Joanna Hunkin was less than overwhelmed by Fall Out Boy at Auckland's Vector Arena last night
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You couldn't help but wince - and laugh a little - at the diehard fan who camped out at Vector Arena on Sunday night, determined to be front row at Monday night's Fall Out Boy show.
Unfortunately for said fan, they could have pitched up at 9.30 on the night - after the two American support acts Hey Monday and All American Rejects had played - and still have walked unimpeded to the front to stake a prime position.
Fall Out Boy have the dubious honour of drawing possibly the smallest crowd Vector Arena has seen in its two-year life.
A result of the recession? Perhaps. The Monday night showing? Maybe. But more likely, it's a sign that emo is finally on its way out.
If you trace three of the biggest emo acts to have toured New Zealand in the past 18 months (My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy) the numbers have steadily decreased with every outing, resulting in Monday night's show of less than 4,000 people.
Those that did come were probably too young to have seen the band on the earlier Kiwi visits and eagerly lapped up Pete Wentz's rambling sermons and show pony posturing.
Frontman Patrick Stump may be the real talent of the band - his dynamic voice easily gliding from a rumbling baritone to a shrill falsetto - but bassist Wentz has made himself the public face of the group. And as he strutted from one side of the stage to the other, a sound wave of screams followed his every step, rippling across the floor.
With five albums behind them, the band drew largely on their past three albums to make up the 90-minute set (of which nearly a third was Wentz preaching about all manner of nonsense), including Thanks for the Memories; A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me; This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race; The Take Over, the Break's Over.
Long-time fans of covering other people's hits, the band also played a mangled version of Estelle and Kanye West's American Boy and a rowdy version of Jacko's Beat It, from their latest album Folie a Deux.
Playing on a flat, bare stage, there was little in the way of bells and whistles, barring some flashing LED guitars during I Don't Care and extra timpani drums rolled in for Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes, played by members of the two support acts.
In fact, the most dramatic moment of the night came courtesy of a Kiwi mate of the band, trucked on stage to perform back flips from the drummer's platform. A gesture that went a long way to summing up Wentz and the band: All talk and not much action.
