New Politics
The Pretty Reckless
Fall Out Boy
The last time Fall Out Boy were in Cardiff was the 7th of March 2009. I remember this date so specifically because I was there, first in the queue and my favourite band Kids In Glass Houses were the support act along with now "on hiatus" Hey Monday. 2014 and I am again in a similar situation. New Politics are a band I had never heard of before, The Pretty Reckless are a band that I really like and Fall Out Boy need no explanation.
The Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff which holds over 6,000 people filled up relatively quick. New Politics, hailing from Denmark brought their cheery and cheesy stage presence to the room. Immediately, they engaged with the young fans and were no doubt entertaining, although for a supposed band, the out of place dance solo and guitar tricks were extremely irrelevant. All dancing aside, music wise, their talent, if any, was not presented.
Admittedly, I was highly anticipating The Pretty Reckless' performance, possible more than Fall Out Boy's. I was a huge fan of Taylor Momsen in Gossip Girl and my love for her carried through to her and the band's music. This excitement quickly turned into disappointment. Whilst there was nothing wrong with their performance, the members lacked stage presence. The setlist was poor and the only passion Taylor Momsen seemed to show was when grinding up against the other band members.
Fall Out Boy on the other hand could not be faulted. It was a dramatic improvement from 2009 and it seemed like a lot more thought was put into these shows. The introduction, with The Phoenix being the opening song could only be described as epic. The masks, whilst we knew who every member was, added to the narrative of the Save Rock and Roll era of the band and created a sense of mystery to the atmosphere. The band certainly made time for playing more songs this time round; especially with a now larger discography, the conversation in between songs was kept to a suitable minimum. The setlist ranged from the standard oldies (Saturday, Grand Theft Autumn) to newer songs (Just One Yesterday, Alone Together) and everything inbetween. Grand Theft Autumn and I'm Like a Lawyer [etc] were even played acoustically, contributing to the diversity of the show.
What I most appreciated about the evening was that the attention from the crowd was not directed specifically at Pete Wentz. One of the main things I noticed from the post-hiatus was that Patrick, Andy and Joe were given significantly more attention than before and this seems to have reflected in tonight's performance as well. Joe's guitar and Andy's drum solos were nothing less than impressive and it was quite difficult to find a typical Pete Wentz fan girl.
It appears that the Fall Out Boy hiatus was truly needed. Over the period of time, Patrick's singing, Pete's lyricism and Joe and Andy's instrument playing have greatly improved. Despite the Save Rock and Roll songs pop-y nature, they were just as well received live as the older songs.
Here is the setlist that they played.
If you want to find out more about the bands, here are their twitter accounts and official websites:
The Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff which holds over 6,000 people filled up relatively quick. New Politics, hailing from Denmark brought their cheery and cheesy stage presence to the room. Immediately, they engaged with the young fans and were no doubt entertaining, although for a supposed band, the out of place dance solo and guitar tricks were extremely irrelevant. All dancing aside, music wise, their talent, if any, was not presented.
Admittedly, I was highly anticipating The Pretty Reckless' performance, possible more than Fall Out Boy's. I was a huge fan of Taylor Momsen in Gossip Girl and my love for her carried through to her and the band's music. This excitement quickly turned into disappointment. Whilst there was nothing wrong with their performance, the members lacked stage presence. The setlist was poor and the only passion Taylor Momsen seemed to show was when grinding up against the other band members.
Fall Out Boy on the other hand could not be faulted. It was a dramatic improvement from 2009 and it seemed like a lot more thought was put into these shows. The introduction, with The Phoenix being the opening song could only be described as epic. The masks, whilst we knew who every member was, added to the narrative of the Save Rock and Roll era of the band and created a sense of mystery to the atmosphere. The band certainly made time for playing more songs this time round; especially with a now larger discography, the conversation in between songs was kept to a suitable minimum. The setlist ranged from the standard oldies (Saturday, Grand Theft Autumn) to newer songs (Just One Yesterday, Alone Together) and everything inbetween. Grand Theft Autumn and I'm Like a Lawyer [etc] were even played acoustically, contributing to the diversity of the show.
What I most appreciated about the evening was that the attention from the crowd was not directed specifically at Pete Wentz. One of the main things I noticed from the post-hiatus was that Patrick, Andy and Joe were given significantly more attention than before and this seems to have reflected in tonight's performance as well. Joe's guitar and Andy's drum solos were nothing less than impressive and it was quite difficult to find a typical Pete Wentz fan girl.
It appears that the Fall Out Boy hiatus was truly needed. Over the period of time, Patrick's singing, Pete's lyricism and Joe and Andy's instrument playing have greatly improved. Despite the Save Rock and Roll songs pop-y nature, they were just as well received live as the older songs.
Here is the setlist that they played.
love,
If you want to find out more about the bands, here are their twitter accounts and official websites:
Great post. Photos are amazing.
ReplyDeleteAgreed with all comments. New Politics were entertaining but that is all I remember about them. The Pretty Reckless... Jenny Humphrey is certainly no more!
And Fall Out Boy! <3 <3
thank you so much. i was surprised at how good my photos turned out considering i only used an iphone.
Deletetaylor momsen has grown up so much since her cindy lou who days. i can't believe she's the same age as me!
thanks again :)