We recently had the pleasure of being invited to a live gig at Plymouth Pavilions from American pop-punk band, Bowling For Soup. Currently on a UK tour celebrating twenty years of their album, A Hangover You Don’t Deserve, we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to see them whilst they were down here in the southwest.
The opening acts, Magnolia Park and Wheatus, really set the standard for the energy that would be booming throughout the night. Wheatus in particular got the vocal chords of the crowd going with their classic hit, Teenage Dirtbag, a song we were told was actually completely fictional rather than inspired by real life. Either way, it was a brilliant way to leave the masses pumped ahead of the main event of the night.
When Bowling For Soup were finally introduced onto the stage, rather than running out and playing, they put a huge loading timer onto the screen at the back of the stage counting slowly up to 100%, leaving the audience eagerly anticipating their arrival. I’m not sure one hundred seconds has ever passed so slowly, but as the band noted later it was only one hundred seconds compared to the seventeen minute introduction they once experienced at the start of a Green Day gig (actually more than worth it, we love you Green Day).
The timer hit 100% and the band were fully charged and ready to enter, and enter they did! Blasting out the opening song from the album, Almost, it was an incredible way to start the set, the catchy lyrics and brilliant guitar making the whole venue bounce. Then they carried on straight into the second track, Trucker Hat.
Like all gigs, the time spent between songs can add an extra level to the experience. It’s a chance for crowd interactions and to also learn more about the band. Bowling for Soup was no exception, the breaks between songs featured moments with the crowd, banter between bandmates, and some very American jokes. We would like to be fair and say they did a good job at the jokes, although some of the comedy did not perhaps culturally match – there are only so many times a British crowd can tolerate something that is ‘rad’ or ‘hop on the party bus’ with the ‘greatest band in the world’. There’s just something about the dryness of British humour that made the laughs not quite carry (Gervais I’m looking at you) but we’ll give them points for trying.
That all being said, the concert was great and full of life. It was easy to laugh and join in even to the lesser-known songs. Perhaps life peaked when the band played our favourite song from the album, 1985, a brilliant tune full of excellent lyrics and cultural references and some fantastic guitar that left the whole arena rocking.
After that, the relentless punk energy filled the night, as all seventeen of the songs on the album were blasted out in succession. Some of the highlights included ‘Ohio (Come Back To Texas)’, a song celebrating the band’s homeland, ‘Last Call Casualty’, a wonderfully crafted sing-along banger, and ‘Emily’, the “surprise song” of the night to use Taylor Swift terminology, which was met with great applause.
We sadly missed out on the last few songs of the evening, a range of the band’s greatest hits outside of the album, but not getting stranded overnight took priority! However, anonymous sources told us they played hits like ‘Girl All the Bad Guys Want’, ‘High School Never Ends’ and of course, the Phineas and Ferb theme tune, ‘Today is Gonna be a Great Day’. While we wish we could have seen them for ourselves we felt that sleeping in our beds was a little nicer than on a mound in Plymouth. However, much to the other passengers’ dismay, we finished the night with our own encore on the train back.
Bowling For Soup are currently on a UK tour, and you can catch them at a range of cities this February. They are also extremely excited to be playing at Wembley Arena on 13th December.
Overall, we had a rocking time (see what I did there) and we would highly recommend any fans of punk or rock to check out their albums and gigs. You definitely don’t need to be a super fan to rock out with them. Even though they have been around for 30 years they are still full of energy, dynamism and just a lot of joy.
