With Fall Out Boy and Asher Roth
Haircuts rarely make for a concert highlight, but this one was different. “It’s the death of the emo haircut!” claimed Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, right after getting his signature asymmetrical ‘do shaved off by blink-182’s Mark Hoppus. Fun stuff, but as far as blink-182 stage antics go, it was fairly tame. The recently reunited pop-punk band has mostly shed its propensity for sex and fart jokes—now, Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker simply rock out to the hits, of which there were many: “What’s My Age Again?”, “Rock Show,” “Feeling This,” etc. Admittedly, we sort of miss the juvenile stage banter, but the band’s definitely tighter than ever. Plus, if the tour fails, a guest spot on “Shear Genius” is inevitable.
Fall Out Boy was a nice pairing—in Blink’s multi-year absence, FOB has created their own catalog of singalong classics, most of which (like Blink) transcend the “pop-punk” genre. As always, it’s the vocal chops of Patrick Stump that raise the band to new levels—hey, he even made a cover of “Don’t Stop Believin’” sound fresh again. Dance, dance, people. —Kirk Miller
