This Is Why Fall Out Boy’s Return To Manila Is A Nostalgia Trip Well Worth Revisiting — Review

Nostalgia is a beautiful thing, it can bring us back to the people we used to be and places that no longer exist while also forging new connections —more so when brought together with music. And that’s something that Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Andy Hurley, and Joe Trohman have managed to do time and time again with Fall Out Boy. 

With a band like Fall Out Boy, their presence in the music scene has constantly stood out for two decades, reaching a multitude of fans from different generations — evident from the crowd they drew in at their highly anticipated return to Manila last December 9. Whether it was during their emo phase in high school or having it passed down from their parents, everyone at Araneta Coliseum that night had their own story with Fall Out Boy and the impact the group has had in their lives.

For 23-year-old Emily, Fall Out Boy has been a mainstay in her life since 2013. She tells Billboard Philippines that her favorite song from the group (and of all time) is the opening track to Folie à Deux, “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes“. “It’s a huge part of such an important phase of my identity, and parang it’s been a phase for so many people too,” explains Emily, who was joined by her longtime boyfriend, Rico, at the front of the stage.

Rico even adds, “Music is such a big part of our relationship, and our mutual love for Fall Out Boy [as our favorite band of all time] brought us closer together, so in a way, it’s what brought us to this point of our relationship.”

Beside them was mother-and-daughter duo, Reina and Thyra Bernabe. “Gosh, I’ve been a fan since the beginning [of the band], and I was also at the front of the crowd when I watched their first show in the country nung 2007”, Reina says. Pointing to her daughter Thyra, Reina even laughs and says: “Since she was 3 years old, she grew up listening to Fall Out Boy in the car because those were the CDs I would play when driving her to school.”

Thyra, now in her early years of college, looks back at such memories with fondness. “Their old songs are timeless, and that’s something I have loved about listening to them throughout the years. But since then, they’ve only managed to kind of grow and evolve from there”, she adds.

Filipino audiences have been eagerly waiting for Fall Out Boy to come back; the packed venue had been waiting ten years for their return and this was it. In the minutes leading up to the show, as the lights dimmed down, it was all excited shrills and heavy anticipation.

As the first few notes to “Love from the Other Side” began to play, the frenzied reaction from the crowd had people screaming in excitement and disbelief — Fall Out Boy are here. With the energy of the audience from all sections of the Coliseum so palpable, members Stump and Wentz greeted the crowd: “How’s it going Manila? It’s been a while.”

Following their heated performance of “The Phoenix” (featuring a splendid array of on-stage pyrotechnics), the band turned the energy up a notch with the crowd favorite “Sugar We’re Goin Down.” While the song played, every single member of the audience –– from the front of the mosh pit to the seated section behind the tech booth –– was singing along to every lyric of the song, with word-per-word accuracy. At that moment, everything was so kinetic and wild, yet you could clearly see the smiles of Stump, Wentz, Hurley, and Trohman as they performed every note of the song with fervor.

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Unsurprisingly, their succeeding performances of fan favorites like “Uma Thurman”, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race”, and “Bang The Doldrums” were just as well-received as their Side B tracks, showcasing just how dedicated the crowd was with following the flow of the show. After their stellar performance of “Fake Out”, Wentz noted: “Wow. You guys are f*cking amazing. You’re probably the loudest crowd that we’ve had throughout this tour.” He even added, “It feels good. Sorry, it took 10 years to get here!”

As Stump prepared himself for his solo piano performance of “What A Catch, Donnie” and “Golden”, he interspersed a few words directed to the audience, stating “It’s so good to see everybody again. We missed the Philippines.”

“A lot of you probably know that I married to a Filipino family. I even got a Barong”, he joked to the crowd. Expressing his gratitude to the crowd, he further added “It means a lot to me to be here, and it’s amazing. You guys are easily the best audience in this entire tour,” he continued, to which the crowd responded to with a rapturous roar that made him laugh. 

Upon playing a few notes on the piano which marked the beginning of “Save Rock and Roll”, Stump invited the other members of the band back on stage to perform an intimate and emotional rendition of the song. With the mood so ambient, the audience switched on their flashlights to sway along with the track, making it a key moment of the show to those in attendance. Even in the bits of my memory, it’s become something that I’ll cherish as one of the best moments in any live show I’ve gotten to witness.

Their spectacular performance of “Hold Me Like A Grudge” and ‘randomized’ Magic-8 ball performance of “Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year” lifted the crowd’s energy back to full spirits. The responsiveness of the fans reached a surprising all-time high in the show’s final four-track run. “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light ‘Em Up)” amped up the earlier use of pyrotechnics to an even more impressive level, while “Thanks fr th Mmrs” brought out everyone’s inner emo-kid as if it was 2007 all over again. 

With the 2015 chart-topper “Centuries”, the whole venue ended up clapping along to the beat of the song as they chanted the lyrics in coordination with Stump’s vocals, while the group’s final performance of the night “Saturday” had OG fans of the group screaming in delight. Making things even more exciting, Wentz even dropped down from the stage — looking like an alt-punk deity reaching out to audiences at the front of the mosh pit.

As the show eventually concluded, audiences in the crowd (and myself) were left absolutely breathless and without any semblance of a voice. Even as she screamed her heart out, crowd member (and 3rd-year medical student) Asia exclaimed how grateful she was to have witnessed the band live this time around. “When I was in grade school, I used to listen to them and watch their music videos all the time with my friends during dismissal time,” she says.

Adding further, Asia even mentions how sad she was to have missed their 2013 show. “I remember my dad promising to give me tickets to the show as a gift, but it just sold out too fast, and that made me really sad”, she recalls. Yet luckily, here she is, living her dreams along with thousands of other fans who have had the same, if not similar, experiences.

If there’s one thing this show has proven, it’s that all these years later, Fall Out Boy is still at the top of their game. This extends far and beyond their immense and incomparable talents as rock stars, as their music’s long-standing resonance here in the Philippines and the rest of the world stays strong no matter how many decades have passed. With every memory and personal anecdote that people have to their craft, it’s gone beyond the power of both music and nostalgia — and instead has become fully ingrained into a significant part of the cultural identity of their audience.

Without a doubt, on the inevitable day that Fall Out Boy chooses to return to the Philippines, the same crowd (and perhaps with more people added) will still be here waiting for them. With a once-in-a-lifetime alt-rock band such as them, they’re on the right track to becoming a timeless class act whose legacy will be looked upon with warmth.