Fall Out Boy, Islington Academy, London

There’s something really rather special about a huge band playing a tiny venue. Granted, the 800-cap Islington Academy is hardly the back room of a pub, but when the band in question are currently selling out a mammoth arena tour, it’s still pretty darn small. After their three year hiatus made swarms of people realise just how much they love them, Fall Out Boy step on to stage like deities. Dressed head to toe in black and wearing balaclavas, they launch head first into ‘The Phoenix’. It’s fast paced and urgent and utterly exhilarating - this is yet another signal that they’re well and truly back.

Ditching the garb and settling into something more familiar, the band reel off seminal classics like ‘I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me’ and ‘Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year’. It becomes clear that this band are something completely unique; their old material is heart-wrenchingly nostalgic and sentimental for everyone in this crowd, yet their new material is still rapturously received and genuinely adored.

When bass player Pete Wentz asks the crowd to help them ring in the intro to ‘Young Volcanoes’, the response is spine tingling. Despite its small size, the venue erupts with people who are still teenagers at heart. The eponymous track from new album ‘Save Rock And Roll’ serves as the encore and is a testament to the sheer vocal power and showmanship of frontman Patrick Stump.

Closing, as is tradition, with ‘Saturday’, bodies fly and pile on top of each other just to get close to the band that most here thought were lost forever.