BOWLING FOR SOUP + WHEATUS + MAGNOLIA PARK – BRIGHTON CENTRE 14.2.25
Bowling For Soup formed in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994. Their lively pop-punk sound, in the tradition of bands such as Green Day and Blink 182, first attracted wider public attention with their fourth album, ‘Drunk Enough To Dance’. The accompanying single, ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ was nominated for a Grammy award and was a UK Top 10 hit. Their 2004 follow up ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’ made the US album charts, and its single ‘1985’ also reached the UK Top 40.
The band’s combination of pop sensibility and punky energy, along with witty lyrics, often on light-hearted themes, has maintained their popularity through a long career during which they have released eleven studio albums. With Chris Burney retiring on health grounds earlier this year, songwriter and frontman Jaret Reddick now handles all the guitar duties, accompanied by long-serving drummer Gary Wiseman and bassist Rob Felicetti, who replaced Erik Chandler in 2019. The current tour is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’ and 30 years of the band, and has previously taken in the United States and Australia. Tonight’s show at the 4,500 capacity Brighton Centre is the 9th of 10 UK dates.
There’s a great atmosphere tonight, with the venue full and the audience having been treated to excellent support sets from Wheatus and Magnolia Park. DJ Jon Mahon is whipping up the crowd in between the bands. Three large video screens trail Bowling For Soup’s forthcoming show at Wembley Arena on 13th December, suggesting that three decades in, they are more popular than ever. The flyer’s cartoon image of Jaret as a stunt motorcyclist in the manner of Evel Knievel is particularly arresting. As showtime approaches, a computer-style loading graphic builds tension until finally the ‘Here Comes Bowling For Soup’ introductory animation heralds the arrival of the headliners to a massive cheer from the huge crowd.
The visual theme is black and yellow, with the musicians attired in custom American football shirts. The band name is printed on the chest, above the squad number, with the player’s surname on the back. Stage techs and crew wear similar shirts with 00 squad numbers. As is customary for this act, there is a sort of bar area on stage where the crew and members of the support acts congregate, making a show of drinking and talking to add to the party atmosphere. Camera operators on stage and in the photographers’ pit provide a video feed for the three screens, with the larger one in the centre combining clips from band videos and other graphics with the live shots. The technical team have done an excellent job and it all looks and sounds great.
As the show is celebrating ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, it’s no surprise that the opener is the single ‘Almost’, which is the first track on the album. It’s a gloriously catchy slice of pop-punk, with a witty tragicomic lyric about a relationship that might have been. I don’t often attend gigs on the sort of scale to require video screens, but I’m appreciating the close-up shots of the players. Jaret is on a black Musician Axis with a yellow star motif, and the gold sparkle finish of Rob’s Mustang bass also goes nicely with the colour scheme. Gary sports an impressive beard as he thunders around the kit. In case we were missing Chris Burney’s trademark plectrum tossing antics, Jaret manages to stick a guitar pick to his forehead during ‘Trucker Hat’, and somehow it manages to stay there until the solo. The band are absolute masters of stagecraft, and Jaret elicits a mass call-and-response singalong as the song breaks down to a brief covers medley. We get short bursts of Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’, Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollaback Girl’, Slade’s ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, and Beastie Boys’ ‘Fight For Your Right’, and it’s moving to hear so many people singing back to him.
Jaret confirms that we’re going to get the album played in order, and there’s a bit of banter and teasing that anyone who messaged him to request ‘Stacy’s Mom’ will be disappointed. His jokey response to the pantomime boos is, “We already have your money”. This also means that ‘1985’, one of the band’s biggest hits and the next track on the album, will be rather earlier in the set than usual. The opening chords strike up, and a twinkling constellation of phone screens emerges from the audience to capture the moment. It’s funny and a real ear worm of a number, a nostalgic list song originally accompanied by a video with parodies of 1980s pop stars like George Michael and Robert Palmer. Some of the images have been popping up on the central screen. The sense of occasion is underlined at the song’s conclusion by a mighty broadside from an array of confetti cannons.
