Even more Fall Out Boy - in Amsterdam!

Below: I actually went along to the meet and greet with selected lucky fans before the show in Amsterdam and all I had to take along for the band to get signed was my hotel keycard! I realized I'd given out all the photo prints I had to everyone else! ( I hid the name of the hotel in this pic, basically because Fall Out Boy were also staying there!)

A fan from the audience threw a mask onstage and Pete wore it for part of the show! He also returned to the stage for the encore wearing it.

How could I not want to return to Amsterdam for a show after having had such a great time seeing Velvet Revolver do their final show with Scott Weiland there back in April...?! It's one of my favourite cities and a very rock 'n' roll kind of place. As soon as Fall Out Boy announced the date at one of my favourite European venues, The Melkweg, I booked the flight and hotel.

I've always loved Amsterdam and have family in the Netherlands (my grandmother is Dutch), so whenever I'm back living in England I try and go back about twice a year. Two of my cousins moved to Amsterdam recently, so I met up with them for drinks the evening before Fall Out Boy played their last show of their short European tour at The Melkweg.

The Melkweg ( The Milky Way ) is a converted dairy and small concert venue in the centre of Amsterdam, right in the tourist friendly Leidesplein area of the city. There are two small concert halls within the venue, a club size capacity room and a much larger room where bigger bands play, but compared to the huge arenas Fall Out Boy played in the UK, seeing them perform at this small venue was a treat.

The full set of photos I took at the show will be on here:

http://www.falloutboyrock.com/

Go to the PHOTOS area and to FAN PHOTOS.

Fall Out Boy and Boys Like Girls at Glasgow SECC in Scotland

Stage backdrops for Fall Out Boy and Boys Like Girls.

Boys Like Girls lead vocalist Martin Johnson.

Martin Johnson and Bryan Donahue from Boys Like Girls onstage at Glasgow SECC.

Pete Wentz and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy onstage at Glasgow SECC. I love this shot, because Pete's shadow made it look cool!

Just how many more different hoodie designs can Pete come up with for the Clandestine clothing line? He seems to wear at least two or three new designs on every tour.

Pete, probably making a point that the new Fall Out Boy album Folie a Deux is out on December 16th, 2008!

Lion man! Believe it or not, it really is guitarist Joe Trohman hiding underneath all that hair!

Above: Bryan Donahue and John Keefe from Boys Like Girls onstage at Glasgow SECC.

Below: Vocalist Martin Johnson and bass player Bryan Donahue.

For video captures from this show, go to the YouTube page here:

www.youtube.com/sophiecalifornia

Fall Out Boy hadn't done any shows in the UK since the Reading and Leeds festivals in August 2007, so how could I possibly miss out on seeing one of my favourites acts while they were in the country...? On Tuesday October 21st, I flew to Glasgow in Scotland to see the second of three arena concerts that Fall Out Boy did while on their short stop in the UK to promote Folie a Deux, the long awaited follow-up to 2007 album Infinity On High.

Funnily enough, Folie a Deux is actually a reference to a psychotic disorder and is translated as "A madness shared by two", could this be anything to do with Pete Wentz's past manic depression and his surprise showbiz wedding to Ashlee Simpson...? Well, whatever it refers to, the new songs from the album have been worth the wait. Buy the album in stores from December 16th.


I e mailed the record label to request a photo pass, but they never even bothered responding, so I had to go with the flow and try my best to get some crap photos from in the crowd. Better than not even going to the show at all, of course! Besides loads of fans complaining that the meet and greet with the band before the show started was way too rushed, the performances from Fall Out Boy and Boys Like Girls were fantastic as always. I bought a new camera at the airport which has got me some quality shots, but the video quality is not as great, so the sound on the live captures I got of Fall Out Boy are rather crap unfortunately, but they're worth watching if you want good close-ups of Pete Wentz doing his usual talking to the audience and the band in action.

This Saturday, I am returning to Amsterdam for the second time this year, where Fall Out Boy will perform at the cosy Melkweg, a club size venue and considerably smaller and a lot better than Glasgow SECC! Hopefully any photos I take at the show will be much better and close-up. Watch this space!