After pop-punk mega group Fall Out Boy announced they were once again hitting the road for their latestlap of the Earth and its best arenas, fans scrambled for tickets to catch another glimpse of the band that once took up prime real estate on their iTunes playlists.
In support of their eighth studio album, So Much (For) Stardust, the band from a sleepy suburb north of Chicago embarked on a tour that has already taken them across North America and Europe, before heading off to South East Asia and Australia at the end of this year.
Thankfully, one of those stops was at Manchester’s very own AO Arena…
Having sold over nine million albums and counting, the American rock icons know a thing or two about how to sell out an arena, so as we entered the concourse the droves of early-arriving fans sheathed in black merchandise and brightly coloured hair comes as no surprise.
Fall Out Boy opened their AO Arena show with a bang. (Credit: The Manc Audio)
With Sunday pints at the ready, a sudden darkness triggers deafening screams from the congregation of both first-timers and day-oners who’ve waited five long years to sing their favourite emo anthems with the guys who first put them together.
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In a blaze of pyro and smoke, the foursome burst onto the stage with the energy of four teenagers after a wholesale crate of Red Bull, lifting the roof off the arena with their iconic, deafening sound. It’s like they haven’t aged a day.
Blatantly ignoring fire safety protocols, bassist Pete Wentz had strapped a flame thrower to the neck of his guitar and was sending plumes of fire into the sky at every possible opportunity.
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It doesn’t take long to pull out the big guns — no, not the aforementioned fiery guitar of death, but the hits we’ve come to know and love the band for over nearly two decades.
Never gets old.
Riveting performances of ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down’ and ‘Uma Thurman’ set the tempo early on in the show, with the raw harmony of the crowd taking over virtually every chorus they’ve practised in their cars over and over again.
Lighting up their 11th appearance in Manchester, the band continued to dig into the archives of their storied discography, giving fans both in the stands and fans in the mosh pits a mix of the big radio hits and some of the lesser-known tracks which separate the hardcore from everyone else.
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The set felt like a miniature Tomorrowland, with winking trees, oversized starfish, talking moons; a giant Doberman and even a mystic eight-ball looming high in the sky which Wentz used to determine which song would be next on the hit list — whether genuinely random or completely scripted, it was cool.
Frontman Patrick Stump then took a moment mid-set to give fans a piano rendition of everyone’s favourite power ballad, ‘Don’t Stop Believin”, which left some fans feeling like they were stuck in some Glee-based alternative reality or the final episode of The Sopranos (if you know, you know).
Fall Out Boy gave Mancs a bit of every flavour on Sunday night.
They even made time for a bit of magic, as Pete disappeared behind a black sheet and reappeared in the middle of the crowd to give floor-dwelling fans a close-up masterclass on bass, much to the delight of everyone in his immediate vicinity and those on his route back to the stage. These boys like pageantry.
Closing out an epic show, the guys go back to their roots with some classic Fall Out Boy, performing band favourite, ‘Saturday’, from their debut album, Take This to Your Grave.
It was an incredible way to end the weekend and, from the fans, a warm welcome back on a cold October evening. If only the clocks had gone back mid-performance, we could have gotten one more hour of Fall Out Boy smashing the AO Arena. Guess you can’t have it all — either way, what a show.
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‘Til next time, thanks for the memories. For instance, any excuse to relive the pleasure of seeing them at that very last-minute surprise Band on the Wall gig earlier this year too:
Government to introduce price cap on ticket touts and launch consultation on dynamic pricing
Danny Jones
The UK government are finally set to install a price cap on re-sale tickets for touts and open an official consultation on the growing trend of dynamic pricing.
If you’ve bought a ticket to a live music show over the past year or so, you’ll have noticed that ticket prices in general are on the up – particularly if purchased from a reseller, in which case you might have paid through the nose for the privilege.
Not only does ticket touting remain a prevailing problem in the industry, with tonnes of tickets for big shows, especially, being snapped up in bulk or by bots and listed for re-sale before you’ve even added them to your basket, but the advent of this new dynamic pricing lark has made things even harder.
You only have to look at the controversy and chaos surrounding Oasis’ reunion tour, which ultimately saw some fans paying significant amounts more for practically the same ticket just a few days later in what many dubbed as ‘fraud’ and even ’emotional blackmail’.
Justin Timberlake at Co-op Live Manchester was one of countless gigs where ticket prices fluctuated. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Tackling resellers head-on
Knowing full well that people will go to extreme lengths to try and see the musicians and artists they love so dearly – in some cases being backed into a corner as the final figure displayed on the screen when they checkout suddenly jumps up – the modern ticketing industry is severely broken.
With all that in mind, the government are now looking to enact more stringent measures on resellers, by announcing a new price cap on tickets put back up for sale which is set to be introduced (hopefully) in the very near future.
Targeting sites infamous for inflating re-sale costs such as Viagogo, StubHub and others, the bill published on Friday, 10 January proposes a price cap of face value plus 10-30% but no more, with an obvious aim to keep that number as low as possible.
According to the current figures, touts reportedly cost music fans alone more than £145 million in extra re-sale fees when purchasing tickets every year – a frankly ridiculous sum. There will always be tickets ending up on re-sale sites, that’s unavoidable, but a price cap could seriously improve the situation.
The Manc music legends themselves claim they had little control over the situation.
Down with dynamic pricing
Labour, who were voted into power back in July, are also set to try and combat dynamic prices, which essentially sees gigs and events set people back more or less depending on how the popular ticket sales have been up to that point, market trends and general demand. An initial review was called for last year.
Put simply, the more people want to attend a gig, platforms like Ticketmaster feel they are able to jack up their margins even after the initial price point has been established. The European Commission has been investigating these methods since September 2024.
Although it is still unclear as to the exact time scale of when these changes will come in, Labour MP Chris Bryant told NME that although they are still in the early stages, it is “now just a matter of how the government takes action.” And that’s where you come in.
The consultation is also crucially public, with the calling for people to submit their evidence on current pricing practices and continue engaging in the discussion throughout the progress. New Year’s Resolution: let’s curb ticket touts as much as we possibly can.
The AO Arena is giving away FREE tickets for a year to celebrate 30 years in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
The AO Arena has announced it’s giving away free tickets for a year to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Manchester.
The iconic music venue has welcomed the biggest names in the world in its three decades, with millions of us making memories for life inside its huge space.
And now you could win VIP tickets for an entire year, simply for sharing those memories with the AO Arena.
Fans who submit their old photos, videos and tickets will be in with a chance to win tickets to all the shows coming up in 2025 – which already includes massive gigs like Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry and Busted vs McFly.
AO Arena wants to dig deep into ‘first gig’ nostalgia territory, using fan-submitted snaps to build a collection of Manchester memories.
Were you in the same room as Taylor Swift, did you party like it was 1999 (because it was) with Spice Girls, did you cry over the sight of Gary Barlow or cry laughing with Peter Kay?
Britney Spears and Beyonce are among the names who have performed at AO Arena in its 30 year history. Credit: Supplied
Whatever your AO Arena memories are, you can share them before the end of the month to be entered into the competition to win VIP tickets for the year.
One overall winner picked at random will get the ultimate VIP experience, including access to a premium suite and The Beautiful North, as well as access to The Mezz with panoramic views of the main stage.
The 30th birthday campaign has been inspired by Adele’s monumental When We Were Young performance at Glastonbury, and all these memories will be projected around the arena before every performance.
You can submit your footage and enter the competition via the AO Arena website HERE.
The Manc Audio -
30th October 2023 
