This past Monday in Madison, WI, we attended the Fall Out Boy concert featuring special guest Clinton Sparks. The concert was part of the Yahoo! On The Road free tour, which is visiting 27 cities with 20 music acts and 10 comedians. Going into the show, we were fairly perplexed by the artist pairing, but it turned out quite refreshing having the variety of the two contrasting acts. It was like eating a serving of sushi for dinner and then having a serving of steak–freaking awesome! We have to give a big RTM shoutout to the Yahoo! On The Road team for organizing and throwing such a well-organized and incredibly successful event.

When we arrived at the theatre (about ten minutes prior to the doors opening), the line to enter the venue stretched to the end of the block and wrapped around the corner. The crowd appeared to be fairly younger, late teens to early twenties, and it was noticeable that they were there mainly to see Fall Out Boy. However, Clinton Sparks was the perfect offset act to energize the crowd while simultaneously providing a non-alternative/punk rock experience. The diehard Fall Out Boy fans were slightly slow to embrace Clinton Sparks, until he dropped one of the few tracks that could rouse almost anyone in Madison from youth to alum to student to bum–a remix of House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” After that, the crowd warmed up and Clinton unveiled an exclusive preview of his collaboration with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis which is set to drop in the next few weeks.

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Following Clinton Sparks, Fall Out Boy took the stage with an uproar of applause. Even without having had an album release in five years, these guys were not forgotten by their fans, not even slightly. It was really neat seeing the dedication and appreciation of their fanbase, and the band reflected the same feelings back to their fans. We were really impressed at how amazing Fall Out Boy sounded live. They were as on key live as they are on all their recordings. The song selection was great–the band played basically an even mix of new and old songs–ranging from tracks off their new album Save Rock And Roll such as “The Phoenix” and “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” to their “classic” hits “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” and “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy.” Check out a very crude video of “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” below.  The 2006 high school senior in us was beside himself.

This Yahoo! On The Road tour is absolutely amazing. Please try to check out a show near you. The remaining tour dates have ridiculous lineups, including acts by Imagine Dragons & Owl City (happening tonight, 5/15 in St. Louis, MO), The Lumineers, Dispatch, Fun., Empire of the Sun, John Legend, Gossip, Nick Rutherford, DJ Michelle Pesce, and many more.

View the complete tour schedule and details.