BOWLING FOR SOUP + THE DOLLYROTS
Manchester, Academy 20/10/12
Bowling For Soup were back in the UK as part of their One Big Happy tour, which saw them on the road with their friends, The Dollyrots and Patent Pending.
We didn’t make it in time to catch Patent Pending and got into the Academy in time to see The Dollyrots who I was really looking forward too. It seems like they’ve been around for quite a while, but I’d only just recently heard them and liked their infectious brand of pop punk rock. So with this in mind, I was definitely excited to check out their live show…
The Dollyrots, really did not disappoint, not one little bit. A fast and fun upbeat set full of great tunes, melodic vocals and good times. Playing tracks from their latest self titled album The Dollyrots are a seriously fun band. “Satellite” being one of the highlights along with their take on “Brand New Key” which we in the UK know more as “Brand New Combine Harvester”, fun times.
Very much impressed by their set and their sound. If you’ve ever seen the Josie And The Pussycats movie, then think of the soundtrack to that and you’re pretty much there with The Dollyrots sound. Fun, girl fronted punk pop rock, awesome stuff!
Onto Bowling For Soup. Having spent a while trying to think of how many of their songs we knew beforehand, we honestly didn’t get over two hands worth, maybe not one. How the heck could they fill what was looking like a 2 hour set?
As they came out to a packed venue and screams galore, they kicked off with “My Hometown” before busting into a song I did know “High School Never Ends”. The set itself was one big fun filled event. Packed with plectrum throwing and catching (seriously how guitarist Chris manages to find the time to throw a plectrum maybe 4-5 times per song is impressive). I think the thing that impressed me the most about them was the fact that they seemed to really be having as much fun as they could on the stage. There were loads of gimmicks, like setting up a pub for the support bands on the stage and of course them heading over there for a drink themselves. A “take a photo of BFS” moment , mid song where they stuck Van Halen’s “Jump” on the and just posed for fans to take a snap shot. The Texan pop punk rockers churned out so many tracks from across their albums, like “No Hablo Ingles”, “Let’s Go To The Pub”, “Hooray For Beer” and the more well known singles like “Girl All The Bad Guy Wants”, “Emily” and “Punk Rock 101”.
A set that that littered with sexual innuendos, suggestive remarks and lots of waving. With the cock jokes leading nicely into “My Wena”. Inviting a kid with a Bowling For Soup tattoo onto the stage, to their makeshift bar and then to pick a song for them, he chose “Suckerpunch” and joined in the vocals after singer Jaret couldn’t recall the first line. Adding in a couple of covers into the set like “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears and also they rocked out “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains Of Wayne, a song they apparently have been taking credit for. Closing the set which was almost at 2 hours with “1985” the crowd were just smiling. I realised how they filled almost two hours, they messed around through a lot of it, but who cares? Everyone was smiling along and had a good time.
On a personal note, the highlight for me was when they rocked out the theme tune to “Phineas And Ferb”. A great kids cartoon – a moment where I was really singing along, even if it felt like I was the only person in the audience who really knew what they were on about. But it’s a great song and deserved to be sung along with. My daughters would have been so proud at this point and would have loved to have been there with me for this!
Coming back for the encore pretty swiftly as time was very much running out, the band rocked out with a couple of covers in the form of “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath and a classic Ramones tune “I Wanna Be Sedated”. Sadly the majority of the crowd didn’t seem to know or appreciate these musical offerings…I definitely did! Finishing up with one of their most famous tracks “The Bitch Song”, Bowling For Soup really did put on one hell of a show. If anyone left that venue without a smile on their face, I’d be really surprised!
Review by Mr. T
Thanks to Dave @ Invictus.
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