I have been a Fall Out Boy fan for a long time. It was a band that my daughter got me into when they first came out. This was my 2nd time seeing them live. My first time seeing them from the rail and my first time seeing them with my daughter. Jess and I bought our tickets when they went on sale and my daughter decided days before the show, she wanted to come with us. I was pretty excited for this show as not only was Fall Out Boy playing but Bring Me the Horizon was also playing this show. I have seen them a few times and they always put on a good show!
The day of the show we left town by 9:30 am as we wanted to get there early to try and get a good spot in line so that hopefully we could make it to the rail. After running a few errands on the way like getting some gas and food we made it to the venue at 11:30ish. I was surprised to see there were already 12 people in line at that time. After parking and getting in line someone from the front of the line walked up to us and asked if she could write numbers on our hands to “help keep the line organized”. I have seen this done once before at a Foo Fighters show and it didn’t work at that show. This would prove to be the case again this time. I’ll come back to that in a minute. Let me also mention that after the box office opened, I walked up to ask a few questions. I wanted to know if there were any early entrance tickets available and I was told there weren’t. Then I was told that since everyone was going in the same time I didn’t need to fight anyone. I thought she was joking at first and I laughed and said no of course not. Then I asked just to confirm, so VIP doesn’t have early entrance either. And the lady told me, no that everyone would be going in at the same time so again there was no need to fight with anyone. I thought it was odd she said that to me again, but I just brushed it off. I then asked if I could buy a hard copy ticket as I prefer them over the digital ones. She tells me no, which was fine. I said thanks to her for all the information and as I started to walk away, she told me again. Don’t fight with anyone or that I would go to jail. At this point I was actually offended as I gave this lady no indication that I was there to cause any trouble. Though I didn’t say anything else to her I just walked away and got back in line. I think it was around 1:30 that more people started to show up behind us. Things were pretty chill for a couple of hours. Around 3:30ish the line was starting to get long and people were starting to cut the line, despite a lot of us having numbers on our hands. I had saw this coming though. Not to mention the girl who numbered us was not trying to manage the line at this point. There was nothing I could do about the people cutting in behind us nor was it my responsibility, but I did make sure that no one cut in front of us. There were quite a few people who tried. At 4:30 an hour before the doors they had the single line that we were in form into 3 sperate lines. Jess, my daughter and I all got in separate lines to better our odds of getting in quickly. At this point there were 3 people in front me. Jess and my daughter were a couple more people back. However, just after 5 they let us through the security check and had us reline up. We went from 3 lines to 5 or 6 lines where they were going to scan our tickets once they opened doors. When we got in these new lines I was in front of one and Jess and my daughter were in the front of another line. Once they opened the doors and scanned our tickets we were off. I managed to stay in front of everyone and I was first to the pit area where they had to check our tickets again and then wrist band us. I was through quickly and made my way to the rail where there was already some people from the VIP groups. I walked up to this couple and asked if I could squeeze in which they let me. I made enough room to hold a spot for Jess and my daughter. Who were still in line at the pit. They were having some issues with getting their tickets to rescan. Thankfully I was able to hold their spots until they got through. Once we established our spots my daughter left to get us all merch while we continued to hold her spot. A friend of mine who we had talked to for a brief time in line came up and stood behind us. We then helped hold his spot while he went to get us all drinks. Everyone made it back in plenty of time before the first band hit the stage.
The opening band was called Games We Play. I had never heard of them before. The band was made up of a drummer, bassist guitarist and 2 singers. That isn’t something you see very often. What was also interesting is that during their set Pete the bassist from Fall Out Boy was side stage as he watched them play. I thought they were good. They had a lot of energy and I think they were a good warm up band. The next band was called Royal & The Serpent. This was another band that I hadn’t heard of before. They had a much harder sound then the opening band. Their drummer who was almost right in front of us was entertaining to watch as he was really getting into playing. Toward the end of their set he had broken one of his drum sticks and he walked up and handed it to me. After their set was done Bring Me the Horizon was up next. I have seen them play at least 3 or 4 times. These guys always put on a great set. The last time I saw them was in Vegas at the When We Were Young festival. Though they were good as always, I was a little disappointed, they didn’t play Mantra. This was the song that got me into this band to begin with. Even though now I know more songs and enjoy them as well I was hoping to see them play Mantra this time, which they did. They of course played some of the other songs I also like such as Tear Drop, Happy Song, and Throne. I thought it was all and all a great set. The singer was very engaged with the crowd and even walked through the crowd at one point. After their set was over the couple who was next to us on the rail were getting ready to leave, as they only came for this band. Earlier we had talked to them and they agreed to give us their spots which was a little closer to the center of the stage. I guess they had also promised their spots to the people who were behind them. Well as they left it became a whole thing. The couple behind them tried to move up and we tried to move over. The guy started telling me how I was disrespecting him by getting close to his girl and blah blah something or another. I told him I was on the rail, and they were pushing up on us and they needed to back off. We exchanged a few words and one of them managed to get on the rail and we managed to move over about a foot. In that moment that’s all that was said between us but for the rest of the night they continued to run their mouth which we ignored until the end, which I’ll talk about more in a minute. Once Fall Out Boy came out, we were just focused on the band and the music. Pete came out with a flame thrower connected to his bass guitar. As if the crowd wasn’t already pumped up this really got everyone going. From there it was nonstop. The band played 28 songs which included a few cover songs. They of course also played several of their hits. I was only slightly disappointed they didn’t play Take Over the Breaks Over. This was the song that first got me into them. Even though as I said they put on a great set. They also changed up their stage set several times. At one point they had a person on stage controlling a huge dog head. Patrick the singer didn’t do much talking, if any at all. But Pete talked to the crowd several times. I also managed to get 2 picks from Pete. The first one he threw landed on the other side of the barrier out of everyone’s reach. The security guy who I had made friends with at the beginning ended up handing that one to me since I asked him earlier in the night. The other pick I got was at the end of the show. Pete was walking off stage and I yelled at him asking him for a pick. He grabbed a few that were on the mic stand and threw them all towards me. They all ended up on the other side of the rail as well. However, one of them was right in front of me, so I leaned over the rail and grabbed it. I think there was more but they were hard to find in all the confetti. As the crowd started to disperse the couple and their friend who was causing trouble may have said something or maybe I did. The next thing you know we are exchanging words again. I basically told him he was acting like a dick and at the end of the show he still ended up behind us with one his girlfriends friend on the rail. That was as far as that went then we all went our own way. On the drive home I did wonder if the lady from the box office had some psychic ability and knew there was going to be this confrontation or was she just being rude? I will never know. However, I do know that I had a great time at the show and hope that I get to see Fall Out Boy and Bring Me the Horizon again.
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