A little over two years ago, Fall Out Boy released their eighth studio album, So Much (for) Stardust. Since then, the band has been on a whirlwind of three back-to-back tours. Along the way, there have been some truly extraordinary moments.
They tested the waters with the first tour, So Much for (Tour)dust, creating a stage show unlike anything they’d done before. While previous tours relied primarily on large screens projecting a series of fantastic images, the staging for Fall Out Boy’s summer 2023 tour emphasized the physical, bringing the show to life in a visceral way (just imagine a 10-foot version of the doberman from the cover of Stardust, inflating rapidly before your eyes).
At the opening show of Tourdust at Wrigley Field, Fall Out Boy debuted the Magic 8 Ball — an admittedly goofy bit where Pete Wentz asks a few yes or no questions to a virtual magic 8 ball on a screen behind him, leading up to a surprise song. I don’t think Fall Out Boy or their fans anticipated what a game changer this silly bit would end up being, or the ripple effects it would create. From the first unexpected notes of “G.I.N.A.S.F.S.”, a fan favorite b-side from their 2007 album Infinity on High, fans could tell that this tour represented a complete vibe shift.
Up until this point, Fall Out Boy had been a band that played the same set every night of a tour, putting on an incredible, energetic show that was remarkably consistent. Something about shaking up their setlist like a snowglobe seemed to awaken a new energy both within the band and their fanbase.
Throughout the summer, as Fall Out Boy played amphitheatres and a few iconic stadiums across the US, the Magic 8 Ball segment continued to be highly anticipated, causing a frenzy among both the fans attending each show and those watching live streams while tweeting along from home. Not only did they continue to play beloved b-sides and deep cuts, they also brought out special guests, including William Beckett of The Academy Is… and Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes.
Finally, on the last night of the tour in Camden, New Jersey, fans’ excitement reached a fever pitch. We had heard rumors that Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship might be making an appearance, but for diehards in the audience, we got something even better instead. As the 8 Ball appeared on screen, Pete said something about a friend whose flight got delayed and wasn’t able to attend the show after all. He then shifted gears and began talking about collectors’ items, “It’s like a holy grail…I’m not sure it exists, but I think there’s a one of one out there somewhere and I want it.” He then turned to the Magic 8 Ball and said, “Should we play the fucking holy grail?” It was at that moment I knew they were about to play a song no one ever expected them to play, one that was never even recorded with the full band, but a demo released on limited edition CDs of Folie á Deux in 2008. Standing at the barricade as the stage lights went down, I said excitedly, and perhaps a little too loudly, “Pavlove??” and I swear Patrick Stump gave me the slightest smile and nod just before launching into the opening notes.
After a short break, Fall Out Boy continued with the second leg of their tour, appropriately named So Much for (2our)dust, in March 2024. For this arena tour, they maintained most of the same staging from leg one, only adding a new background and characters for the song “Uma Thurman”, replacing an underwater jellyfish scene with a fever-dream desert scene featuring a snail puppet and a dancing man in a bunny costume who threw stuffed carrots into the crowd (a year later, I’m still pondering the symbolism of this).
During this tour, Fall Out Boy continued to up the ante, not only with the Magic 8 Ball, but changing up entire segments of the setlist. One of the most surprising sets came at Madison Square Garden, which we later learned was being recorded professionally to be released on Veeps. Early on in the set, they mixed things up by playing deep cuts like “XO” off 2005’s From Under the Cork Tree and “Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things To Do Today” from their debut album Take This to Your Grave. At that point, we knew the show was off the rails in the best possible way.
Later, after a heartfelt speech about overcoming the imposter syndrome he felt since he was a kid, Patrick played the theme song of “Spidey and His Amazing Friends”, a children’s show for which he scores and writes the soundtrack. He also brought out DCD2 darlings Daisy Grenade to perform a stunning rendition of “Just One Yesterday”. To round out the set, they gave us a double whammy of an 8 Ball: the live debut of “Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part To Save The Scene And Stop Going To Shows)” and a surprise appearance by William Beckett to perform his band’s 2005 emo hit “Slow Down” alongside Fall Out Boy.
