Bowling for Soup and Less Than Jake Bring the Pop-Punk and Ska-Punk Party to the Eventim Apollo, London!!

March 2, 2024 rocknews

‘Bowling for Soup’ have always been the voice of a disenfranchised generation, the go to band for for all the guys and gals who just like them had the hots for the girl all the bad guys want, but didn’t stand a chance!! The party hard, beer swilling, college misfits you could actually relate to with the incredibly catchy songs and the couldn’t give two stuffs attitude! And even though it’s 30 years since ‘Bowling for Soup’ erupted onto the US music scene and 23 years since their first phenomenally successful UK show in the very same venue where they graced the stage tonight, not a thing had changed because these guys were all about the party!

And now that the boys are all grown up and mom and dad weren’t going to ground them anymore, those party boys were going all out!! Which other band actually has their mates and a bar on stage?! This band, that’s who!! Because 30 years on, these guys are still the party animals that they always were and the audience expected nothing less from a band who have made such musical masterpieces as ‘My Wena’ and ‘High School Never Ends’!

But these guys weren’t partying alone because tonight they’d brought their friends along in the form of two phenomenally great bands, American ska-punk rockers, ‘Less Than Jake’ and alternative country rockers the ‘Vandoliers’!! Two bands that were so great and went down so well that even before ‘Bowling for Soup’ stepped foot onto the stage, the party had well and truly started!!

Vandoliers

First to the stage where Texan country-punk rockers ‘Vandoliers’! An eclectic ska-punk-county highbred fronted by charismatic frontman Joshua Fleming! Their track ‘Howlin’ with its beautiful violin and Flemings superb vocals was outstanding, begging the question, could this be the band who make country cool?

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Less Than Jake

Next up was ‘Less Than Jake’, who as well as bringing catchy as hell music, a seriously impressive brass section (who knew that anyone could make a trombone sound so good) and an explosive and energetic stage show to the party, also brought the most impressive of loo roll canons! Yes, you read that right!! The ultimate high school kids dream come true and I’m guessing from the ecstatic applause from the audience, something more than a few of the 40 and 50 somethings and their kids will be putting on their Christmas lists!

‘Less Than Jake’ proved themselves to be total ska-punk legends, they less walked onto the stage, more exploded in a frenetic whirlwind of saxophone and trombones! Within mere moments they whipped the crowd into a heaving crowd surfing pit of delicious madness!! They were an absolute triumph, a band so epic and so fun that I defying you to see them and not want to dance like your life depends on it!! From the onset it was clear to see that this bad have a huge following in their own right and if tonight’s performance is anything to go by, then it’s not hard to see why!! Chris DeMales’s vocals were edgy as fuck and the energy of this magnificent group of nonconformists could have blown the roof off the venue!! Their opening track, ‘Last One Out of Liberty City’ was raw, visceral and glorious!! ‘Help Save the Youth of America from Exploding’ with its driving drums and DeMakes arpeggio desperados guitar sound was absolutely sensational!

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Bowling for Soup

And once the audience had hit warp factor nine and some, it was time for ‘Bowling for Soup’ to take to the stage and despite all the party capers of the earlier parts of their set, there was a more sensitive side to the pop-punk legends. An incredible warmth between the band and their fans and this was never more evident than when Jaret Reddick spoke bravely to the audience about his own mental health battles, urging his fans who were struggling to seek help, telling them that they were not alone. It was a heartwarming moment.

With all the antics and the party atmosphere it could be easy to forget that this band have stood the test of time not just because of their quite frankly hilarious stage show, but also because first and foremost they play damn good music! In fact, they seamlessly played hit after hit of many of their most loved tracks such as ‘Emily’, ‘The Last Rock Show’ and of course the unforgettable and perhaps one their proudest moments and their catchiest track of all, the theme tune to 90’s cartoon ‘Phineas and Ferb’.

And the humour and feelgood feeling just kept coming! There were so many laugh out loud moments such as, when after playing their massive hit, ‘Girl All the Bad Guys Want’, and before playing the encore of their huge hit ‘1985’, the entire band chilled out on stage on a sofa swigging bourdon from the bottle. Then there was the time where they got the photographers to come back out to take a few more shots because they didn’t want them going off looking glum, like they’d not had a good time, and of course the traditional fans photo opportunity where they struck an array of amusing poses for their fans insta pics!! Then there was the free guitar giveaway where the lucky and absolutely thrilled Katy from London was not only given a signed guitar from the band but also invited to party at the onstage bar with the other party animals! This are the band that just keep on giving!!