Fall Out Boy, Academy, Glasgow

It’s been a little over five years since Fall Out Boy last graced a stage in Scotland, and if the queue outside Glasgow’s Academy early this morning is anything to go by that’s five years too long.

Regardless of Twenty One Pilots getting the audience sufficiently warmed up with their rock/rap mashup, it’s clear everyone is really here for the main event. As the lights dim, the crowd are already as wild as one would normally expect at the close of a show.

Blasting onto the stage with ‘Thriller’, there’s a wonderful mix of new and old - much like the crowd. It’s a little surprisingly to see just how many people who managed to scrabble for those few thousand tickets have never seen the band before - regardless the audience unites to sing everything from ‘Grand Theft Auto’ to ‘The Phoenix’.

New tracks do seem to garner an exceptionally positive response, with wild dancing to ‘Young Volcanoes’ and ‘woo-ooo-ing’ to ‘Death Valley’.

Wentz still breaks between songs with with his renowned monologues, but it’s Stump who steals the show. It’s remarkable to see how he has transformed from ‘mere singer’ to true frontman.

Playing for a solid hour plus, the band depart the stage, and almost immediately the traditional Glaswegian chants of ‘here we, here we, here we fucking go’ kick off. It’s barely two minutes before they make their quick return to the stage for a generous five-song encore. Unsurprisingly they close with ‘Saturday’, and unsurprisingly the crowd - to put it mildly, lose their shit.

Ladies and gentleman you better believe it: Fall Out Boy are definitely back.