Teenagers Run Amok in Camden

Okay, the title is a bit misleading but good lord, there were a lot of teenagers at the Fall Out Boy concert on Friday night at the Tweeter Center. I miscalculated the strong presence of junior high girls that would be at this concert. I knew there would be some, but I have to say the majority of this sold-out arena were 14-16 year old girls with shirts that said, "I dig guys in girl pants." Yes, I did do a double-take and yes, I did make my wife write the saying down so I could mention it in this post. Girl pants? What? If a boy wore girl pants when I was in junior high, he would have been ridiculed to eternity. The only other shirts I saw were the variety of Fall Out Boy shirts that were being sold at the merchandise table.

Audience aside, the music was pretty good. Like I said in the preview post, The Academy Is... was a definite standout. There were four opening bands: Paul Wall, +44, Cobra Starship and The Academy Is... Each of the bands had great energy. (How could you not when you are performing to thousands of screaming adolescent girls?) The front man of The Academy Is..., William Beckett, had the definite swagger of a rock star even though it was a bit effeminate and he was wearing tighter jeans than my wife. Maybe that's because he is a rock star. I don't know. It reminded me of early 80's rock stars but somehow it worked. Beckett's voice wasn't very strong, in fact he was slightly under pitch the entire set. No one seemed to care though. They sang the best of their songs but focused on their new material from Santi, their sophomore record. They ended their set with the crowd favorite, "We've Got a Big Mess On Our Hands."

Our tickets were in the pit so we had to stand the entire time. In between sets, we sat in the lobby and people-watched. Honestly, that was more entertaining than the concert. Watching teenage girls stand in never-ending lines to meet the bands was quite humorous. You could hear them saying, "OMG, I love their music. They are so hot. I can't believe we are going to meet them, like OMFG." Their parents stood there getting drunk so they could easily get through the next two hours of complete insanity. They all dropped hundreds of dollars for their daughters, who were displaying their newly-purchased Fall Out Boy purses, hats, shirts, buttons, underwear, etc... Marketing geniuses. There were a few twentysomethings there, but I think we all felt a bit out of place, even though Fall Out Boy's music is marketed to us as well.

Fall Out Boy's stage set-up was more elaborate than the previous four acts. The drummer was put on blocks thirty feet in the air, while the two guitarists could run around freely on the ramps and other blocks on the stage. (Their guitars were wirelessly amplified.) The lead singer, Patrick Stump, had a hat that covered his eyes and barely spoke to the crowd. His lack of personality was strange and off-putting, but Peter Wentz took center-stage, spouting all sorts of political jargon and lots of eff words. Perfect for a rock show. Stump's vocals were incredible. In today's market, it's very unusual for singers to actually sound better live than they do on the recording. Stump definitely sounded better live. With lights, fire, fireworks, and streamers, Fall Out Boy did their best to fill the huge arena with their larger-than-life music. It worked, but ultimately the crowd was more entertaining than they were.

All photos were taken by author