LIVE REVIEW: Bowling For Soup @ Rock City, Nottingham
WORDS: Dean Martin
BOWLING FOR SOUP have ruled the roost of pop-punk since it exploded into life in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Now, the scene is over-populated with bands emerging left, right and centre. For the four happy go lucky Texans, remaining at the top of the pile is harder than ever. It’s been three years since the band last toured the UK and at the coveted Rock City in Nottingham, we checked out whether the band still have what it takes to lead pop-punk for years to come.
What can be said about MC LARS? Well, there are not many musicians like him, nor should there ever be. A rapper than can twist the most mundane things, like the contents of the audience’s pockets, to the literary intricacy that is Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, into his own style with lyrics faster than most people can think. With humour interlaced in sentence he was a wise choice to kick off the evening and then reappear to entertain the audience between bands.
Rating: 8/10
LACEY are a pop punk band originally from Nottingham, so this hometown was gig particularly special for them as it completed their checklist of every venue in the city! There was no denying passion and enthusiasm the quartet put into their performance. It’s hard to find anything disagreeable about the gentle guitar tones, and down to earth lyrics. LACEY are a great band to warm up any crowd and certainly worth keeping an eye on in the coming years.
Rating: 8/10
THE DOLLYROTS is made up of duo Luis Cabezas (guitar, vocals) and Kelly Ogden (bass, vocals) whose passion for one another, and for the music, really makes them a spectacular show. The pop punk duo’s music has a country twang to it which was demonstrated through their rendition of The Combine Harvester, a song made famous by THE WURZELS to much appreciation from the audience who seemed up for any chance at a sing song!
Rating: 8/10
Back in the UK for their How About Another Round tour with copious sex jokes, it’s like BOWLING FOR SOUP were never gone. Playing the hits such as Girl All The Bad Guys Want and 1985 to the lesser known, older songs like I Don’t Know meant every fan was catered for. Jared (Vocals, guitar) spoke of an article he read saying pop punk was dead and, being a band that helped start this genre, this upset them a little, so to test this BOWLING FOR SOUP played a mash up of some famous pop punk songs, including GREEN DAY’s Basketcase, BLINK 182’s All The Small Things, and JIMMY EAT WORLD’s The Middle, to name a few. Between the venue having sold out and the audience singing along to every word it’s fair to say pop punk is definitely alive.
Rating: 8/10
