Jaden Smith had to drop off the opening bill of Sunday’s Fall Out Boy show in Tampa, and it was a shame (the 19-year-old actor and rapper with Bay area ties got double booked at ComplexCon, several time zones away).

Thankfully nothing, nowhere. — the basement project of Joe Mulherin — was there to warm up the crowd and live up to the hype associated with being signed to DCD2, an imprint founded by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz. Despite being unexpectedly tapped to open an arena show with just three band members, the famously anxiety-ridden Mulherin dissolved into the darkness into his black hoodie before leading nothing, nowhere. through a 30-minute set where guitar loops, drum programming and Mulherin’s pained screams filled Amalie Arena with a singular sound that ended up being a perfect initial aesthetic for the night that would unfold.

California-based, Daytona-born rapper-singer blackbear sandwiched his colorful, party-ready heartbreak jams into the middle of the evening (and it was amazing to see the porn horn return to mindless pop music), but the arrival of Fall Out Boy unleashed the loudest screams and sing-alongs (from a crowd that during the break also sang along cheerfully to the video for Panic! At the Disco’s “Death Of A Bachelor”).

And that was fitting.

While blackbear and nothing, nowhere. represent pop-punk’s strange evolution into a hybrid of hip-hop and emotionally-charged bedroom-punk, Fall Out Boy — a suburban Chicago-based outfit that released its first full-length, 2003’s Take This to Your Grave on the still-independent Fueled By Ramen — is an act that straddles the void between the genre’s pre-streaming, Hot Topic-hanging days and its current role as just one of the many strains of music kids are listening to these days.

Think about it, if you were 10-years-old when FOB’s big hit (2005’s “Sugar, We’re Going Down”) was released, then you are looking at your mid-20s as the very same band readies its 2018 release, M A N I A. If you were college-aged (like Wentz, 38, and FOB frontman Patrick Stump) back in those days, then these days and nights find you probably packing on pounds and thinking twice about heading out to a Sunday show.

Thankfully Stump (33 years old), Wentz, Florida-born guitarist Joe Trohman (also 33) and 37-year-old straight-edge vegan drummer/Conor McGregor lookalike Andrew Hurley made it more than worth the effort. For 90-minutes, with pyrotechnic flames and sparks exploding behind them, FOB jogged through a set that spanned the breadth of the band’s 15-year-old discography.

Actually, it was less of a jog and more of a impressively athletic, very fit, sprint through 22 songs, a few skits and one sky-scraping mini set of tunes from the aforementioned, still delayed M A N I A. Fall Out Boy’s major label debut (From Under the Cork Tree, released in 2005 via Island) ushered in an era of sonically-aggressive hyperactive pop that’s mixed way too loud. On record, highlights from FOB’s 2015 LP (American Beauty/American Psycho) can make your ears bleed and make you long for the more melodic stuff from the simpler, Fueled By Ramen days. In person, it’s a totally different story, and Stump (who may have one of the most underrated vocals in rock) brought muscle to Beauty/Psycho songs like “Immortals,” the title track and “Centuries” while also channeling Elton John like a champ on the title track from 2013’s Save Rock and Roll.





Floating platforms on the opposite end of the arena added even more buoyancy to a set featuring cuts from M A N I A, Folie a Deux, Infinity on High and Cork Tree before the band sprinted backstage as a video skit featuring two non-llamas joked about some of the criticisms that’ve been lobbed at Fall Out Boy throughout the years.

“This show isn’t half bad,” one non-llama said to the other.

“Yeah, it’s all bad,” said the other.

“It’s a medium show,” they went on, “not rare, and not well done.” The best crack though?

“I don’t know if this show is suitable for children.”

“Yeah, it’s not suitable for anyone.”

Fall Out Boy would come out in a blaze of pyro before (not-so-symbolically) unleashing millions of middle finger emojis for a take on “I Don’t Care,” and a room full of just over 10,017 fans proceeded to throw their own middle digits into the air while screaming every word. Stump’s ridiculously strong voice still sailed over the masses, and the band’s most devoted followers were happy to fall in line just like they’ve been doing for more than a decade.

As an old, it’s easy to see and feel the devotion while not being able to completely understand why it’s there. Thankfully CL’s 17-year-old photographer, Camren Meier, was in the put and ready to provide a very familiar, relatable, explanation for why she loved Fall Out Boy so much.

“Folie à Deux was the first album I ever loved. Fall Out Boy was the band that got me into music and eventually led to me wanting to peruse concert photography,” she wrote on Instagram. “Being able to shoot last night's show was a full circle moment for me and I am so grateful for the opportunity. Thank you so much to everyone that has helped me through this process.”

First loves will always be hard to quit, and all those kids actually did pretty great falling for these boys.

Have a look at more of Camren’s photos of the show below. Listen to a playlist of songs from the set here.

Setlist

The Phoenix

Irresistible

Hum Hallelujah

Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down

Alone Together

Immortals

American Beauty/American Psycho

Centuries

Save Rock and Roll

The Last of the Real Ones

Young and Menace

(drum medley)

Dance, DanceExpensive Mistakes

Thnks fr th Mmrs

I Don’t Care

This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race

Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy

Champion

—

Uma Thurman

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

Saturday