Of all the times I've seen Bowling For Soup play live, I've never seen them do a headline show. I have seen them at festivals, and even saw (and met!) the guys at an acoustic set/CD signing in London several years ago, but every time they come around to play a entire set, I have always managed to miss it. Until now that is...
Touring the U.K. in support of their new album 'Fishin' For Woo's', BFS touched down again at the UEA (they seem to like Norwich, it always seems to have a tour date here when they are touring the country) and brought fellow punk popper's Orange and Suburban Legends.
I'm going to be brutally honest about the support, I wasn't there to see them and I used that time to talk to some people I hadn't seen in a while, so can't fairly review them, but I do have a few notes about both that it would be remiss not to share.
I am still convinced I've seen Orange before, and I did kind of recognize them, but nothing they did drew me out of the conversations I was having. My brother probably put it best when he said they "looked as generic as they sounded".
Suburban Legends did catch a bit of my attention by the end of their set. The use of trumpet and trombone made for some pretty catchy songs, and the cover of 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' from The Lion King raised some smiles.
We were more than ready for Bowling For Soup, though. Moving from near the bar to a better spot on the 'dancefloor' (regular UEA patrons will know what I mean by that), we didn't have to wait long till the band emerged, kicking off with 'I'm Gay' from the 'Great Burrito Extortion Case' album, followed by 'High School Never Ends' from the same album.
The crowd were wildly enthusiastic at this point, but that did die down a bit as the set went on. Not at the front, that totally maintained, but from where I was standing, I saw a lot of folded arms and not much excitement being shown.
The band were on fine form, from both a music and comedy standpoint. Anyone who knows of the band must know they are funny guys, and those who don't just need to check out one of their videos. And they were as hilarious as ever at the UEA.
That being said though, I did find the band stopping for a drink (at the bar they had on stage, no less) during 'Punk Rock 101', while the strains of AC/DC's 'Have A Drink On Me' were being piped in over the PA, a bit much to be honest.
That was made up for with a different song introduction at the end, when 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want' was halted for a completely improvised song called 'Do You Want To Suck On My Balls, Gary?'. You can check that out in the last blog I posted, as I was happening to be filming at the time!
It was also worth noting that the band seemed to play (with the exceptions of one or two early ones), every single they have ever released! They also surprised the crowd with covers of 'Stacy's Mom' by Fountains Of Wayne (they covered that song, apparently because a lot of people seem to think it's one of their own songs!), and 'Summer Of '69' by Bryan Adams, which was amazing!
Whilst writing this review I found out that BFS' song '1985' was a cover version too, first recorded by a band called SR-71, and used with their blessing. I guess you learn something new everyday! Or two things, as I had no idea the band do the theme tune to 'Phineas And Ferb' till they played it!
Bowling For Soup played...
- I'm Gay
- High School Never Ends
- S-S-Saturday
- Ohio (Come Back To Texas)
- When We Die
- Emily
- The Bitch Song
- Stacy's Mom
- Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day (Phineas And Ferb Theme)
- Almost
- My Wena
- The Last Rock Show
- Punk Rock 101
- No Hablo Ingles
- Turbulence
- Friends O' Mine
- Summer Of 69'
- 1985
- Belgium
- Girl All The Bad Guys Want/Do You Want To Suck On My Balls, Gary?
****
Aside from getting a bit too wacky with the onstage bar, Bowling For Soup put on a fantastic show. Catch them on tour when they are in your town!
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