Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Originally published by L.S. Media. October 21st 2010.

Perhaps it’s ironic that Bowling for Soup brought their particular brand of rock to Liverpool on the night that the city was hosting the MOBO awards for the first time. In one corner of the city the corporate and glitzy glamour that is always associated with ceremonies throughout the world and in the other, four lads from Texas, plying their trade the only way they know how, with a room full of eager, sweaty, loyal fans and one hell of a party atmosphere.

For the casual observer, it might be hard to see the appeal of a band that seems to want to make their core audience leave a gig with a huge smile on their collective faces. Whether that’s through some of the song lyrics that contain more double entendres than Kenneth Williams could muster or the fact that the band want to party hard as much as the person who has spent their money seeing them. Whatever the reason, the band deserves to be talked of more in glowing terms than they are.

With some songs in the set that are universal favourites, the evening was never going to be dull. Amongst the songs played to a capacity crowd were My Wena, the cracking High School Never Ends and 1985. There was time for a surprise for the crowd as Jaret Reddick, Chris Burney, Erik Chandler and Gary Wiseman were joined on stage by members of the three support acts for a rendition of Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name which for all purposes sounded fresh and exhilarating in the hands of the guys from Wichita Falls.

The band have promised a new album for next year, if it is half as good as this gig was, then the fans of the band who braved the cold and ignored anything else going on in the city are going to be well rewarded.

Ian D. Hall