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The Honda Civic tour this year featured Fall Out Boy as the headliner with opening acts Cobra Starship, The Academy Is..., Paul Wall and +44 (a band sprung from the ashes of Blink 182).
The show opened with Cobra Starship, who put on an amazing and energetic show. Lead singer, Gabe Saporta, was sure to involve the audience as he inducted new members into “The Church of Hot Addiction” and told how Cobra Starship wasn’t really ‘opening’ for Fall Out Boy, rather that they were ‘reverse headliners’ and Fall Out Boy was ‘closing’ for them. Though very few in the crowd recognized this brand new band, the energy and music was not lost on them. In fact, Cobra Starship may have gained many new fans that night. Cobra Starship’s music consists of upbeat, techno-style music with catchy hooks and interesting subject matter. Saporta introduced one number (“It’s Warmer In The Basement”) by explaining how he once had a girlfriend he didn’t want to share with anybody else, so he locked her in the basement.
Of course, Cobra Starship is infamous for making up stories. On the band’s website, the band’s bio explains how, after spending days in the arid, Arizona desert in order to overcome his existentialist woes, Gabe Saporta is bitten by a cobra and later wakes up to said cobra dabbing at his forehead with a moist towelette. The cobra then explains to Gabe that he is from the future and that he was sent to explain the armageddon to Gabe so that he can help mankind “go out in style”. He then tells Sapporta he must learn how to dance so he can teach the hipsters to stop taking themselves so seriously.
Cobra Starship’s debut album, “While The City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets” is a hip, upbeat mix of alternative, rock, techno, electronica and dance music, and the band definitely did not disappoint at the Target Center. It takes a great deal for a band to sound as great live as they do on their record, and Cobra Starship is definitely one of ‘those’ bands. They are steadily rising to the top after first being exposed on the soundtrack for the cult hit “Snakes on a Plane” with their song “Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)” which included William Beckett of The Academy Is..., Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes and Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds as well as Gabe Saporta.
The second band to perform was The Academy Is..., another band on Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance records with Cobra Starship and a band that is often associated with Fall Out Boy, due to the fact that the share the same fanbase. The Academy Is... recently released their sophomore album, “Santi” as a follow-up to last year’s “Almost Here” and performed a good mix of songs both old and new. Once again, there was an amazing energy onstage as William Beckett and co. performed. Though there was not as much crowd involvement from TAI as there was from Cobra Starship, William Beckett proved that he, as well as Saporta, was a brilliant singer both on the album and live onstage. It was a great feeling to see how grateful both bands seemed to those fans in the audience who knew them and knew their music in a sea of people where most were only there to see the headliners. They made sure to thank their fans, and made a point of meeting people outside after they left the stage. Even when several crazy girls were throwing themselves at William Beckett, and security tried to remove him from the room, he made sure that the fans knew they were appreciated.
Following The Academy Is... was rapper Paul Wall, which had many in the Target Center scratching their heads. After a million plugs for his new record and songs even less people knew than those from Cobra and TAI, Paul Wall gave away a grill (the kind for your teeth, not the one you barbeque on) to someone in the front row, and then proceeded to cover the song “Grill”, made famous by Nelly, which was the only time during the show that the crowd was actually interested in him.
The band +44 was formed after the 2005 breakup of Blink 182. Formed by singer/bass player, Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker, +44 also gained new members Craig Fairbaugh and Shane Gallagher on guitar. When this group took the stage, the Target Center errupted. After playing many new songs, which the crowd ate up, +44 started into the old Blink 182 classic, “What’s My Age Again?”. It was the first time since the breakup of Blink that the song had been played onstage, and the audience welcomed it with open arms and endless cheers. They finished their set with the song “Make You Smile” and keytarist Victoria Asher of Cobra Starship came out to join them.
Whether or not you enjoy the new music from +44, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker deserve the utmost respect, and it was an honor just to be in the same room as them. Without bands like Blink 182, bands like Fall Out Boy would not even exist.
The lights went low and the introduction for Fall Out Boy began as several screens began to light up on the wall behind the stage. Pictures flashed across the screens in quick succession, symbols of Fall Out Boy’s success. Included were things from their previous albums and their new album, the logo for bassist Pete Wentz’s clothing line, the cartoon characters from one of their music videos, pictures of the band members themselves and even Wentz’s bulldog, Hemingway, as music played in the background. At the end of the intro, all four band members popped up from under the stage with a sound like gunfire, landing on their feet and breaking into their first song, “Thriller” (named after the huge Michael Jackson hit).
The boys then proceeded to put on an amazing show complete with video interludes and costume changes. Their energy was infectious, and the contact they had with the crowd was outstanding. Pete Wentz made every person in the crowd feel like they were the only one in the room at least once, and though he was not the best at holding still for pictures, guitarist Joe Trohman, made up for it.
Though it is obvious to most that Fall Out Boy is bursting with talented musicians, their show at the Target Center proved it to all the naysayers. Patrick Stump, the vocalist, had an amazing stage presence, despite his blatant shyness. He barely opened his mouth if not to sing (speaking, perhaps, once when asked a question by bassist Wentz), but everyone could tell the twenty-three year old has grown both in vocal style and strength since the release of their first album when Stump was just barely out of high school. It was almost as if he had been holding back on the other albums and he was now comfortable enough to let loose onstage.
Someone who had no trouble whatsoever with stage fright, it seems, is bassist Pete Wentz, the self-proclaimed spokesman of Fall Out Boy, and the member who is most easily recognized. Wentz made a habit of talking to the crowd between songs, treating everyone like friends instead of fans. He explained how he had deep roots in Minnesota, having come here for camp when he was younger. This, of course, pleased the crowd even more. Wentz is known for his depressing blog entries and emotional, deep lyrics, but seeing him on the stage, you would have never guessed he had attempted suicide in the last year. He looked comfortable, at home and content in front of the audience, playing his heart out and feeding off the energy they threw back at him.
As the show in Minnesota was only their fourth or fifth tour stop, it was expected that not everything would be working as well as it could be. It was very obvious that the band was not totally on their game with some of the newer songs. There were missed cues and lyrics, and some technical difficulites, and some things that only hardcore fans would notice went wrong. The night went smoothly most of the time, despite the small mistakes, and any problem they had was made up for when drummer Andy Hurley took the stage for an intense drum solo. By the last song, “Saturday” the crowd was exhausted, but sad to see the show end. “Saturday” has been the traditional closer for Fall Out Boy since their first tour, and it is custom for them to invite everyone in the seats onto the floor for this number, despite angry venue security. Never before was the song done as well as on the Honda Civic Tour. As the song neared it’s close, small pieces of silver confetti began pouring from the ceiling, giving the illusion that it could have been snowing inside the Target Center. As the lights came up and the last strains of the song echoed throughout the venue, the confetti continued to fall, coating the floor and leaving the fans to scramble to collect some for themselves as a lasting memory of an amazing night. The fans emptied out of the Target Center and headed home, but nobody could forget what they had just experienced, and they were left satisfied, yet wanting more at the same time.
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