Despite announcing their last ever UK tour back in 2013, Texan pop-punk troupe Bowling For Soup have been a common sight here in the North over the past couple of years. Frontman Jarred Reddick appeared at Gorilla just a few months ago for an intimate evening of stories and stripped back tracks and just a few months before that the full band could be found playing to a sold out crowd in Leeds’ First Direct Arena as part of 2017’s yearly alt-celebration Slam Dunk. If you thought all this recent exposure may have made us Northerners a little ‘meh’ at the sight of their name on a bill though, you’d be wrong. Judging by how packed-to-the-rafters Manchester’s Apollo theatre is tonight, they couldn’t have returned sooner.
Although, seeing a live band isn’t the only thing on offer here tonight. For lucky sections of the audience a unique VIP experience is also available – one which allows you to party on stage with the band during their set. Oh and did we mention that there’s a free bar up there too? Because there is – and if you think that the equation of ‘free booze’ + ‘pop-punk party’ might end in total chaos, you’d somehow be wrong. Despite a briefly awkward guitar re-tune early on and Reddick necking his fair share of drinks in between tracks, the wheels may have felt on the verge of falling off but amazingly they didn’t.
Which is just as well. The band are here tonight to perform 2002’s Drunk Enough To Dance in full. All 18 tracks of it. Throw a few non-album hits into the mix and this evening’s show feels more like a mammoth greatest hits performance than a single album retrospective. The band know what folks are here for tonight too and they’re definitely in on the joke. Halfway through their colorfully unpredictable show, Reddick and co pause between faves “Girls All The Bad Guys Want”, “The Bitch Song” and the unbelievably fast “Punk Rock 101” to introduce a big red digital timer onto the backdrop behind them. It’s a countdown to the arrival of “1985”, arguably their biggest hit. If anyone’s here tonight just for this one, they now know exactly how long they have to grab a drink or nip to the loo.
It’s funny – and along with a honed skill for crafting catchy pop-punk earworms, humour seems to be Bowling For Soup’s second biggest export. It’s a product of their moment in musical history, back when spiked-hair pop-punk went mainstream, Blink 182 joked about their balls on stage and countless other bands followed suit. The fact that Bowling For Soup are here at all tonight (not to mention in a venue so big – and full) is a testament to their abilities and willingness to diversify. The on-stage bar feels less of an eyebrow raiser when you remember Reddick had the smarts to put his musical skills to use scoring jingles for kids show Phineas and Ferb and fast food chain Chucky Cheese. Few bands of their era are still around, let alone receiving the levels of adoration Bowling For Soup are this evening.
A quick rendition of beer-swilling, arm-swaying ballad “Ohio (Come Back To Texas)” gets (a now very inebriated) Manchester feeling all the feels and by the time the long-teased “1985” does roll around there’s a distinct feeling that it won’t be long until Bowling For Soup are back on Northern soil.
Words by Simon Bland (@SiTweetsToo).
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