This morning I realized that yesterday was the ten-year anniversary of the first concert I ever booked. As a freshman in college I joined the WUD Music Committee after seeing their ad in the student activities guide and then attending a free concert featuring Hey Mercedes. The committee quickly became the center of my extracurricular activities and social life, and at the end of my first semester I managed to book one of my favorite bands from home, Punchline, and this little Chicago band that they were on tour with – Fall Out Boy.
The show was at the very beginning of the spring semester of 2003, and being that it was January in Wisconsin it was freezing cold and snowing. One of the people who had co-booked the show (Madcap, Count the Stars, and 504 Plan were also on the bill) had nightmares leading up to the show, dreaming that nobody came. Happily, the show ended up being packed. Below is an era-appropriate photo collage from the night, as well a video sampling of the bands that played.
504 Plan – Fathead
Count the Stars – Taking It All Back
Punchline – Play
Fall Out Boy – Chicago Is So Two Years Ago
Madcap – Going on the Road
Mixtapes|Heartbreaks 