Thursday, 5 April 2012

LIVE REVIEW; BOWLING FOR SOUP, 17/10/11, UEA LCR

****

Heroes of pop-punk, Bowling For Soup brought the second date of their unforgettable live show to Norwich in support of their 11th studio album Fishing For Woos. Heading to the stage amid a sea of rapturous applause, chants and their own recorded “Bowling For Soup, HEY!” introductory number, they burst into a unique and entertaining set.
Although they don't use a strict setlist, with 17 years as a band behind them, it's clear the band know how to open a show, and with an opening barrage of hit singles I'm Gay and High School Never Ends the crowd instantly tune in and sing along, almost louder than the band themselves. Their set mingled their most popular tunes, such as Emily, The B**ch Song and My Wena with slightly lesser known album tracks that nonetheless went down a treat with their hardcore fans. They even treated the crowd to 2 covers; Stacy's Mom, by Fountains Of Wayne – singer/guitarist Jaret joked that “most people thought we did this, even though we didn't, so we're gonna play it” - and Bryan Adam's classic Summer of '69.
A massive part of the BFS live setup is their interactions with each other and the crowd – between practically every song there would be a pause for the band's wonderfully immature jokes with each other about things that just can't be printed, or for complimenting crowd members on their figures – they even had their own bar on stage, where a handful of the crowd spent the entire show enjoying free drinks named after drummer Gary. Their rapport with the crowd is second to none, and the atmosphere created was one of toilet humour and laughs, yet their set itself was polished and excellent.
In their final flourish, BFS demonstrated the improvised nature of their set by breaking out into a jam involving the whole crowd and a member of support band Suburban Legends in the middle of final song Girl All The Bad Guys Want, that very much kept with their air of immaturity. When they left the stage, the crowd was all smiles; a very successful start to this tour for the band.

COPYRIGHT Thomas Castle, October 2011

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