Page 48 - Black Velvet Issue 96

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BOWLING FOR SOUP / THE AQUABATS / ARMY OF FRESHMEN – BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY, 13.02.18
The year is 2018, but it could almost be a flashback to 2006, when Bowling For Soup and Army Of Freshmen first created the Get Happy Tour.
And like 2006’s tour, 2018’s WILL make you happy – for all the right reasons. With Bowling For Soup always headlining and Army Of Freshmen always
opening, it’s the middle of the sandwich that gets switched up every time there’s a tour. This year The Aquabats are the tasty filling.
Army Of Freshmen went on a quiet hiatus in 2014, following their tour with Lit. In September 2017 they announced that they’d be celebrating their
20-year anniversary in 2018 with the return of the Get Happy Tour. On stage shortly after doors open while the room is still filling, the six-piece band
greet the audience with their hyper, uplifting, vibrant tunes. ‘Get Em Up’ and ’10,000 Years’ instantly raise the positive vibrations. Frontman Chris Jay
darts around the stage like a child with ADD. ‘Body Parts’ and set closer, ‘Juliet’, continue to get your body parts moving. We’re definitely happy that
these guys are back, and hope they continue to stay active.
Fellow Californians The Aqua-
bats have been around for as long
as Black Velvet – since 1994. And
you can’t get more any more enter-
taining than these guys. Dressed
as superheroes in aqua and black,
the band mix cartoon adventure
with ska punk tunes. ‘The Shark
Fighter’ sees two inflatable sharks
thrown out into the audience, while
‘Pizza Day’ sees two fans crowd-
surf on giant inflatable pizzas.
These guys take the prize for the
most entertaining set.
You know you’ll always have a
good time at a Bowling For Soup
show, and that theme continues
tonight. This tour they’re performing
their ‘Drunk Enough To Dance’
album in its entirety as a celebra-
tion of its 15-year anniversary. They
have VIP fans watching from the
back of the stage. ‘Come along with
us, get on the party bus’ their intro
sings, and we are on it from the
moment they get on stage. They
can’t quite keep up with The Aqua-
bats for being the most entertain-
ing, but their melodic pop-rock
tunes are just what the doctor or-
dered. The album stemmed the
band’s biggest hits – such as
‘Emily’, ‘Girl All The Bad Guys
Want’ and later, ‘Punk Rock 101’. It
makes a change to hear the full
album in its entirety, including some
of the lesser-played songs. These
days Bowling For Soup have so
many hits that their full set is like a
greatest hits, so it makes a change
to hear a few different tunes.
Slower ballad ‘Where To Begin’
sees the band’s local friend James
Stant join to play the cello. “Is there
anything you can play on that cello
that is actually happy?” asks Jaret
to James, due to the melancholic
sound it emanates. They interject a
few of their other hits into the album
playback including ‘Almost’, which
precedes ‘Life After Lisa’, ‘High
School Never Ends’ and ‘The Bitch
Song’. The band do a countdown to
‘1985’, which is their final song of
the night, add in their usual ‘photo
op’ and have drinks from their on-
stage bar. They joke around in be-
tween songs and remind us they’re
the band you can wave at. And as
we get off the party bus, when
‘1985’ wraps up the encore, we
hope that it comes back around
and picks us up for another fun tour
next year.
YYYY
Andy Nicklin
Chris Burney (Bowling For Soup) Photo By
Shari Black Velvet

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