An impressive 71,321 fans braved the cold rain to witness Fall Out Boy’s debut rodeo performance on March 8. Since Fall Out Boy’s roots are in Chicago, the foursome had never seen anything quite like a Houston Rodeo, complete with Bull Riding, Barrel Racing, fried everything and the famous Calf Scramble.

The band’s bassist, Pete Wentz, joked at the beginning of the performance,  “We have been coming to Houston for a long time but, we have to say that this is literally our first rodeo. Mutton Busting is pretty awesome.” Wentz later added, “What should we be trying? Deep fried what? Deep fried Oreo? Deep fried beer? Is that a thing?” All joking aside the boys performed a truly memorable performance.

Fall Out Boy hit the stage with the adrenaline filled single from Save Rock and Roll, The Phoenix. The strong guitar chords and powerful vocals were the perfect way to pump up the crowd.

Patrick Stump, the lead singer, gave an astoundingly impressive performance. Most artists cannot live up to their voices on their albums because of musical supports such as auto-tune. However, that was not the case with Stump’s performance. The high notes in My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark came out almost effortlessly.

I was extremely pleased when they began to perform some of the older songs, paying tribute to their punk/rock and roll roots. In fact, Fall Out Boy ended up playing at least one song from each of their six studio albums. Some of the songs included Dance Dance, Young Volcanoes, This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race, American Beauty/American Psycho, Grand Theft Autumn/Where is Your Boy, A Little Less Sixteen Candles A little More Touch Me, My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, Centuries, and Uma Thurman.

While the music was great, the show lacked intimacy. Because the stage is completely separated and off-limits to the fans, there is an awkward space between the stage and the fans’ seating area. Also, the Houston Rodeo stage is a small spinning platform that only allots a small amount of time for each section of the crowd to look at the band in person. This causes fans to opt to looking at the huge screens right above the stage that zoom in on the musicians as opposed to actually observing and enjoying the band in person. The spinning stage definitely takes away from the overall enjoyment of the show but despite all of the problems, Fall Out Boy is not at fault for any of them, as all of them are just the way the Rodeo sets up for all of its’ performers and concerts.

It was truly heart warming when they played what some might argue to be their most famous song, Sugar We’re Going Down. Stump sung strongly, but the audience sang stronger. The whole arena filled with the voices of fans, singing, “We’re going down down in an earlier round, and sugar we’re going down swinging. I’ll be your number one with a bullet; a loaded god complex cock it and pull it,” As many music lovers know, one of the best parts of a concert is hearing all of the fans sing together the lyrics that you hold so dearly in your heart. Despite the differences and diversities of the fans, they are all united by a common love for Fall Out Boy. It was truly a magical moment.

Crowd favorite Thanks fr th Mmrs (Thanks for the Memories) was the perfect way to end the show, as it acted as an informal thank-you to the fans for their loyalty and support. Overall, Fall Out Boy played an incredible performance that the Houston Rodeo will not soon forget.