The last time I saw Bowling For Soup was in 2009 at El Corazon. That’s the last time they played Seattle. Six long years I have awaited their return, and judging by the totally packed club and it being a Tuesday. It seems they were missed but not forgotten in Seattle. Bowling For Soup know how to put on a very entertaining show that was as much stand-up comedy as it was a rock show.
Hailing from Texas, these four very large dudes came on stage to raucous cheers. Front man Jaret Reddick quipped that with a response like that, they must be bigger than Nirvana. Then he added that he just ate Nirvana. Their jokes and humor continued unabated throughout the entire show. They opened with Almost, followed by High School Never Ends. Everyone sang along word for word.
Guitar player Chris Burney was equally entertaining, flipping his guitar around, sticking it under his chin like a violin or just gyrating about.
Toward the end of their set all four posed together so everyone could take a picture. They did this on stage left, stage center and stage right, with each pose getting goofier and goofier. Then when they left the stage, and everyone began yelling, “Bowling for Soup!,” they returned long enough to announce, that the proper request for an encore was to yell, “Soup, there it is!” Everyone was happy to oblige and the band returned, saving their best song (1985)for last. This was the first song I ever heard by them and the song that turned me onto them. Or as my son said, they wrote a song about me (the line of the song’s character wanting to get her hands on a member of Duran Duran was the most obvious). Then, half way through the song, they claimed they would stand at the back of the stage and let everyone sing the song to them while they sipped beverages. They did just that while the audience kept singing the song, before the band once again returned to their instruments to finish out their set. Kelly Dollyrot joined them on stage for the grand finale, and hammed it up with Chris and Jaret. BFS are, Jaret Reddick (vocals), Chris Burney (guitar), Erik Chandler (bass) (who speaks in a low, growling voice as if he’s smoked a pack of cigarettes daily from birth), and Gary Wiseman drums.
Coming on prior to BFS, was the Dollyrots. I’ve been wanting to see the Dollyrots for some time. This Los Angeles punk trio consists of singer Kelly Ogden (Vox, Bass), Luis Cabezas (Guitar, Vox) and Rikki on drums (the band did not get back to me on the spelling of Rikki or her last name). This is a young band, I doubt they’re 30, but they put on a performance as good as any of the seasoned pros I’ve seen. They ooze charm. One of the highlights of their show was their punched up, speeded up version of the old Melanie song, Brand New Key.
Drummer Rikki slammed away as if possessed, yet never broke a sweat, her blond hair often flying into her face. And I was surprised Kelly’s charm didn’t leave puddles of molten sugar all over the stage. Luis was no slouch in the charm department either as he churned out punk power chords.
Judging by the enthusiastic response from this crowd, I feel justified in saying that I was not the only one impressed by the Dollyrots.
A fun night was definitely had by all.
