People on Vacation
Liz's House and Manchester Academy
November 15th and 18th, 2013
There is a lot of talk in the press at the
moment about super groups following the recent announcement of the McBusted
tour, but a tour for one super group seems to have been overlooked....
People on Vacation comprises of Jaret
Reddick from Bowling for Soup and Ryan Hamilton of Smile Smile and this week I
have had the pleasure of seeing them twice under two totally different
circumstances. People on Vacation have
hit the UK to play a six date tour consisting of three acoustic house parties
in Great Yarmouth, Peterborough and Derby and then three dates with Blue
October in Birmingham, Manchester and London..... and I have been lucky enough to experience one
of each!
On Friday we made the four hour journey and
travelled down to Peterborough, where hostess Liz had opened her house to the
fifty eager fans waiting for the Texas duo.
Unfortunately we missed the start of their set as we encountered very
heavy traffic on the way down and I believe we missed 'Lonely Fish' and a
rendition of 'Phineas and Ferb', but we did have the pleasure of hearing most
of the set including 'It's Not Love', 'Where Do We Go', 'Lonely Chris' (a
parody of 'Lonely Fish' dedicated to one of the fans in attendance) and Bowling
for Soups latest single, 'Circle'.
The whole set was an acoustic set and
although it was a much smaller venue than they usually play, they sounded
great! The house had a through
lounge/kitchen/conservatory and although it was full it was not uncomfortably
full.
After Jaret and Ryan finished their set
they joined in the party with the rest of us, chatting and chilling out with
everyone who wanted to talk to them.
They also posed for photographs, including posing on the sofa with a
young child who had wanted to meet them but had fallen asleep. Jaret posed as though he had passed out on
the sofa and Ryan as though he was about to beat him up. Luckily the child in question woke up before
the end of the party and actually got to meet his idols but I would love to
have seen his face the next day when he saw the pictures his parents had staged
with Jaret and Ryan.
The party was a great night and it is clear
to see why all three of the house parties sold out. I would not hesitate to attend another house
party event. (Thank you Liz for being a great hostess!)
Going to the other end of the spectrum are the
three shows supporting Blue October which saw Jaret and Ryan play a full band
set with the accompaniment of Rob Lane (Teenage Casket Company) on bass and
Michael Richards (Session Drummer) on drums.
Included in the set was the song 'Prettiest
Girl' from the album 'The Summer And Fall', which Ryan had been singing each
night during the last UK Bowling for Soup
tour, which had been an elaborate plan to propose to girlfriend Holly on the
last night of tour.
Between songs we were treated to plenty of
banter from Jaret and Ryan. Whether it's
Ryan comparing himself to Erik Chandler (of Bowling for Soup) or Ryan sharing that
Jaret tweets while he poops, these guys make you feel as though you are hanging
with the cool kids and really make you feel part of the People on Vacation
family.
Until tonight I had only ever heard People
on Vacation play an acoustic set but hearing them with full band has made me
love them even more. Whether they play
acoustic sets or with the full band I will definitely be seeing these guys the
next time they are in the UK.
Unfortunately I couldn't say the same for
Blue October, as although they were good they were not my cup of tea and we
left the set half way through, which turned out to be a good thing as we were
able to chat with Jaret, Ryan, Rob,
Michael and Holly, which turned the night from a great night to a fantastic
night.
(People On Vacation will be back in the UK for a ten date tour in April 2014, along with Patent Pending and Lacey)
