Bowling For Soup/The Dollyrots/Lacey/MC Lars

O2 Academy, Bournemouth

The start of the school holidays have arrived just in time as Bowling for Soup are back in town once again. There will be no parent and child rows over going to a gig on a school night as tonight is Friday and time to party! Bowling for Soup I hear you all cry had a farewell tour in 2013??? Well the press release says “It was farewell, not goodbye”. “Jaret, Chris, Erik, and Gary missed you too much and are back to the UK” to do it all again. I hear no-one in here complaining tonight, the place is packed with excited fans awaiting their pop/punk heroes to take to the stage.

As with any BFS tour there is always a hand-picked selection of supports to warm up the crowd before the headliners take to the stage. Long time friend and collaborator MC Lars is tonight’s Compere and his job is to introduce the bands as well as filling in with a few of his own tunes between sets. He kicks off at around 7:30pm with an initial shakedown before introducing the first band of the evening.

MC Lars 1–2

Nottingham’s “Lacey” arrive on to the stage with masses of love from the enthusiastic Bournemouth audience. The five-piece combine two electric guitars with an acoustic to provide a big melodic sound; coupled with the powerfully delivered, passionate vocals of frontman Graham Turner. The crowd are with the band right from the start, singing back the vast majority of the words of some of their great songs including “Tonight” and the beautifully heartfelt “Contenders”. The band end their set on a high with their brand new single “Shadow”, a highly emotive tune that features some really impressive guitar work.

Lacey 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9

After a quick change around Mc Lars is back performing a duo with local musician Addie Jay (Adam Scholey) of the tune “Mr. Raven”, which was inspired by the writer Edgar Allan Poe. This sees Addie hilariously putting his hand up the backside of a Raven puppet and joining MC Lars with the chorus. The Dollyrots then take to the stage and part way through their first number things really start to get moving in the audience. Their high energy tunes which include “My Best Friend’s Hot” and “Satellite” really get the place bouncing. This three-piece which features founder members Kelly Ogden (bass, vocals) and Luis Cabezas (guitar, vocals) have a really palatable style of music which is enjoyed here wholeheartedly by the crowd. They keep the high momentum right up until the end with Kelly singing “Because I’m Awesome” with a massive smile on her face, seemingly enjoying tonight’s fantastic crowd reaction.

The Dollyrots 1–2–3–4–5–6

Oh Dear……….news reaches us that “Bowling For Soup” were in London last night and they are particularly hungover after partying rather hard. Mc Lars brings the band on stage who seem initially a little lethargic, but are soon knocked sideways by the amazing reaction from the chanting crowd who are all so pleased to see the band return to our seaside town. The stage is set out like a pub with a bar, dart board and beer barrels at the corner of the stage that emit high reaching flames. The four of them soon find their stride and belt out some of their classic tracks, which are all sung straight back at the band word for word by the audience.

Bowling For Soup 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11

The hangovers are soon forgotten and the band in between songs take a break and go to the bar for yet more beers. They don’t just entertain with their music, the in-between song banter is priceless, they are just as happy taking the micky out of themselves as they are of the audience. They announce that they heard on the news that Punk Pop is dead and agree with the audience that this is most definitely not the case, before launching into a medley of punk/pop classics. The Dollyrots join the band back on the stage for a great version “Love Ya, Love Ya, Love Ya”. The evening ends on a huge high with a massively powerful sing-a-long of one of Bowling for Soup’s best known songs “Girl All the Bad Guys Want”. The crowd just lap up every word……..The band leave the stage with such a positive message from the Bournemouth crowd-punk/pop is certainly not dead, it is alive and living right here on the South coast within the hearts of all it’s fans.

Set-Lists
Intro: (Here Comes Bowling For Soup)
The Bitch Song
Emily
Ohio (Come Back to Texas)
The Last Rock Show
Punk Rock 101
Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day (Phineas and Ferb Theme)
Turbulence
Friends o’ Mine
1985 (SR-71 cover)
I Don’t Know
All the Small Things / Basket Case / Girls & Boys / My Friends Over You / The Middle
(Various Artists cover)
Stacy’s Mom (Fountains of Wayne cover)
Since We Broke Up
Love Ya, Love Ya, Love Ya (with The Dollyrots)
Almost
High School Never Ends