Chapter Text
~*~
SO MUCH (FOR) STARDUST + SO MUCH FOR (TOUR)DUST
Jumping forward into 2023, FOB (FINALLY) releases their eighth studio album on March 24th, So Much (for) Stardust. And I cannot express how genuinely excited this made me. Keep in mind, the gap between Mania and Stardust was longer than the entirety of FOB’s hiatus – so to say that this album was *highly anticipated* would be an understatement.
But truthfully, not much of it screams “Mikey Way inspired this” – which, if I’m being honest, is such a relief lol. If Pete was still OVERTLY using lyrics to pine over his ex-situationship 18 years later I might genuinely start to get concerned for the man’s health. Throughout interviews Pete and Patrick have talked about the overall concept of Stardust a lot, and its main themes have more to do with death, the 2020 COVID pandemic, existentialism, nihilism, and the fleetingness of life on this Earth. Which makes sense, given they’re all in their forties now.
There are a couple lines from a few of the songs that you could read into if you so desired, such as:
- Love From The Other Side—“Generation sleep, I'm falling in and out of love… Nowhere left for us to go but Heaven, Summer falling through our fingers again, And you were the sunshine of my lifetime”
- Heartbreak Feels so Good—“We said we'd never grow up, It's open season on blue moods, Light from a screen of messages unsent”
- Hold Me Like A Grudge—“When you ask how I've been, I know you mean well, I know you mean well, Who am I dialing tonight? That's a bummer, Thaw out my freezer burn feelings for twenty summers”
- Fake Out—”But I didn't take the love when I had the chance, But I swear I'm not sad anymore, So make no plans and none can be broken, No plans and none can be broken, Do you laugh about me whenever I leave? Or do I still need more therapy?”
(On this album, they also did an updated cover of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire, and among the modern pop-culture references they name dropped The Black Parade, so that’s fun!)
When talking about Love From the Otherside specifically in an interview, Pete said: “It feels like it’s something we would have done on Infinity on High, if we could have done it,” So, yeah–which could mean nothing.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are many feelings of past love, heartbreak, and regret on this album–as is FOB’s classic modus operandi–but like I said, for the most part it doesn’t deeply tingle the Petekey spidey-senses, save for maybe a few standout lines. The rest is vague enough to be interpreted through the lens of any of Pete’s past relationships. It would feel like a pretty big stretch to say any of it is definitively Mikey related, or just Mikey related at all–especially going on 20 years out. Remember, Pete has in fact dated (and been married to) other people. However, I suggest listening to the album for yourself and devising your own opinion – Stardust is just an amazing record in its own right (FOB’s best since the hiatus, in my opinion) and is hella underrated by the fandom.
I think something that’s important to note about this album–and FOB’s discography in general–is that while Pete does write the lyrics, he doesn’t really write specific songs. Pete and Patrick have talked about their process many times in interviews, and both of them have stated how Pete doesn’t write in any typical song format or lyrical format–it’s more of just a stream of consciousness, of which Patrick will then take and mold into a proper format. Pete writes the words, but Patrick is the one who does all the composing, adding, subtracting, rearranging, and so forth to make things work in a musical sense–meaning that each batch of "lyrics" (taken from blog posts or otherwise) that Pete writes will often be broken up by Patrick and placed into multiple different songs.
Which is all simply to say: even if some songs aren’t about or inspired by Mikey specifically, it’s still possible that certain pieces of the lyrics are—and vice versa. Which is just something to keep in mind when analyzing any FOB song, not just the ones from this record.
But for our purposes here, what’s actually more relevant than the album itself, was the tour cycle of the album – So Much For (Tour)Dust, which went from June 2023 to May 2024. Quite a few things of note happened. Prepare yourselves.
July 2nd, 2023, FOB plays the BMO Stadium in LA on one of their many (Tour)Dust stops. Sounds like any other old FOB concert, right? But oh wait, what’s this – Mikey Way was watching them the whole time from the side-stage, you say?
Screenshots from Mikey Ways Instagram story, 2023
Yes. Yes I do say (with tears in my eyes). During the band's performance, Mikey posted multiple videos to his Instagram story from the side-stage, hyping them up. You can find full clips of the stories in this YT video (at timestamp - 37:12): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55h3Uhnt-bw
Mikey watching Fall Out Boy perform from side-stage? For the first (definitively known) time since 2006?? I think I’ve seen this film before…
Then, to bring the show to a close, FOB brought Mikey out on stage to play bass for Saturday. And not only did he play bass, he played PETE’S bass – while Pete jumped around, smiled like a dork, gave Mikey heart eyes, and ruffled his hair.
