played a few songs off of both and surprised the audience with a fun chorus of “I Knew You Were Trouble” known famous by Taylor Swift. Bryce also made sure to mention that Chicago was the best night of the tour and was sad to be leaving this amazing tour.

Aaron Roderick Gillepsie made it to the stage with a bass drum, guitar and his great voice. Hearing some of my favorite The Almost and Underoath songs was a cool experience. Of course as every other set has had some surprise performers on stage throughout the evening, Abby & Noah made it out to perform with Aaron.

When Jonathan Mark Foreman made the stage, unexpectedly so did his drummer and backup vocalist. They played a lot of their big hits and really brought the night to an epic close. The crowd involvement was quite special, especially when Jonathan stopped singing during their biggest hit “Dare You to Move” and went up to the audience and pumped them up. From the looks of it, everyone in the crowd was singing along and knew every lyric to their song. The first time in all of my attendance at House of Blues; I really had felt that the House of Blues had taken off to a new extreme. During the last song of the show, every single performer of the night was on stage singing. It was so awesome to see artists enjoying each other and respecting one another as musical artists and people.

It was the last night of the tour for a few of the artists, after being on tour for most of the tour it was a very emotional night for them. After the show, every artist was out on the floor meeting their fans, giving hugs and providing a friendly atmosphere for all who had come to the show. This show wasn’t just about the music but it was about the people and the energy. It was an inspirational night that reminded everyone to love life and music.

There had been rumors that a reunion could happen, but nothing concrete had been announced in any official capacity. The morning of February 4, 2013, that all changed. An official announcement was made through all major media outlets that Fall Out Boy was coming back. The initial announcement followed with additional press releases. A new single, a world tour,  and a brand new album.  The best of the announcements was that before the band returned to the large theaters and arenas around the world, they would begin their comeback with a series of small shows in Chicago (where it all began), New York, and Los Angeles at 250-350 capacity clubs.  The blitz was on.  How do I get a ticket?  How do I get a guest list?  How do I get back in touch with that friend, of a friend, of a friend that knew the band back in 2005 and used to let Wentz, Stump, Hurley, and Trohman sleep on their couch when they came to New York in the “Early Years”  before the fame to call in a favor and land me on the list with them?  The search began.

Two Chicago Music Magazine writers covered the show in Chicago the night previous so I was able to immediately get on a plane from Chicago to New York to attend the Webster Hall show February 5th, knowing it was a historic comeback show that could not be missed.

Fall Out Boy’s rise to fame happened during a period of time when Chicago fans didn’t go see a band, they went to a show as a part of a community. They were made to feel as if they were an extension of the band.  There were others in Chicago like Fall Out Boy in Chicago.  Lucky Boys Confusion, Allister, Plain White T’s, The Dog and Everything,  Swizzle Tree, 504 Plan, Much The Same, Penny and The Loafers, Full Range, Spitalfield, The Academy Is, to name just a few. Some of those bands are still around, and some have since put down their guitars and drumsticks, and went on to build careers in and out of the music business.  Chicago in the early 2000′s was a special place like nowhere else.  It had a musical identity and at the epicenter, was Fall Out Boy.

Last night in New York City, I relieved the feeling I once had watching Fall Out Boy perform to a sold out crowd in a small 300 capacity club.  It was surreal.  The line before the show stretched around the building.  Hundreds of kids without tickets waited eagerly at the sign of someone who just might have that extra ticket hoping the money they had would be enough to get them into the show.  For some it worked, for others, they stood outside of The Studio at Webster Hall and did not hesitate to sing along to every song at the top of their lungs as if they were in the front row.  It reminded me of the early days watching the line form outside of the original Bottom Lounge, a venue which was knocked down and transformed into a train station.

The people who made it inside the venue by somehow getting one of the very limited public tickets or a coveted guest list spot were in for a real treat.  The weird thing: everyone was older.  Time had passed.  Many of those in attendance had been in College when they discovered FOB.  It didn’t matter.  It was as if everyone went back to that time in their life where they heard Fall Out Boy for the first time. They had to be at the show.

Once inside I noticed many reunions happening.  People who hadn’t seen each other in years had flocked to New York to experience the comeback show.  There was a lot of chatter about the new single that had been put out via iTunes and on the FOB website just a day earlier prior to the bands show at Subterranean in Chicago.  About an hour after doors the lights went down, the house music faded and just like the first time that local band from Chicago stepped into The Studio inside Webster Hall. Fall Out Boy had arrived.

The set list was comprehensive, traveling across the bands repertoire.  This included old fan favorites such as “Dead On Arrival,” “Dance, Dance,” “Sugar Were Going Down,” and ending of course with their anthem “Saturday.”   One of the highlights of the night was when the band debuted to the New York audience their brand new single that had been released only a day prior called “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up).”  The new song displayed the new start that exists for the band as they embark on their second coming.

The thing about last night that became the post show talk of those in attendance was that for the first time in a long time every single member of the band looked like they were having the time of their life.  It was no longer a stagnant trend of going through the motions.  The members clearly displayed how fresh it once again felt for them.  Wentz and Stump could be seen looking over at each other and smiling during several of the evenings selections as if to say to each other, “Wow this feels good.” Joe moved to each side of the stage.  Patrick took time to go rock out with Andy.  It was as if the band was going to leave everything on stage and return to their van parked outside and travel hours to the new show on their 2005 East Coast tour.

Last night in New York I saw the same Fall Out Boy I remember growing up to. Long before I was a journalist or even had an interest of being in the music business.   It was a special night and a sentiment that was shared between most everyone in the room.  There were some things that were different.  Patrick Stump lost a tremendous amount of weight while pursuing a solo career. Pete Wentz had a son with Ashley Simpson and performed at events like Lollapalooza with his side project Black Cards, Joe and Andy rocked out with Scott Ian of Anthrax in The Damned things.  Somehow during all the chaos and things that life brought them they wrote a brand new record.

Wentz paused at one moment to declare to the audience, “New York!!! This is a takeover, the Mother Fu**in’ break is over!!!” The audience roared tremendously.  Following “Sugar Were Going Down” the band left the stage as they normally do for a break before the encore.  What happened next surely gave many in the room chills.  A chant of “Welcome Back!,  Welcome Back!, Welcome Back!” encompassed the capacity crowd.  As the band re-took the stage Wentz was emotional thanking the crowd, the label, and their management for being there and supporting the band for so many years.  It was clear the comeback was a long time coming. It was a long-kept secret for not only the band but for everyone on their team.  The band played a three-song encore ending with “Saturday” as they always do and just like that, the show was over and they were gone.  It was indeed a takeover, the break was over and the capacity crowd in the Studio of Webster Hall loved every minute of the show.  Fall Out Boy is now a band with a goal to save Rock and Roll and I believe they will.  Their quest continues February 7th at The Roxy in Los Angeles, California.

Setlist:
Thriller

I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me

A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me”

Dead on Arrival

This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race

Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

I’m Like a Lawyer With the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)

Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today

Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy

Hum Hallelujah

Dance, Dance

Honorable Mention / America’s Suiteharts / Lake Effect Kid / Alpha Dog / Calm Before the Storm

What a Catch, Donnie

The Take Over, the Breaks Over

I Don’t Care

My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up)

Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year

Beat It
(Michael Jackson cover)

Sugar, We’re Goin Down

Encore:
The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes

Thnks fr th Mmrs

Saturday