All-American Rejects Play Surprise Show in Minnesota

Imagine pulling up your social media feeds and seeing that one of your favorite bands is playing a surprise show in your town that night!

That’s exactly what happened Friday night in Minnesota, as a popular pop-punk band from the early 2000s arrived in the state for a pop-up concert at a bowling alley of all places.

All-American Rejects Rock Minneapolis

The All-American Rejects, known for hits like "Dirty Little Secret," "Move Along," and "Gives You Hell," notified fans only hours before their surprise show at Memory Lanes bowling alley in South Minneapolis.

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Despite the short notice, hundreds of fans showed up, so many that the band decided to play an additional show later that night. The band posted a highlight video of the show on social media, captioned, "Minneapolis, the city so nice we played it twice."

House Party Tour Makes Minneapolis Stop

The Minneapolis show marked the third stop on what the band is calling their "House Party Tour." It kicked off with a show at UW-Green Bay, followed by a backyard party in Chicago. After Minnesota, they hit a barn party in Ames, Iowa.

The band is currently promoting their first full-length album in 13 years. The new album, titled Sandbox, doesn’t have a release date yet, but the first single, also called "Sandbox," is out now.

In addition to surprise gigs, the band also has some traditional concerts lined up this summer. That includes a stop at the Red River Valley Fair in West Fargo, ND, on July 11, and a performance with the Jonas Brothers in St. Paul on October 10.

2025 Minnesota State Fair Grandstand Performers

Here is the schedule of all of the performing acts that will take the Grandstand stage at the Minnesota State Fair in 2025. As more acts are announced, we'll update this schedule.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper - TSM Duluth

The Largest Minnesota Wildfires In Modern History

While Minnesota has experienced even larger, more devastating fires like the 350,00-acre Hinckley Fire in 1884 of the 250,000-acre Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire in 1918, fires have thankfully been relatively smaller in more modern times.

Even though these more modern fires have been smaller, largely due to better firefighting capabilities, many have still been devastating and destructive. Here's a look at Minnesota's largest wildfires since 2007 based on information from the Minnesota Incident Command System.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper