All-American Rejects to play a pop-up concert at UW-Green Bay

The biggest surprise of the Green Bay summer concert season just popped up, and it’s happening in a little over 24 hours.

The All-American Rejects are headlining a pop-up concert on May 14 at Phoenix Park at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Yes, that All-American Rejects — the Tyson Ritter-fronted pop-rock band that was a mainstay of ’00s radio with such hook-laden hits as “Swing Swing,” “Gives You Hell” and “Move Along.”

Student station Radio GBX is hosting the first in a series of pop-up concerts the band is doing in conjunction with college radio stations in support of “Sandbox,” its first original single in five years. GBX made the announcement on the air shortly after 3 p.m. May 13.

The concert is open to the public and begins at 6 p.m. May 14, with opening sets by local artists DJ Saintsonne at 6 p.m., punk band Ditch the Hubcap at 7 p.m., and the BAMMY Awards’ reigning Original Artist of the Year The Coves at 8 p.m. The All-American Rejects are expected to take the stage at 9 p.m., with the event scheduled to end around 10 p.m.

Admission is $5 or a donation of a non-perishable food item for UWGB’s Campus Cupboard. It’s the first fundraising event for Radio GBX, which launched in 2023 and features music and programming produced by UWGB students.

The band reached out to Radio GBX about doing a concert

Bryan Carr, a UWGB professor who is also faculty adviser and general manager of Radio GBX, received an email from the band’s management on May 5 asking if the station was interested in hosting a pop-up concert on May 13.

“It was surprising, and I was flattered and honored really to have them reach out to our students and our student radio station,” Carr said. “… To have a band as big as All-American Rejects reach out and want to partner with us and help support us is absolutely fantastic.”

The short notice has meant a flurry of activity behind the scenes in the last week by the station, University Police, Good Times Programming, Student Engagement and other departments to prepare for a concert that falls during final exam week.

In a Reels on All-American Rejects’ Facebook page on May 13, Ritter said the band plans to hit at least seven U.S. cities in May with pop-up concerts on what it’s calling a “house party tour.” The band has been inviting fans to sign up through its social media to be the first to know about concert locations.

All-American Rejects released “Sandbox” in late April and are working on their fifth studio album, tentatively due for next year, according to Variety. The band, which left longtime label Interscope Records, went out on its first headlining tour in 10 years in 2023 and is a support act for the Jonas Brothers’ Living the Dream Tour, which hits stadiums beginning in August.

Source: All-American Rejects to play a pop-up concert at UW-Green Bay