The All-American Rejects @ South Side Ballroom, Dallas, TX

Special contribution by Daniel Martinez

On a time machine we go as the South Side Ballroom in Dallas, TX fills up for the Wet Hot All-American Summer Tour. Despite the tour overlapping into fall, the Dallas crowd were hot for the Rejects. Thousands roared as the All-American Rejects rushed into the stage with an instant hit, "Swing, Swing". Tyson Ritter welcomed everyone in the Ballroom to an unforgettable night, taking us back to 2002 to their first album as they performed "My Paper Heart", followed by "One More Sad Song".

As a person who listened to them in my middle/high school years, the night was filled with nostalgia. Performing hits like "Dirty Little Secret" where the crowd went wild as they all sang every lyric to the song, to performing songs like "Sweat" from their more recent years. The last time I saw the All-American Rejects were when they toured with Blink-182 back in 2017. Despite being one of the openers, they gave it their 110% to the fans, and it doesn’t surprise me that they still do especially during this headline tour.

The night ended with an encore of "Move Along", a song that I think put them on the map alongside "Dirty Little Secret", a song that was featured in a lot of tv shows and movies, a true national anthem of the early 2000s. The night culminated with "Gives You Hell". Tyson Ritter has gone on record how he felt conflicted about the song before releasing it because it was different but later he found out that everyone actually enjoyed it and 15 years later, we’re all grown up and we still enjoy it. A show filled with nostalgia, some bands are just phases but with the All-American Rejects it was never a phase, mom!

Photos of the show are below:

Contributed by Daniel Martinez