Yes, I know this sounds like a shitty future-fic written by a thirteen year old in 2012. I promise it is not.
(The background text was edited here in the image above)
Mikey Way performing with Fall Out Boy at BMO Stadium, July 2, 2023
Videos:
Full Saturday performance: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r9HgNHHHm2M
Better quality clip of just Mikey’s part: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuNCdsSpiVG/?hl=en
Pete handing off his bass to Mikey: https://www.tiktok.com/@simulationth3ory/video/7251099310459211050?q=mikey%20way%20playing%20bass%20for%20fob%202023&t=1763879236697
And just for fun, here’s Gabe dropping his favorite line again:
TAKE ME BACK!!!! TAKE ME BACK, OH MY GOD!!!! WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!!! If you haven’t watched any of the other videos I have included in this doc, I at the very LEAST ask that you watch this performance. Even if you still don’t care about Pete/Mikey, this was still a huge moment for all MCR+FOB fans everywhere. This was the first time Mikey played with Fall Out Boy in over 17 years – since the Saved Latin concert back in 2006. Holy shit. Really, this whole performance just feels like Saved Latin 2: The Budget Upgrade.
Just look at Mikey, playing all jolly and shit – and don’t even get me started on Pete. That dude was dead as door nail playing the song, all up until Mikey gets on stage and suddenly he is straight CHEESIN. Literally giggling and kicking his feet. In the clip of Pete handing off his bass, you can even hear him scream “Mikey Fucking Way” out to the crowd. Unbelievable. There are tears in my Petekey eyes.
Pete Wentz fangirling out over Mikey Way, on stage, in the year of our lord, 2023??? Pete really will take any excuse he can to get out of playing that damn bass.
And here’s a fun little sidenote: in 2025, a fan was able to get the bass that Pete and Mikey played signed by both Pete and Mikey.
I’m unclear on whether it’s the same exact bass (I would assume it is?), or if it’s just the same model, but either way–that’s a TRUE Petekey warrior right there #madrespect
Continuing on, this whole fever dream extends into the next day, when FOB plays again at the BMO Stadium, on July 3rd. During that set, drum roll please… Fall Out Boy finally makes their live debut of Bang The Doldrums – over 16 years after the song's initial release. I shit you not.
Fall Out Boy live at BMO Stadium, 7/3/23
Videos:
FOB debuts Bang The Doldrums live, 7/3/23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoMWPM6wMpU
Alternate video (full stage view): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=235K1qznGKE&list=RD235K1qznGKE&start_radio=1
2006 is SO BACK LETS GOOO. But let’s establish some context first: if you were unable to attend any of Fall Out Boy’s (Tour)Dust concert dates, then you might not be aware of what the Magic 8 ball is. Quickly summarized, it was a little gimmick the band did during the tour where towards the end of each concert, they’d ask a giant digital magic 8 ball a couple of random questions to determine what song they would play last. Any song from their entire discography would be on the table, and once a song was played as a magic 8 ball, it was then fair game to be added anywhere into the regular setlist on the following tour dates. As a result, FOB ended up playing a lot of their more niche songs on this tour, including many that had never been played live before.
Now of course, each song isn’t actually “completely random,” and the band obviously had to determine each magic 8 ball song ahead of time for each show – as they would need to practice the song beforehand, and coordinate with venues about lighting/tech needs. The “randomness” of the magic 8 ball is meant to be a surprise for the audience, rather than for the band themselves. When asking the magic 8 ball questions, Pete would often even add in a particular question that would hint to the audience which song it would be.
Pete Wentz asks the magic 8 ball questions on (Tour)Dust
Why is this info relevant? Well, because Bang The Doldrums happened to be FOB’s 8 ball song that particular night, July 3rd 2023. As you can see in the first linked video, the question that Pete asks the 8 ball to hint at the song is: “is this one gonna be a doozy?” To which the 8 ball responds: signs point to yes.
Why would this one be a doozy, Pete? What do you mean by that?? WHY WOULD IT BE A DOOZY–???
At this point, we know Mikey is aware of “Petekey,” we know Chris is aware of it too, so of course Pete must also be aware of it as well. Meaning there’s just no way he didn’t do this on purpose – or that he didn’t at least know the sort of reaction it would garner from a specific subset of the fandom.
I have also heard multiple fan reports that Mikey was supposedly also in the crowd for this performance as well – however, I haven’t seen any solid evidence for this yet, so I'm unsure if that’s actually the case. But considering the fact that we know Mikey was obviously in the area, and that he was OBVIOUSLY at the show the day before, I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch at all to assume it’s true.
