Pop punk extravagants, Fall Out Boy have been filling the UK’s arenas recently, so we sent Andy Parker down to hang out with hordes of screaming girls. He eventually manages to get over his issues with the Chicago emos…

Fall Out Boy have several issues in my mind. The first is that they have an attractive bass player with an equally hot celeb wife. The second is that they play incredibly catchy and well-structured rock songs.

The latter may seem a strange thing to put a band down for. But when you are trying so hard to dislike someone, (because they’re talented, one of the biggest grossing bands of the last 2 years, and yes there is that cute bassist – envy, I believe) it’s impossible to not get swept up in the swirly performance that they provide.

Everything that you want is there. The set starts with an explosive pyrotechnics show with flames and blistering heat from across the length and breadth of the stage, before crashing into crowd favourite ‘Thriller’, the lead track from 2007’s Infinity on High.

From there on in, everything goes into hyper drive. A few comments from bassist Pete Wentz, requesting people to not throw their glow sticks at the band gets an obvious response as a flurry of green and pink globs hurtle towards him. He takes it in his stride and carries on. These are true pros who no doubt have dealt with plenty a tempestuous European festival crowd and know how to take as much as they give.

What makes the show are their die-hard fans. There are girls crushed on the front barrier who not only camped outside the venue overnight in near freezing temperatures on a windy Brighton seafront, but also paid an additional £100 to get into the venue 10 minutes before everyone else! Why? Because they feel it matters to the band. And if it does they certainly thank them tenfold as they career through a setlist that reads like the definitive Top 20 of this century.

Like them or loathe them, FOB (that’s what the cool kids call them) are an immensely talented group of individuals who write bloody good rock tunes.

Fall Out Boy @ Brighton Centre photos by Andy Parker