Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
The first timeFall Out Boyheadlined the Chicago rock club Metro couldve been the last.
That was the biggest show we could imagine playing, says Patrick Stump, the bands singer and guitarist.
This is your one shot.
This time would have to be different.
We were like, How do we get some production?
says Wentz, also the bands unofficial creative director.
And we couldnt really afford anything.But bach party props?
So we had these giant inflatables, Wentz continues, and they were penis-shaped.
Taller than the whole (famously short) band, in fact.
One reached Wentzs mom; another whacked Stumps grandmother.
This is actually insane, Wentz remembers thinking.
(One reason to love Metro: It books all-ages shows.)
to Chance the Rapper.
They played like it was a basement show, just thrashing off of walls, he says.
It blew my mind that you could do that at Metro.
Its the old songs that give the band trouble Im too old for this shit!
Hurley yells after a take of 2003s Calm Before the Storm, which Stump fumbles the lyrics to.
And 2007sInfinity on Highonlyincreased their stardom.
We figured out how to exist somehow, but were like,mmm, kind of existing.
It was me goofing around with what you could do to mangle sound waves, Stump says.
If Fall Out Boy wished to make a return to 2000s form, nows the time to strike.
Even Olivia Rodrigo got a pop-punk song to No.
1, with good 4 u.
But forStardust, nobody involved wanted a return to Avron to mean a return to that classic sound.
Wentz soon sawStardustas a chance to give up worrying about where they fell between pop and rock.
Thats the attempt, at least, with this record.
But more notably,Stardusthas some of the bands most unabashed rock music in at least a decade.
Nearly every hand went up, Stump remembers.
It knocked me back like,Oh, you have to listen to that.
It worked, becoming the first No.
1 on the alternative charts of their career.
Were a generation and a half away fromLeave It to Beaver, where youre just like, Everythings normal.
Trohman is, however, stillinthe band.
Im like, No, no, no.
Hes exactly as much a part of it as any of us.
Wentz had been thinking about the sustainability of the band as much as Trohman; it shows onStardust.
Wentz is dump the end of the band isnt on the horizon, even as early peers likePanic!
At the Disco hang it up.
But more than ever, he wants to verify they have no regrets.
We approach everything, I think, like,We are giving it our absolute all.
Were not planning on going to overtime, he says.
It felt exactly like this.
Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
