Lucas Boland/The Coloradoan / USA TODAY NETWORK
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There’s a good chance you haven’t thought about The All-American Rejects in a pretty long time when you consider the band peaked in the mid-2000s. However, they still have a pretty solid following based on the number of people who’ve shown up to the concerts they’ve started to throw at the homes of fans who’ve been lucky enough to host them on a very unorthodox tour.
Based on the number of times I’ve witnessed everyone in a packed bar stop what they’re doing to belt out “With Arms Wide Open” and “Mr. Brightside” in unison over the past couple of years, the world has become very nostalgic for plenty of bands that managed to make a name for themselves around the turn of the millennium.
That definitely includes The All-American Rejects, the pop punk group that released its debut album in 2002 and eventually found a fair amount of mainstream success thanks to hits like “Dirty Little Secret” and “Gives You Hell.”
The group has continued to pump out music while performing and touring on a pretty regular basis since reaching its apex of fame around 20 years ago, but they’ve recently started to eschew more traditional venues in favor of the unorthodox locations fans have been flocking to in order to see them perform.
On Sunday, police in Columbia shut down a show that The All-American Rejects threw at a house down the road from the University of Missouri, which was the most recent stop on a tour that’s seen the group set up shop at a number of unexpected spots in the Midwest.
The band got plenty of attention after throwing a pop-up show at the University of Southern California at the end of April, and that response led to the Rejects deciding to embark on the “House Party ” tour that’s seen them perform in a park on the University of Wisconsin’s Green Bay campus, crash a backyard in Chicago, and head to a farm in Ames, Iowa.
The band is also giving fans the chance to apply to be the next stop on the tour as they continue to make their way around the country, and it sure looks like the kind of show you want to make it to if you’re lucky enough to get an opportunity.