As unbelievable as the MSG setlist was, it soon became clear that this was just a warm-up for the final show of the tour in Minneapolis. Even before arriving at the Magic 8 Ball portion of the evening, Patrick used the medley section of the setlist to deal an emotional blow to the audience, just as he’d done many times throughout both legs of the tour. Patrick’s medley time was a segment originally suggested by Pete — the rest of the band would take a break while Patrick played a few clips of any songs he chose, usually on piano but occasionally on the acoustic guitar. Initially hesitant, even comparing the medley to one of the stunts Pete had instigated in the past (like shooting themselves out of a stadium floor), Patrick clearly grew more comfortable being alone on stage and improvising as the tour went on.
Back in March, Patrick mentioned in an interview that a fan had asked him about the meaning of the numbers in “7-9 Legendary”, a leaked demo from the Folie era. He revealed that the numbers are actually the date that the song was recorded, part of the file format Neal Avron, Fall Out Boy’s long-time producer, had used to save the recording. Ordinarily, a random comment in an interview like this wouldn’t be a big deal, but because of everything Fall Out Boy had been up to, it raised suspicions from some eagle-eyed fans that maybe, just maybe, they would play this song live. So, back to the medley segment in Minneapolis—rather than sitting down at his piano, Patrick picked up his acoustic guitar, and the audience knew we were in for a treat. When he said, “I don’t know if anyone’s going to know this song. I don’t know if I’m going to know it. I had to do some deep Googling to find it,” we knew we were about to have our minds blown. The really special thing about Patrick playing “7-9 Legendary” is that even though he may have forgotten writing that song, one fan reminded him, encouraging him to search the depths of YouTube to rediscover it. And he knew that even if only a few people knew the words to that song, it would mean the absolute world to those few. I like to think that these two tours are the ones that made Patrick a fan of his own band, and that those of us who showed up and screamed the words to every deep cut and unreleased demo maybe played a small part in that.
In fact, I believe 2ourdust as a whole, but especially the setlist in Minneapolis, was a love letter to diehard fans. Before Patrick’s medley, Justin Courtney Pierre came out to perform the same backing vocals he does on the album version of “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago”, which felt like such a special way to honor their 20-year-old debut record. Later on, Fall Out Boy would go on to play a whopping six surprise songs in a row: “Honorable Mention”, “Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying”, “The Carpal Tunnel of Love”, “Rat a Tat” (with CARR performing Courtney Love’s parts), “The Kids Aren’t Alright”, and “Wilson (Expensive Mistakes)”. These six songs spanned their entire discography, featuring songs from almost every album, including some major fan favorites. What’s more, the first 8-ball song of the night was from their first EP, Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, which they haven’t played live, and have barely acknowledged, in over a decade.
There’s a reason fans dubbed the first two tour legs of this era “the healing tour of all time.” Fall Out Boy dusted off songs that they haven’t played in 10 years or more, and performed many songs live for the first time ever. Each show felt unique, audiences waiting with baited breath to see what surprises their favorite band had in store for them. It felt reciprocal, the energy from the audience sustaining the band and vice versa. In the same interview where Patrick referenced “7-9 Legendary”, he noted that fans’ reactions to the 8-ball songs encouraged him and the rest of the band to continue changing up the setlist and delivering more intense surprises. They truly seemed happier on stage than they had in a long time, playing these songs that represented something else, maybe something heavier, to them when they were younger, but taking on a new life years later — playing to grateful and excited fans who themselves had used the same songs to heal some of the pain from the past.
More recently, Fall Out Boy has created a new stage show for the festivals they’ve been playing since the summer of 2024: Days of Fall Out Past. Building upon the previous two tours, this show is a spectacular celebration of everything this band has created and shared with us over their 22-year career. It’s not nostalgia bait — something FOB has repeatedly refused to engage in – it’s so much more than that. Days of Fall Out Past is about honoring their legacy as a band. It’s their version of the Eras Tour. The setlist is broken up into eight distinct segments, each representing one of their albums. The imagery and staging changes every few songs to align with the theming of each album — rather than a giant inflatable doberman, we see a giant version of the bears from the cover of Folie a Deux, springing to life in front of us. There’s a new and improved Franklin, the flying sheep from Infinity on High, who is attached to a harness and flies above the stage during “Thnks fr th Mmrs”. And of course, the magic 8-ball has stuck around. There are more surprises, but it’s better if you see them for yourself. Days of Fall Out Past continues at festivals across the US and internationally throughout this spring and summer. See you in the pit!
Check out our favorite (Tour)Dust and (2our)Dust photos below!
