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BOWLING FOR SOUP Ends Tour with Sold Out Pittsburgh Show (Show Review)

Four Chord Music Fest 5
 

For nearly thirty years Texas pop-punk band Bowling For Soup has developed their sound and become a household name over a multi-generational fanbase. The Grammy-nominated punk rock quartet has maintained their tightness as a group as well as their ability to make fans young and old, new and returning, feel welcome and connected at shows with their own humor, humility and overall genuineness that feels all too lost in today's music world.

 

Sunday, September 26th, 2021. Bowling For Soup rolls into a sold-out Jergels in Warrandale PA, the packed house awaits the band as two opening acts The Middle Room and touring support band Don't Panic take the stage. The Middle Room takes stage first to an eager crowd busting through a set of original songs that sound like a combo of early 2000's pop-punk meets modern mid-west emo with Don't Panic up next. The guys in Don't Panic are just as charismatic and hilarious as Bowling For Soup, joking in between songs, messing with each other on stage and amping the crowd up for the evening's headliner all while providing the audience to some straight-up, good ole' fashioned pop-punk reminiscent of the early 2000's.


After a brief intermission, the crowd began the ever too familiar chant at a Bowling For Soup show "Bowling For Soup Hey!" to which the band replied with emerging to the stage. The sold-out Warrandale/Pittsburgh crowd roared over the band's arrival to the stage. The band opened up with Trucker Hat from their 2004 album "The Hangover You Don't Deserve" which then rolled right into the track "Almost." After a brief intermission of warming the crowd up the pop-punk quartet went through tracks "Hey Diane" and fan-favorite "Ohio".


Lead singer/frontman Jaret Reddick then took to the mic for some amazing crowd banter asking them if they knew that Bowling For Soup was behind the theme song to one of the greatest cartoons of all time. Jokingly, he said "sadly, we aren't going to play that song tonight" to which the crowd appropriately booed as they started playing the Phineas and Ferb theme song which the band abruptly stopped so fans could get their cameras ready to record, and then they started it over.


After some more banter in the audience, Reddick pointed to a young fan, no older than 10 who knew he was a wrestling fan, and that it was his birthday, to which they played the kid's favorite song "Alexa Bliss". After a quick roar from the crowd, the band jumped back into another single with "Highschool Never Ends" from 2006's The Great Burrito Extortion Case. A new BFS segment that I've never seen live was the Bowling For Soup Comedy Jam where each band member told a joke on stage, and the crowd's applause declared the winner which was certified bragging rights on the way home. The jokes were the perfect combination of corny, perverted and hilarious and something about garbanzo beans on the face.


The band played through nearly a dozen more tracks including "Get Happy", "Getting Old Sucks" and "Punk Rock 101" before closing out with the aforementioned Grammy-nominated track "Girl All The Bad Guys Want." When the track ended, stagehands brought out chairs for the band to sit on in front of the stage for fans to take photos to all to the track of David Lee Roth's Yankee Rose. The band walked around the stage from side to side allowing fans photo opps while making one-of-a-kind gestures a poses for a one-of-a-kind experience. Once the DLR song finished, Reddick took back to the mic to say that "This was part of our encore no bullshitting you here..." To which the band started playing "Since We Broke Up" before thanking the sold-out Pittsburgh crowd and closing with "1985".


Bowling For Soup is a rare breed. The band has and always will be genuine and humble, with their fans always coming first. Even throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, the band took to social media to interact with fans, having livestreams and even promising raincheck dates to canceled shows during the pandemic, with the Pittsburgh, Jergels date being one of them even including VIP treatment to some fans for an even more very-special one-of-a-kind fan treatment. If you've never seen BFS live, it's something that you surely don't want to miss on their next time through your town.


As for you UK fans, the band is set to hit on a tour with The Dollyrots and Lit in the spring of 2022 as well as Jaret and Rob heading out on an acoustic venture this December with some of the guys from Don't Panic.


You can check out UK tour dates as well as photos and highlights from the Jergels show below!

 


 


 

BOWLING FOR SOUP LINKS:

 

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The Pop-Punk Dad features awesome bands from around the globe. Send me awesome bands at: ThePopPunkDad@gmail.com

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