REVIEW: FALL OUT BOY W/ BRING ME THE HORIZON 7/13 @SOMERSET AMPHITHEATER

By: Gwyneth Moe

When the gates to the venue opened at five pm on July 13th the excited concertgoers that flooded the amphitheater had no idea what was in store for them. 

Fall Out Boy and Bring Me The Horizon are both headliner worthy artists in their own genres, but on the So Much For (Tour) Dust, Bring Me The Horizon was the prelude. Despite the crowd consisting of a majority of Fall Out Boy fans, the overlap of interest in both artists was evident. Even if you weren’t a fan, Bring Me The Horizon did a great job of interacting with the entire crowd.

Somerset Amphitheater is no small venue. Being situated in a relatively isolated area in Wisconsin has its perks. With a general admission pit, seats and even a general admission lawn, the venue can hold over 20,000 concert goers. During their song “Drown” lead singer Oli Sykes exited the stage and proclaimed he was going to see how far he could venture into the venue. The answer to his question was that he saw the whole thing. He managed to run all the way past general admission and seats to the lawn behind. He did the whole loop before finally returning to the stage for their final song. 

Just as we were settling back in our seats and blankets on the lawn to wait for the final intermission before the main show, the weather decided it had other plans. Above us dark clouds had begun to approach in the sky surrounding the venue and then lightning struck. A collective groan seemed to run through all the concertgoers, as lightning only means one thing, trouble. Lightning is the bane of all outdoor event gatherings and this concert was not the exception. Following a few more bolts, it was announced over the speakers that we all should seek shelter in our vehicles and wait for reentry news on the venue’s social media. 

While flooding out of the venue, the storm grew overhead. Not many had made it to cover before the skies opened up and drenched everyone still searching for their cars in the field parking lot, and after thirty minutes of continuous lightning strikes no one had any hope left that the band would resume their set. Conversation topics shifted from “I wonder when the all-clear will be called?” to “Will it be canceled or rescheduled?”

After about an hour and a half had passed since the mandatory exit was called, I was ready to throw in the towel and start the three hour journey home. However, before I left the lot shouts of excitement and disbelief filled the air. 

At 10:19pm Somerset Amphitheater announced that doors were reopening and the show would go on! 

Rushing out of cars, everyone who had stuck out the wait convened at the entry gates. Murmurs of uncertainty and hope ran through the crowd. No one knew how the show would proceed until the tell-tale chords of “Love From The Other Side” began to play from inside the amphitheater. Fall Out Boy had started their set. The crowd still outside began to sing along with excitement. Luckily, the stream to reenter was fairly swift and soon everyone made it back in. 

The energy in the venue was unreal. Practically everyone who had stuck it out had thought they were fooling themselves. Many had already come to terms with the fact that the show would be canceled so to be able to see the band play at all exceeded their expectations. Everyone was up on their feet and screaming along. After the bands third song “Sugar We’re Goin Down” concluded, lead singer Patrick Stump announced that the set would be shorter but that they would keep playing songs until the last possible moment. They apologized for not being able to do all that they had originally planned for their performance, but I think we all got more than what was expected in that regard. 

Even though the rain limited what they could do in terms of stage set-up, Fall Out Boy still managed to change backdrops during songs and brought out their So Much For Stardust giant dog head that has graced the stage at every show this tour. Another point that they managed to keep in the set was their surprise song, which is announced in the form of a giant magic 8 ball. For this rainy show the song was Fame<Infamy from their 2007 album Infinity on High.

In their shortened set they opted for mainly their most popular or high energy songs, which is exactly what this crowd needed. The adrenaline of all the people combined with over an hour of restless waiting made them more energetic than ever. 

A moment that really speaks to the commitment of Fall Out Boy fans is the continuation of the fan project despite the interruption. People in seats had been given slips of pink paper to hold over their phone flashlights during the song “Fake Out”. Even though so many people had gotten poured on between exit and reentry, they had kept those papers dry, and the amphitheater was still filled with pink lights. 

With the noise curfew being somewhere around 11:30pm, Fall Out Boy managed to play for just over an hour with a setlist containing sixteen out of the twenty eight songs that were originally planned. 

Despite the rain cutting the original set short, Fall Out Boy managed to still put on an engaging and exciting show that made fans grateful that they’d decided to wait just a few more minutes.