Which, if it is true – dear god. Not only did FOB finally live-debut Bang The Doldrums after 16 long years, but they live-debuted it in front of THE Mikey Way. The very “doldrum” that the song is (*supposedly*) about. Someone check on crucios. Make sure they’re okay.
So let’s recap quick:
Mikey Way watched FOB perform from the side-stage in 2023. And then he was brought out to play Pete’s bass on Saturday for the first time in 18 years, in an eerily-similar fashion to how they performed together back on Warped in ‘05. While Pete then fangirled out over him on stage. And then FOB played Bang The Doldrums live for the very first time the next day. IN FRONT OF Mikey. And all of this happened the DAY before Petekey Day (AKA the 4th of July).
I told you I wasn’t kidding when I said this all reads like a fanfiction. If you traveled back in time to 2015 (hell, even just 2020) to tell me all of this information, I dead ass would have actually laughed in your face. Probably bullied you a little bit. Maybe even threatened you for your lunch money. But no, it’s all certifiably real.
Now, what might this all mean from a Petekey standpoint? Warning: possible (re: definite) crackpot theorizing ahead.
If we’re working under the assumption that *something* happened between Pete and Mikey in the summer of ‘05 (spoiler alert – we are), then in my opinion, this whole situation reads as a sort of closure between them. From the many previous Petekey-themed songs in FOB’s discography that we’ve discussed (such as Fourth of July), we get the sense that Pete and Mikey never talked about what happened between them afterwards. Maybe that they never fully addressed it, and/or maybe just moved on without ever really mutually coming to terms with the situation – or, at least Pete didn’t. And obviously, they never publicly addressed the rumors about the two of them either (unless you count that one Q&A from Mikey, though I’d say hardly).
Knowing this, it feels as if this string of events (bringing Mikey out, performing with him, playing BTD, all right before the 4th) is their way of saying to the fans “hey, you guys know, and we know that you know, and btw we’re all chill now,” to put it simplistically. Pete nor Mikey will likely ever truly address the rumors that exist about them, and so this is the closest they will ever come to directly acknowledging it – by showing the fans that they’re still great friends, that they know what info exists about them online, and that they’ve finally mutually come to terms with it and put the past behind them for good.
Don’t mind me, over in the corner, shaking and crying. Maybe puking a little but we’ll see.
However, as I said before, this is obviously just my personal take on the situation while looking at it through the Petekey-lens. It’s tin-foil hatty and a little bit batty, but if you’ve made it this far in the doc then I’m assuming you’re down with a lil’ tin on the brain. Feel free to interpret it however you like. Or not at all. Probably for the best that way.
Anyways. Back to (Tour)Dust. Like I said before, once FOB played a song as an 8 ball, it was fair game to be added anywhere into the set in following shows – which was the case with Bang The Doldrums. Over the course of the tour, they played the song upwards of about 8-9 times. Here are a couple video links to their other performances of it, if you want to check them out:
3/22/24 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC6a9JOYp1U
7/19/23 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjg3HChYmIY
10/17/23 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W5f7wO4QDo&list=RD2W5f7wO4QDo&start_radio=1
Or you don’t have to watch them, if you don’t want to. There’s only so many times I can listen to BTD before I start to feel the beginnings of psychosis. However, if you did watch them, you might’ve noticed something – which is the fact that Pete not only debuted BTD by calling it a “doozy,” but he has introduced the song on multiple other occasions the same way as well. “This one’s a doozy,” “should we a play a doozy?”, “is it gonna be a fucking doozy?” yadda yadda yadda.
Now I know about stage scripts and all, but come on Pete. We get it. We KNOW. HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO REMIND US. Bro it’s literally your OWN damn fault that it’s a “doozy” to begin with.
In an interview with The Aquarian, Patrick had this to say on the topic:
“One night with the 8 Ball we played the song, “Bang The Doldrums,” that’s from Infinity On High. We didn’t think anything of it – “This would be a fun song to play in an 8 Ball!” The reaction was… so big, so different than we expected that it ended up in the regular rotation.”
Okay. Sure. “We didn’t think anything of it” my ass. I think maybe at least one of you thought at least a little something of it.
And get this: fast forward into 2025, FOB also played BTD live at the Minnesota Yacht Club festival–on the exact 20TH ANNIVERSARY of the blog post that initially inspired the song. You have been shit-eth not.
I’m having heart palpitations.