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Thursday 18 February 2016

How About Another Round Tour 2016

How About Another Round Tour
Bowling For Soup, The Dollyrots, Lacey and MC Lars
February  2016

In 2013 Bowling For Soup announced their farewell UK Tour and left thousands of fans across the UK devastated..........  but now, two and a half years later,  THEY ARE BACK and even better than before!

At last summer's Download festival BFS fans were surprised with the announcement of a reunion tour which immediately sparked a buzz across the internet and various fan pages.

The anticipation grew even further following Bowling For Soup's announcement that they would be bringing  long time pals The Dollyrots and completing the line up with Nottingham based band Lacey and rapper MC Lars.

If you look at the various fan pages and internet sites, this tour has generated a huge buzz and although it has been greeted with speculation as to why the Bowling For Soup boys have made a return to the UK, it has only added to the hype for those eager to be re-united with their heroes and spend an evening in the company of their favourite Texas quartet.

The tour spreads across 15 consecutive nights in 15 different cities, starting in Glasgow on the 1st of February and ending in Bristol on the 15th. Being a fan of BFS for quite a few years I immediately purchased tickets for the three closest shows and following the announcement of Lacey for the support, I made sure I attended a few more!  I have been lucky enough to see 7 shows in total on this run.

Warming up the crowd each night has been 'post pop punk lap top rap' artist MC Lars, who spends the first few minutes of his first set doing just that by leading the crowd in a series of gentle stretching exercises before launching into the  very energetic 'Hurricane Fresh'.

Unlike most gigs I have been to, MC Lars lives up to his name as master of ceremonies on this tour, as rather than doing one set he actually does three short sets,  introducing each of the other bands.

Across his sets he is consistently upbeat and full of energy and (with the exception of a rather narrow minded crowd at Manchester), he really does get the energy flowing, the vibe at a high level and his set includes many crowd pleasers such as 'This Gigantic Robot' and 'Signing Emo'. 

Many of his songs call for crowd participation and whether you are chanting to along to 'Mr Raven' or bobbing your rock hand dragon in the air to 'Dragon Blood' you are guaranteed to have a smile on your face.

I have never been a fan of rap music but after finding myself singing 'Download This Song'  the morning after each show, I found myself searching ITunes for his back catalogue and I think it is now safe to say that he has won me over and has gained a new fan! (check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ZSdYxdLO8 )

Next up is one of my favourite bands, Lacey!  Anyone who has read my blog before will know that I have seen these guys on quite a few occasions and they have never failed to impress me but this time they have excelled themselves.

Following the release of their debut album 'Under The Brightest Lights' last year, Lacey have continued to make a name for themselves in the music industry and on the 5th of February they released their new EP 'I Don't Owe The World A Thing', with their set including three songs from the EP.


Lacey's subtle multi part harmonies, striking guitar hooks  and catchy chorus lines have always been present in their music but it is clear when listening to the new songs that their sound has matured and grown along with them.  The new songs included in the set;  'Hoax', 'Shadow' and 'Ghost while I'm Alive' highlight this perfectly.  



Also included in the set are fan favourite 'Contender' and 'Tonight' from their debut album,  as well as a cheeky cover of Blink 182's 'Dammit'.

Lead singer Graham Turner has a unique and powerful voice and can hit notes some singers only dream of, and the intricate guitar lines add a uniqueness to their sound . Take a listen to Shadow here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09uWFZTR3d8

This is the longest and most prestigious tour of Lacey's career to date, and they have proved that they deserved to be there. 

Lacey received a fantastic reception from the crowd on each night that I saw them and given that they have just announced that they will be embarking on a headline tour in June, this can only mean even bigger things for them. 

Next up are Los Angeles pop punk band The Dollyrots.  I first discovered The Dollyrots on the 'One Big Happy Tour' that they did with Bowling For Soup back in 2012, and although I have always stated that I do not generally like female fronted bands, I have always enjoyed the Dollyrots and found them really listenable.

Made up of Kelly and Luis and joined on this tour by drummer Rikki Stixx, The Dollyrots play a very highly charged set. 

The relationship between Kelly and Luis is very clear to see and adds to the dynamic of the band.  Add to that the appearance of River the 'Dollytot', each night and it is clear to see that why the fans love this little pop punk family, and not just for their awesome music. 

