Say what you will about Fall Out Boy, the dudes are punctual.
Facing a day during which they’ll play three shows in three cities
across the country over the course of 19 hours, the band arrived at the
“TRL” studios in Times Square bright-eyed and relatively bushy-tailed
at the very un-rocking hour of 8 a.m., ready to kick off the
festivities with a ripping performance in front of a throng of
extremely vocal fans – many of whom had lined up at 6 a.m., braving
subzero wind chills to secure a spot in the studio.
“I’m not tired yet,” FOB frontman Patrick Stump insisted. “It’s all about the body-clock management.”
Body-clock management and a saint-like patience – because with
an endeavor this massive, there are bound to be some screw-ups. The
band had to play “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” twice,
apparently because the crowd wasn’t amped enough the first time
(perhaps the fans were still thawing out). And backstage, surrounded by
a sea of cameras – and their pals in Gym Class Heroes – FOB fought off
sleep with smirks.
“I had a really long night last night,” bassist Pete Wentz
laughed. “So this morning is really just a continuation of last night.”
But the effects of sleep deprivation weren’t apparent in their
performance, which rippled with the band’s punky enthusiasm. Fall Out
Boy pounded through “Arms Race,” Stump’s voice filled with an R&B
vibrato, and played a note-perfect (and downright pretty in places)
version of “Thriller,” the opening track on the just-released Infinity
on High, which is the reason for all this Infinity Flight 206 madness
in the first place.
With the “TRL” studios sufficiently rocked, FOB bundled up –
Wentz in a Chicago Bears jacket, of all things – and headed out into a
waiting caravan, bound for a private jet on the tarmac at LaGuardia
Airport. Their next stop is their Chicago hometown, where the crowds
will no doubt be super-psyched, and unfortunately weather reports are
calling for snow. And after that, a much longer flight to Los Angeles
for the final gig, around a dozen hours from now.
Hopefully body-clock management will be enough to carry them through. We suspect it will.