The All-American Rejects
May 18 2025
Columbia, MO
A few weeks ago Lily asked if I wanted to open for The All-American Rejects. I had to read her text twice. I had not heard that name since I was a kid listening to the radio. The Rejects were doing a college radio tour, and Lily and her roommate MB run KCOU at Mizzou. They managed to book them for a show in the front yard of their East Campus house.

Jake and I opened and spun some club music, but the crowd was stiff and just stared at us. I guess The AAR crowd doesn’t overlap much with the club scene. In Tyson Ritter’s own words, we “got them cold and warmed them up” (whatever that means). He empathized, saying they used to play thankless opening sets back in the day.

huangbillie@gmail.com