Mini Project #2 - Fame Mementos - Alissa Harris

I’ve been going to concerts at least twice a month since I was thirteen years old, so in the past seven years, I’ve acquired quite a few music-related mementos. My bedroom at home is filled with a plethora of autographs, drumsticks, guitar picks, and a few pictures of myself with miscellaneous band members of varying fame and renown. However, there's one item that sticks out among the rest as perhaps my most treasured fame-related memento: a signed setlist from a Fall Out Boy show I attended in 2003. This item is so special that it's currently in plastic and tacked onto my bedroom wall at home (so, alas, I can't bring it in to show everyone), as nerdy as that is to admit.

People who aren't into music might view setlists as merely sheets of paper with the songs listed on them - in other words, no big deal, but I love waiting after shows, rushing up to the front of the stage after the band has finished playing, and seeing if I can convince the stagehands to toss me one of the band members' setlists from the show. I have a few at home from shows I've attended in the past (Sigur Ros, The Strokes, a lot of local bands, etc.) but this particular setlist sticks out in my memory because it was a special show.

Even though Fall Out Boy are considered a 'big' band now (ie: they can sell out arenas, their albums go platinum, the band - or at least their media whore bassist, Pete Wentz - ends up in gossip columns, 14 year old girls like them/have pin-ups of them in their lockers), four years ago, they were content with playing shows in dingy clubs to a couple of devoted hardcore kids. I had only gotten into them a few weeks before and went along to their all-ages show at the North Star Bar with a few friends who were really into the band, but during the show, I fell in love with the band. As soon as the show was over - shortly, because they only had one album to work with at the time - I ran up and snagged the bassist's setlist from the stage. My friends were keen on meeting the band after the show and, with my newfound interest in the band, I tagged along. Pleasantries were exchanged (praise about how great the show was, the band talking about how awesome their fans are) and I asked the band to sign my setlist and they obliged.

Though it may not be the greatest story, nor the greatest memento ever, it holds a special place in my heart - and my room - because it reminds me of a great concert, meeting a friendly and down-to-earth band, and being with my friends. Even though they've blown up in popularity in the past few years and now it would be nearly impossible to meet the band, let alone get one of the four setlists, it reminds me that they were once a small and struggling band and how they've changed, both for better and for worse, over the years. It's a tangible reminder of my high school years, spent obsessed with the band, and it's something I'll probably treasure for a long time to come.