Ok. I will admit that I am not easily pleased by rock bands, those of emo-ish types with fans posing their gothic getup, but I think Fall Out Boy is an exception. I am a big fan to the point that until now, I still regret missing their concert in Manila last 2007. But somehow, it’s  fine since I got to watch their concert in Manila this year.

The night of February 13, 2009 was officially the third time Fall Out Boy performed at the concert stage of Araneta Coliseum. Being the third, I quite expected this won’t be such a big hit as compared to the sold-out, box-office hit two-night concert of the band in Manila in 2007.  There were more vacant seats at the Patron area, particulary the Upper B  section which was only quarter full,  but good thing was the the venue was almost 90% full.  Still good and acceptable enough.

(American alternative rock band Hey Monday during the Press Conference at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel)

The concert started less than 10 minutes late from the announced time which is 8:00 p.m. with new alternative rock band Hey Monday (composed of Cassadee Pope, Mike Gentile, Alex Lipshaw. Michael “Jersey” Moriarty, Elliot James and Bobby Nolanfor the) doing the front act for Fall Out Boy.

It was a bit surprising that Hey Monday has a promising number of followers jamming with them during their performance considering they are still quite new in the scene. Normally, folks here would skip the front act but that was not the case last night because the audience was alive while they were rock and rolling. I was even shaking my feet while listening to them, but can’t jam since their songs are still quite new to me. What I can’t take was the sound system, the poor audio, which made it hard for me and the rest of the audience (or at least the people I was with last night) to understand the words they were uttering.

Hey Monday’s performance ended at around 8:45 p.m.  Right after, everyone screamed and got more excited for Fall Out Boy. When the backdrop (where the name of the band was written) was  being raised at around 9:00, the screaming gets louder and louder.

At exactly 9:10, the members of Fall Out Boy band went out and started playing Thnks fr th Mmrs, a perfect startup song for them since this is their comeback concert in Manila. As expected, everyone went crazy. Ladies were shouting for Pete Wentz. It was a very lively opening. The screaming went louder when Pete talked to the audience. Then they did their second song, followed by “Sugar, We’re Going Down” and they were joined by the pretty lead vocal of Hey Monday.

Actually, when there’s a chance, Pete was always the one talking to the audience and obviously, the girls in the audience loved it. And if you will asked them what’s the best part of the concert, probably they will say it’s when Pete (carried by a bouncer) went off the stage  and stayed for few minutes with the audience while singing.

But for me, the best part of the concert was when they did “I Don’t Care” and made everybody amazed by their glowing guitars (I don’t know how to call it but hey, their guitars were glowing!)

Despite the fact that they probably went here for their Folie A Deux album, it was obvious that their hits from the past album, Infinity on High, are still popular to the Filipino fans.

Though this was a concert I so waited for, I was kinda disappointed, not because of  poor performance (actually, the band is really good since they were able to keep their energy up to the last minute). The lighting was good while the stage was fine. Good enough for a rock concert. What I can’t take was the very poor audio to the point that I can’t understand the lyrics and the words they “mumbled”. The audio is terrible. Fall Out Boy was very energetic but the poor audio did not give justice to their performance. In fact, I idolize Patrick Stump more because I can prove that he got powerful vocals.   Among other concerts I witnessed in Araneta, this could be the worst in terms of audio or sound quality.

Overall, it was a good concert still, and maybe could be better if they did “I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)”, unfortunately, they did not. The whole night I was trying to make a complete  of their songs but  failed to do so. I think, they played a total of 16 songs last night. If you know what I missed, just let me know. So here is the partial set list I came up with:

1. thnks fr th mmrs
2. thriller
3. sixteen candles..
4. american boy (cover)
5. sugar
6. this aint a scene..
7. i dont care
8. beat it
9. headfirst slide..
10. nobody puts baby..
11. the take over..
12. i slept with someone..
13. disloyal order..
14. grand theft (where is your boy)
15. america’s suitehearts
16. dance, dance
17. saturday

More photos coming up at: www.musicrator.com