“We are Bowling For Soup’s favourite country band,” screams Vandoliers’ guitarist and frontman Joshua Fleming before launching into a set containing “a country song, a punk song, a punk song and a country song.” Like a version of Hayseed Dixie on speed minus a banjo or two Vandoliers’ fly through half an hour of riotous country punk fun, culminating in a singalong of 7500 punks to a version of the Proclaimers I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) which harks back to the early 2000’s when every punk band seemed to release a speed up pop cover.
This isn’t the last we see of Vandoliers tonight, with Fleming popping up on vocals during both subsequent sets and the band joining in on Bowling For Soup’s ode to Texas, Ohio (Come Back to Texas).
Ska Punk stalwarts Less Than Jake fire through a greatest hits set that could have doubled in length and still left the crowd begging for more. Buddy Schaub, trombonist and a hype man to make even the lowest prize fighter believe he is a world champion stalks the stage whipping the crowd into a bigger frenzy than bass player Roger Lima’s dreads. The toilet roll cannons come out early on in the set and threaten to cause chaos in the photo pit – something that would have been unheard of in 2020, wasting loo-roll. The mascots are out in force for Less Than Jake tonight as well – Evolution Kid appears as a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man (hopefully from Al Harrington’s) and the lesser seen Mr Skull skanking across the stage. All this goes on whilst the bands video history plays in the background which includes the MTV favourite All My Best Friends Are Metalheads.
While there hasn’t been a major ska punk revival (save for The Interrupters) Less Than Jake have been flying the flag for 30 years and are still going strong as ever.
Lets just take a moment to appreciate DJ Matt Stock’s hand in keeping tonight’s show going. The man behind Life in the Stocks podcast and far too many journalistic credits to mention keeps the party running before and between each band. The highlight is probably the singalong of 7500 punks joining in for a rendition of The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance before the 3 minute countdown begins for Bowling For Soup’s set.
The pop punk revival of recent years has been kind to Bowling For Soup. As part of it they have put out arguably their best material in years in 2023’s Pop Punk Snot Bread. Tonight though is a tour de force of their back catalogue although cuts from the aforementioned record seem to be missing. What isn’t missing is the fun that Bowling for Soup bring to the pop punk scene. The Texas natives seem to have something going on throughout – whether it be the tiki bar propped up throughout by the Vandoliers, the mid-set photo op as the band parade around the stage together or the guitar giveaway towards the end of the set (this happened at every night of the tour – who other than Bowling For Soup give away a guitar every night?). What other band would drag the photographers back into the pit after security led them out at the false ending of “Out the Window,” only to play another false ending afterwards. The addition of Rob Felicetti on bass from Patent Pending has also been a welcome addition since 2019 adding and on stage exuberance as he gurns away and plays to the crowd – although it got quite hairy as his bass became overly friendly with the pyrotechnics.
Bowling For Soup are one of those bands that gets overlooked when talking about the top of the pop punk tree. The band have been churning out pop punk bangers for thirty years. The one thing missing from tonight’s set is the cuts off the recent album but after 30 years with anthem after anthem something had to be missed.
Check out a full gallery of the night below! Photos by Benji Walker https://liveandloudphoto.co.uk/
