the take

Can Fall Out Boy Make It to Antarctica? An Anxious Nation Waits

Photo composite: FilmMagic, Courtesy of Lucasfilms LTD


We’re on the edge of our collective seat here at Vulture today, waiting for news of whether Fall Out Boy will be able to pull off one of the greatest douche-rock stunts of all time: flying to Antarctica in order to set the world record for rocking out on all seven continents. (The Guinness Book of World Records has not yet certified that any band has actually played all the continents, but FOB is attempting to set the record for doing it the fastest, anyway.) The band, which has already performed shows on the six other continents, is waiting out bad weather that prevented them from making their scheduled flight to Antarctica on Tuesday, along with a Guinness official who will certify the record. There’s a chance they could make another flight today, but the odds are decreasing by the minute.

Weather isn’t the only obstacle that FOB has had to face in their attempt to set this record. First lead singer hot, default front man bassist Pete Wentz had to conquer his geographical ignorance. Wentz told MTV News, “Well, I was just sitting around and wrote [manager] Bob [McLynn] an e-mail saying, ‘Let’s be the first band to go to all five continents’ — only he wrote me back, ‘There are seven.’â€

In another interview with MTV News — which is serving as Stanley to Wentz’s Dr. Livingstone on this monumental voyage of discovery — Wentz revealed that visiting Antarctica would fulfill a childhood dream. “I mean, we were just sitting around thinking of awesome, funny, totally crazy things to do, things that you’d think up when you were 14. And all of a sudden, we were like, ‘Hey, high-fiving a penguin? That’s about as 14 and dumb as you can get!’†And what do they think Antarctica will be like? Wentz comments in yet another interview with MTV News, “I’m basically expecting that it’ll be like Hoth, that ice planet on Star Wars, only I bet there won’t be any Tauntauns there.â€

Will Fall Out Boy be able to live their dream of giving a high-five to a penguin? Will there be Tauntauns there, and if so, will bad weather force them to spend an Antarctic night inside freshly killed Tauntauns? This is a rock-and-roll nail-biter! Check with Vulture for more updates! —Tammy Oler

Fall Out Boy Will Play In Antarctica To Set World Record — And MTV News Will Be There [MTV]
Fall Out Boy: A New Kind Of Rock Star — In Bigger Than The Sound [MTV]
Fall Out Boy Mania In Southern Chile; Antarctica Trip Postponed Due To Bad Weather [MTV]