Fall Out Boy Light Up Austin With Epic Set: Review and Photos

Fall Out Boy brought their So Much (for) Tour Dust trek to Austin’s Moody Center on Friday, delivering a career-spanning, 27-song set that alternated between era-defining hits and fan-favorite deep cuts.

You can see the full set list and Loudwire’s exclusive photos from the show below.

To describe Fall Out Boy’s performance as “fiery” would be the understatement of the year. Pyro cannons roared throughout the night, and Pete Wentz shot billowing flames from a bass rigged with a flamethrower. It was just one of a seemingly endless supply of production tricks used throughout the night, including smoke, confetti, bubbles, beach balls and the loudest and most frequent flash pots this reviewer has ever witnessed during one set.

Musically, the band was on fire too, playing their theatrical, arena-sized pop-punk smashes with a ferocity that betrayed their Chicago hardcore roots. This was especially apparent during a trio of songs off their 2003 debut Take This to Your Grave that appeared early in the set: the tour debut of “Homesick at Space Camp,” followed by “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy” and “Calm Before the Storm.”

The rapturous response from these and other deep cuts — such as Infinity on High’s “Bang the Doldrums” and 2004’s “It’s Not a Side Effect of the Cocaine, I Think It Must Be Love” — made it clear this was not an audience of fair-weather fans. They were along for the whole ride, be it covers of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” or The Munsters-sampling “Uma Thurman.”

Of course, the set list leaned most heavily on 2023’s So Much (for) Stardust, which Fall Out Boy are still supporting. The disco-rock thump of “Hold Me Like a Grudge” and the melodramatic power ballad “Heaven, Iowa” fit perfectly alongside established hits, and fans lit up the venue with pink and white cellphone lights during the new-wavey “Fake Out.” Wentz marveled at the sight, sounding just as sincere as he did during the rest of his stage banter.

“It’s pretty crazy to be playing these songs, specifically, in an arena in Austin in 2024,” he told the audience. The significance of his statement was twofold: Fall Out Boy’s enduring relevance and ability to pack huge venues is a rarity among modern rock bands, but their future also hung in the balance as the COVID-19 pandemic put the entire music industry on hold.

Wentz confessed he felt existential dread during those painfully slow, uncertain months, but he found refuge in making art and watching his fans do the same. “The shit you make is very fuckin’ important to me,” he told the audience.

The feeling was mutual.

Fall Out Boy, 3/8/24, Moody Center, Austin Set List

1. “Love From the Other Side”2. “The Phoenix”3. “Sugar, We’re Goin Down”4. “Uma Thurman”5. “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More ‘Touch Me'”6. “Homesick at Space Camp” (tour debut)7. “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”8. “Calm Before the Storm”9. “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race”10. “Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes”11. “Heaven, Iowa”12. “Bang the Doldrums”13. “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet”14. “Fake Out”15. “It’s Not a Side Effect of the Cocaine, I Think It Must Be Love” (live debut, partial)16. “What a Catch, Donnie” (partial)17. “Don’t Stop Me Now” (Queen cover, partial)18. “So Much (for) Stardust”19. “Baby Annihilation” (with “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” spoken-word snippet)20. “Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne cover, partial)21. “Dance, Dance”22. “Hold Me Like a Grudge”23. “Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?” (tour debut)24. “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up)”25. “Thnks fr th Mmrs”26. “Centuries”27. “Saturday”