In town for a run of Good Things sideshows, Bowling For Soup returned to our shores to also play a selection of sideshows. Managing to pack out the Metro Theatre on a Tuesday night, the Texas band brought the best of their 30 year deep catalogue, while also throwing in a couple special treats for their long time fans.
Opening the night was Taylor Acorn, a pop-punk prodigy from the USA, who along with their band, brought a lively and fun supporting set. While admittedly not familiar with her back catalogue, I saw enough on stage to think Taylor and her band will hopefully return to our shores plenty more times. With a sound in that classic emo-pop-punk vein, similar in style to Redhook or Stand Atlantic, the set was closed out with 2023 single “Pyscho”, as the crowd who turned up early seemed pretty happy with their decision to do so.
Returning to the country for the first time since 2014, Bowling For Soup have been around long enough to know what their fans want to hear in a headline set, and in the following 90 minutes, they delivered a plethora of hits and deep cuts, ranging from their break out single “The Bitch Song” (or as the band referred to ‘the career saver’), the Phineas and Ferb theme song, through to their most well-known single “1985”.
Opening with “My Hometown”, an ode to their Texas upbringing, it’s the type of song that, while not overly deep in its sentiment, tends to resonate with anyone who was mildly fond of their childhood. Segueing briefly into a shortened version of “Emily”, they quickly moved into “Almost”, the opening song from their 2004 album A Hangover You Don’t Deserve. Twenty years after its release, the band has spent the majority of this year touring it, playing the album front-to-back, featuring some tracks that haven’t been heard live for close to two decades. Hopes were high they’d continue this on this Australian tour; unfortunately this didn’t transpire. While the set did lean heavily into the album’s tracklist (“Trucker Hat”, “Two Seater”, “Ohio (Come Back to Texas)”, “Shut Up and Smile” and “1985” all got a run and were incredibly well received by the crowd), leaving out some of the deeper cuts ultimately felt like a missed opportunity (to be honest I really just wanted to hear “Friends O’Mine”).
The band had plenty of crowd involvement and banter on stage, ranging from a joke competition between band members, impromptu story telling, a photo shoot, and the obligatory decline of a shoey (people still requesting these need to get out more often). Breaking the set down this way helped the band connect better with the crowd and vice versa. Dedicating parts of the show to missing band members and other bands not doing so well (specifically Derrick from Sum 41) showed a maturity to a band that isn’t necessarily known for it. “The Last Rock Show” was a nice touch to the set, while playing a cover of “Stacey’s Mom” (‘our biggest song of all time’) and “Out The Window” brought a depth to the show I wasn’t anticipating.
Set highlights came in the form of main set closer “High School Never Ends”, “Punk Rock 101”, “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” and naturally show closer “1985”. In a time where being able to throw things back a few years purely for nostalgia purposes doesn’t always feel like a cash grab, I’m glad Bowling For Soup made it to the country once more. The band might be getting on in age, but even after a 30 year career, they’re still putting on a show that gets the best out of them and their fans. I look forward to their return, whether next year or in 2034.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Header image credit: Jodi Photography
