Lit 'em up, up, up: Fall Out Boy was fire for Pittsburgh fans

PITTSBURGH ― With bangers galore, set to fiery visuals, Fall Out Boy thoroughly entertained a nearly full PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.

Even before hitting the stage, Fall Out Boy lit up fans as the night's sound system pumped the pop-punk/alt-rock stalwarts' 2023 cover of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire," filling in historical references from the past 33 years, including a shout-out to Michael Keaton as "Batman."

The band started with fire, alright, as pyro blasts criss-crossed behind Andy Hurley's drum riser and the perches of Patrick Stump (vocals/rhythm guitar), Pete Wentz (bass) and Joe Trohman (lead guitar) for the set-launcher "Love From The Other Side."

Flames replaced fireworks as "Phoenix" arose next, followed by banger No. 1, "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" full of churning guitars while the tip of Wentz's bass guitar turning into a literal flame thrower.

An early Easter visitor − a 6-foot-tall bunny − roamed the stage, as the dance party ensued with "Uma Thurman" powered by Trohman's monstrous riffs lifted from TV's "The Munsters" theme.

Faux snow drifted down toward concertgoers in the front of the floor as Wentz paused a moment to say, "Thank you for trusting us to spend your evening with."

It's a trust built on a quarter century of reliability for a band that works hard and hasn't forgotten its roots.

Stump, later admitting he was pumped full of Dayquil and feeling like a cold was coming, rose to the occasion Wednesday. His vocals might have sounded punchier at the band's 2021 PNC Park performance and 2018 PPG Paints Arena show, though he persevered and pleased, even doing a challenging piano medley that began with a cover of "Heart Transplant" by Pittsburgh pop-punk peers Punchline. As he regularly does in Pittsburgh, Stump mentioned Punchline by name and recalled the days decades ago when they and Fall Out Boy shared the stage at the late Oakland neighborhood club Laga.

Though there were many fans in the crowd not old enough to remember those days, as evidenced by the hearty cheer that arose when Wentz asked how many spectators were seeing Fall Out Boy for the first time.

"Welcome," he politely said to them.

Old-school fans sang along without prompting to "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" and instinctively knew to pump a fist skyward each time the chorus came around for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race." A gigantic, realistic-looking Doberman pinscher head floating a bit above the stage even mouthed a round of the "it's a g.....n arms race" lyric. Wentz briefly climbed into the Dobie's fanged mouth for fun.

Not every visual gag worked. It seemed like a paltry number of inflatable bouncing balls were sprung on just the front rows of the audience for "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes."

Though the acoustic "Fake Out" featured a nice moment where fans followed instructions and held aloft pink shell-shaped stickers over their cellphone flashlights to create a pink lighting effect. Bet you'll see other bands copy that.

The overall sound in the arena was a bit muddier than two weeks ago for Bryan Adams, though there was a crispness and easy moments to latch onto hooks, like for the shirtless Hurley's drum whaps on "Bang The Doldrums," or the razor-sharp guitar shards Trohman unleashed during the band's cover of Blur's "Song 2," the former "Woo Hoo" goal celebration anthem at Pittsburgh Penguins games.

Wentz remembered his surroundings, remarking how Penguins hall-of-famer Mario Lemieux was one of his sports heroes.

Maybe he's got a thing for Harry Houdini, too, as Wentz pulled off a magic trick where he stood atop the piano, cloaked himself in a black blanket then suddenly disappeared. A minute or so later, he reappeared on an elevated riser in the back of the arena for "Dance, Dance," yet another banger with Stump hitting the high notes.

Fall Out Boy shined on the lightly disco 2023 track "Hold Me Like a Grudge," featuring Chic-like guitar strums from Trohman.

Guided by a kitschy Magic-8 Ball on the video screen, the band dug deeper for "The Music or The Misery," which setlistfm.com claims Fall Out Boy hadn't played live since 2006.

Skipping the traditional let's-leave-the-stage encore awkwardness, Fall Out Boy plowed ahead with a few more bangers. Wentz's bass shot fire again in the "Light 'em up" moments of "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark." The audience bopped and sang along with the brisk "Thnks fr th Mmrs" then basked in the rising vocal hooks of "Centuries."

Yes, thanks for the memories, Fall Out Boy.

Jimmy Eat World effectively handled the main support role, energizing the audience with an hour-long set of alt-rock.

The Arizona band's sound ranged from layered triple guitars and seat-rattling kick drum, to pop-punk flights and acoustic emo tunes that got cellphones waving in the air.

Jim Adkins sounded strong on lead vocals and guitar, joined by longtime bandmates Tom Linton on guitar and backing vocals, Rick Burch on bass and Zach Lind on drums, plus multi-instrumentalist Robin Vining.

The middle of Jimmy Eat World's 15-song set started to bog down. Maybe a cover tune or a less backloaded finish would have worked better.

But the band robustly hit the homestretch with a crowd-pleasing vigor, ending with the 2001 gem "The Middle," still as upbeat and melodically juicy as ever.

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Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Fall Out Boy and Jimmy Eat World please a PPG Paints Arena throng