at the site of the original Comiskey Park.
Well, we probably can't call this a reunion, since technically they never broke up. We weren't completely sure it was just a hiatus, either. Regardless, after three years off the radar, Chicago's Fall Out Boy is back.
In fact, they've got a new single on iTunes today -- and they're playing a show in town tonight.
"This isn't a reunion because we never broke up," the band says in a statement this morning. "We needed to plug back in and make some music that matters to us."
Members of the band -- singer Patrick Stump, guitarist Joe Trohman, bassist Pete Wentz and drummer Andy Hurley -- had been coyly denying the reunion/reboot/relaunch for days.
"My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)" is available now for download. It's a whopper -- whacking wet drums, sassy backing vocals, Stump going all "St. Elmo's Fire" on us with both his hot vocals and his pyro puns. It sounds like a cage match between Loverboy and Def Leppard. This is not a bad thing.
In the intervening years, Stump donned a futuristic tux and fingerless gloves to explore his '80s R&B side, with good results. "If you really listen to Fall Out Boy," he told me in 2011, "we were never really total rock dudes." Sounds like we should keep that in mind as 2013 unfolds.
Wentz has dabbled in various music projects, including the nebulous Black Cards. His marriage to pop starlet Ashlee Simpson ended in divorce in 2011. In two weeks, Wentz publishes a novel, Gray.
The confusion about Fall Out Boy's vital signs began during a magazine interview with Stump, in which he said, "For the purposes of this interview, I'm not in Fall Out Boy." Meaning, hey, I've got a solo gig, can we stay focused? In the morning light of social media, however, the simple request was translated into "I quit."
Stump also went on to say, "Whether we play again or not, I don't know. If we do, it will be for the right reasons. If we don't, it will also be for the right reasons."
Wentz, meanwhile, took to his Twitter account for a series of non-denial denials. "man. dont you get it? a hiatus is forever until you get lonely or old. i dont plan on either," he tweeted early in 2010. "cant imagine playing in fob again. something would have to change in my head or my heart- not my wallet. itd have to be real."
By that account, today's announcement means that Wentz is feeling lonely and/or old, or that things have gotten "real."
Find out tonight when Fall Out Boy hits the stage: 9 p.m. at Subterranean, 2011 W. North. Tickets are $20 here. Call (773) 278-6600 for information.
Then comes a new album -- "Save Rock and Roll," May 6 -- followed by a full tour, including another hometown show May 16 at the Riviera Theater.
I wonder if their new album is going to be as popular as their last?