Page 57 - Black Velvet Issue 88

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BOWLING FOR SOUP / THE DOLLYROTS / MC LARS – BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY, 06.02.16
In late 2013, Bowling For Soup embarked on a Farewell UK Tour. combs and tissues.
Fans thought the fun Texas quartet would not be returning to the UK The Dollyrots bring their cute and quirky pop punk songs to the
again – or at least, not in such frequency. Two and a half years later and stage. ‘Twist Me To The Left’ is one of our faves with its upbeat tempo
they’re back. You just can’t keep the Soupers away. And the great news while their cover of ‘Brand New Key’ is also a staple early on in the set.
is, the show is sold out – they’re doing better than ever. Yes, we’ve all Frontwoman Kelly Ogden and guitarist Luis Cabezas are partners and
missed them. now have a son called River who they have with them on tour. He is
The support bands are a bit predictable though. Both The Dollyrots brought onto the stage to lots of ‘ahhh’s. After a new song, ‘Save Me’,
and MC Lars have supported Bowl- and a few lines of ‘Bad Reputation’, their
ing For Soup before. That said, it set ends with their 2007 single, ‘Because
shows Bowling For Soup’s loyalty to I’m Awesome’, another attitude-filled bub-
their friends, picking those they’re blegum rocker. River definitely has an awe-
close to. UK band Lacey are on first some mommy and daddy, that’s for sure.
(after an introduction by MC Lars). Awesome is also the word that could
Unfortunately our Bowling For Soup best describe Bowling For Soup. It’s a Sat-
interview was scheduled at the same urday night and Bowling For Soup are
time, so we miss most of their set. guaranteed to put a smile on your face. If
Sad times. MC Lars acts as compere you’ve ever seen Bowling For Soup you’ll
in between bands and later gets the know what to expect – although funny chat
crowd warmed up by inviting audi- and great songs never gets old. The band
ence members onto the stage to win have gotten rid of their ‘photo opportunity’
a USB stick. Three guys have a go when the four members used to come to-
at skanking although they’re all pretty gether to pose for a few minutes, but there
terrible. Lars promises all three a are other fun things instead. The guys have
USB stick from the merch table. He a bar over towards the back of the stage so
also makes up a rap song using Jaret and Chris go there at one point while
items that the audience are holding Erik plays his bass.
up – this includes hair brushes, A girl who is on a hen night is invited
onto the stage and two of Bowling For
Soup’s crew dance for her. Jaret comments

that maybe they should add that to their
set even when there isn’t a hen night.
The guys have pyro on this tour
which means blasts of fire up into the air
once in a while. This adds to the enter-
tainment factor. Song-wise, there’s
everything from ‘Punk Rock 101’, the
‘Phineas And Ferb’ theme tune, ‘1985’,
‘Emily’, ‘Ohio (Come Back To Texas)’,
‘The Bitch Song’ and many more. Jaret
talks about hearing others say that pop
punk is dead and says “Let’s all prove
that pop punk is not dead”. The band
then perform a medley featuring snippets
of pop punk tunes by Blink-182, Green
Day, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory
and Jimmy Eat World before their cover
of ‘Stacy’s Mom’ (by Fountains Of
Wayne). One of the funniest moments is
Jaret commenting that every time some-
one from the audience shouts he thinks
they’re saying ‘storm the castle’. The set
ends with ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’.
There are no castles nearby, but Bowling
For Soup put on a storming show!
YYYYY
SBV

Jaret Reddick (Bowling For Soup)
Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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