Bowling for Soup can be argued as one of the greatest, oldest,
but still current, pop-punk bands of our generation. The band was formed in their
home state of Texas back in 1994 and are well known for their hits such as Girls all the Bad Guys Want, High School Never ends and 1985. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, Chris Burney (lead guitar, backing
vocals), Erik Chandler (bass
guitar, backing vocals) and Gary Wiseman (drums), who replaced Lance Morrill in 1998.
Having seen Bowling for Soup perform 3 times now, I can say
with all honesty they are a brilliant act to watch. The range of venues and
situations they can perform in and still keep the crowd entertained is
spectacular. The first time I attended one of their gigs, I was lucky enough to
see them in Texas, at Houston’s Warehouse Live in 2006. This was
to a small crowd of dedicated fans in a venue that holds 350. As an avid stand-up comedy fan I was pleasantly surprised
to find comedy largely incorporated into the performance. Lead singer
Jaret can really hold the audience’s attention. A feature I’ve seen run
throughout the duration of their career is to stop a song mid way and have a
laugh with the audience, some interaction and some (probably) pre-written
jokes. The band then simultaneously start to play where they left off,
astonishing the audience with no visibly obvious countdown.
The second time I attended a performance was during the year
of 2008 at Scotland’s
largest music festival, T In The Park. Although they
were scheduled for the main stage and this obviously meant a large percentage
of the festival goers would attend, there was still some speculation as to
whether the Scottish T in The Park loyalists would really ‘get them’ as an act.
However, once again, Jaret and the band did not disappoint. Like always, they
performed their classics to a unanimous sing-along from the crowd.
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| Bowling for Soup perform at Scotland's 'T IN THE PARK', 2008 |
The most recent time I've seen Jaret and co. perform was here in Glasgow. My Dad surprised me with tickets to see them at the O2 Academy (formerly Carling Academy) in October of 2009 during the 'Party in Your Pants' tour. However, the surprises didn't end there. He had infact bought vip/meet and greet tickets for myself and him which entitled us to an acoustic pre-show performance by Jaret and Erik. Although this was fantastic and I noticed the fact that Jaret can actually sing, it was just a smaller, mirrored version of the show I was to see later.
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| Myself and my Dad with the band |
Performing '1985' at the O2 Academy, Oct 2009
Bowling for Soup are set to return to Glasgow this month for an acoustic performance from Jaret and Erik. They will don the West End's 'Oran Mor' on Tuesday the 27th of March with support from People on Vacation. More details and tickets can be found at the links below.
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