On September 16th, I went to the Fall Out Boy MANIA Tour concert at the Amway Center in Orlando. My friend and I were sitting in front of three girls who couldn’t have been older than 13, and they were all there with one of their moms. I found myself reminiscing about the first Fall Out Boy concert I went to: I was 15, and I went with my own mom. Now, imagine the person you were at 15. I bet they’re completely different from who you are now. When I was 15, I had never dyed my hair and I wanted to become a Broadway actress. Things really have changed since then. My hair has now been at least three different colors, and I gave up on my Broadway dreams a long time ago (you know, when I realized I couldn’t actually sing).
People change a lot over the years, and that’s totally okay. Growth and change are a part of life. If we never changed, we’d get bored of each other pretty quickly. One thing that hasn’t changed since I was 15, however, is my love for Fall Out Boy. I discovered them in sixth grade and devoured their entire discography. A few years went by, and I found out they were going to be touring with Paramore, my other favorite band at the time. My mom got tickets and we went to the concert together. I thought she would hate them, but she actually had a great time, even if Pete Wentz tends to swear quite a bit.
Looking back, I was probably embarrassed to be at a concert with my mom, but I wouldn’t have traded that experience for the world. I’ve changed a lot since that concert, and Fall Out Boy has too. They’ve done a lot of things with their music and image that are different from what people typically expect from them. A lot of fans go around saying that “their old stuff is better.” I think that’s a ridiculous thing to complain about. How can you call yourself a fan if you don’t want to see them succeed? Like I said earlier, change is a normal part of life. We change, our friends change, even our favorite bands change.
At the MANIA Tour, I sang, I danced, and I may have even cried a little (What can I say? “The Last of the Real Ones” gets me every time.) It was an amazing night that I’ll never forget and I’m glad I had another opportunity to see them live. I know 15-year-old me would be so excited to find out that I’m still a Fall Out Boy fan after all this time.
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