The Dollyrots set was packed full of old favourites including 'Jackie Chan', 'Twist Me To The Left', 'Satellites' and 'Because I'm Awesome', as well as some newer songs such as 'Get Weird' and 'Come And Get It', from their last album 'Barefoot And Pregnant'.   (check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZnfIrY2tGg )

The Dollyrots have recently completed a successful pledge campaign for their new EP 'Mommas Gonna Knock You Out' and their tour DVD.  Included in their set is 'Save Me' from their new EP.
The Dollyrots are pure pop punk and never fail to impress me.  I would highly recommend seeing these guys live as they always produce a fun and exciting set.

Topping the bill are the founders of pop punk.......  Bowling for soup!

Any Bowling For Soup fan will try to explain the excitement they feel and the goose bumps they get as they hear the opening chords of Bowling for Soups play on song, but until you see them live you will never fully understand the anticipation and thrill of hearing that song.

As the curtain drops a full pub scene is revealed complete with beer barrels, dart board, onstage bar and walls adorned with photographs of the bands (which looked to be personal photos rather than posed especially for the set).  On Valentine's Day the walls of the set were also adorned with hearts,  and valentine message boards had been added to the drum riser.

Starting with the song that launched their career, Bowling For Soup are greeted with cheers and screams from the crowd as they kick off the show with 'The Bitch Song'. 

Then, without giving the audience time to get their breath back,  they head right into 'Emily' and lift the roof off the venue. 

And that's just the start!  More high energy fun ensues with raucous choruses in the form of crowd pleasers 'Ohio', 'Last Rock Show' and 'Punk Rock 101'.  They even throw in the theme tune to cartoon 'Phineas And Ferb'.

At this point Jaret takes a moment to bring the energy level back down a notch and is honest and upfront with the audience as he tells them that it is his fault that they took a hiatus as he had been experiencing personal problems and that he didn't know where he was headed personally.  Jaret's speech is open and honest and is a stark reminder that the rock stars we idolise and look up to in today's society  are still human and prone to a wobble, just like anyone else.  Personally I think it takes guts to hold your hand up and admit something as personal as that to thousands of people, but it is this kind of honesty that earns Jaret the respect that he has among his fans. 

Following his speech with a beautiful rendition of  'Turbulence', Jaret lifts the room again by announcing that he loves nothing more than to play songs with his best friends every night, but as his friends weren't there we would have to make do with Bowling For Soup, before launching into 'Friends O' Mine'.

Anyone who has seen BFS before will know that you don't just get a night of music with these guys but you also get a lot of onstage banter, which can (and has been known to)  go off at a tangent at any moment.  Whether it is Jaret's observation that when English men cheer it sounds as though they are about to go into battle, at which points he encourages the cheering as he yells 'Storm The Castle' or a nicely improvised song called 'Swampy Balls' after Chris' statement that he was too sweaty in the room at Liverpool, there is never a dull moment and no two shows are the same.

Following a recent statement that 'Pop Punk is dead', the Bowling For Soup boys set out to prove otherwise by playing  a medley of songs by prominent pop punk bands including Blink 182, Greenday, New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World and Good Charlotte before launching into their cover version of 'Stacy's mom' (originally by Fountains Of Wayne).   All of these covers are met with raucous applause and crowd participation to which Jaret  cheekily comments about how they get a better response for the songs they didn't write.

It doesn't deter them though as they go on to perform 'I Don't Know' and 'Almost', before inviting the Dollyrots to join them on stage for 'Love Ya, Love Ya, Love Ya' from the 'One Big Happy' collaboration album.



Ending the set on 'High School Never Ends' the guys go off to the on stage bar to await their encore!  As they come back on they explain that they no longer go and wait in the wings for a few minutes as they now have an onstage bar with beer and the side stage doesn't have beer!



The encore consists of very high energy performances of 'Shut Up And Smile' and 'Girls All The Bad Guys Want' before they take their final bow and actually leave the stage. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGRxmYXi4Io)

The guys have spared no expense with this show.  During the show we find that the beer barrels hide steam and fire cannons (which they couldn't use at all the shows due to fire regulations, but looked fantastic when we saw them in action at the Birmingham show).

Throughout the Bowling For Soup set the onstage bar is populated by Lacey, The Dollyrots, MC Lars and the rest of the stage crew, leading you thinking that you are actually watching a pub band at your local with your mates. Even with the smoke/fire cannons, fantastic lighting and couple of thousand strong crowd each night you still get the feel of an intimate show.

Bowling For Soup have always been a firm favourite of mine since I first discovered them back in 2002, and no matter how many times I see them live, I will never get tired of seeing them.

If you love music and a good time, I would recommend that you see all of the acts on this tour as I can guarantee you will not be disappointed!