‘Get Happy’ is a personal favourite of mine from the band’s repertoire. The shuffle beat, busy bass, and psych-tinged progression remind me of the Manchester-led indie dance scene from the early 1990s. Appropriately, Jaret switches to his trademark guitar with a Texas flag paint job for ‘Ohio (Come Back To Texas)’, another hook-laden pop masterpiece with a poignantly witty lyric. The frontman is working the crowd again, pausing to get everyone to put their hands in the air. “If the person next to you is not doing this,” he insists, “it’s because they hate fun”, which achieves an extensive take-up ready for the arm-swaying singalong reprise.
There’s a long bantering digression of puerile humour. The starting point is crowd members sitting on their friends’ shoulders. The highlights are Jaret struggling with the pronunciation of “bollocks”, and trying to establish a UK version of warming embrocation cream, which leads to a few thousand people yelling “Deep Heat” at him. Other brands are doubtless available. Matthew, the bass player from Wheatus, guests on keyboards for ‘Ridiculous’ and ‘Shut Up And Smile’, and there are more witty relationship-themed lyrics on ‘Last Call Casualty’ and ‘Next Ex-Girlfriend’.
Jaret switches to an acoustic guitar, and since it’s Valentine’s Day serenades us briefly with a verse and chorus from ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ by Poison. “I hope we don’t go so late that we ruin your after plans,” he quips, mischievously. The band are joined for ‘A-Hole’ by John James Ryan on saxophone. He and Rob incorporate a nifty side-stepping dance into their performance. Switching back to electric, Jaret needs to turn up the volume control on his instrument, feeding Rob the opportunity to demonstrate the custom mute button on his bass. A warning that the next song lyric includes frequent repetition of the word “f*ck” prompts more discussion with the audience, weighing up the relative popularity of the f-word and the c-word in the UK. Unsurprisingly, the upshot of this is a few thousand people enthusiastically chanting “c*nt” back at the band. “You are what you eat,” the singer quips, amusingly. The supposedly offensive lyric of ‘My Hometown’ is actually wistful and rather charming, driven along nicely by an upbeat guitar chug, and its ending is marked by a dramatic volley of smoke puffs from the stage pyros.
A slightly surreal discussion of UK coffee brands, along with the suggestion that an audience member’s rude gesture is an offer to cream Jaret’s coffee, introduces the gloriously poppy ‘Smoothie King’ and the soaring chorus hook of ‘Sad Sad Situation’. To break up the run through of the 18-track album, Jaret invites a backpack-wearing fan onstage for a gameshow-style “spin the wheel” section to choose a track from a different record for the band to play. The chosen number is the innuendo-laden ‘My Wena’, and the fan gets some merch for his trouble.
We’re back to the album play-through with ‘Really Might Be Gone’, and there’s a touching moment of sincerity as Jaret discusses his own mental health struggles whilst introducing ‘Down For The Count’. There’s another big call-and-response singalong accompanied by much arm swaying for ‘Two Seater’, and we’ve made it to the end of the album we’re celebrating with final track ‘Friends O’ Mine’. Jaret introduces the number with a shout out to retired bandmate Chris Burney. “We’ll forever miss him, and we’re never filling that spot, ever.” He plays the song solo on an acoustic, while Gary and Rob join the party at the onstage bar.
The crowd are loudly cheering for more as the singer goes to sit with his bandmates. He returns to the mic with a quip. “A lot of bands like to leave the stage when they fake the end of their show. Not us. There are stairs involved!” He continues to milk the band’s longevity: “It’s not like I want to be in my 50s singing about High School,” which of course ushers in the bouncy fun of ‘High School Never Ends’. It’s the first of three encore songs, with the band’s TV theme to the Disney show ‘Phineas And Ferb’, and that Grammy-nominated classic ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ rounding off a brilliant evening’s entertainment. The finale is marked by another huge shower of confetti and streamers from the stage pyros.
Tonight has been tremendous fun, showcasing the quality of songwriting that has sustained the band’s long career, and demonstrating the level of stagecraft, technical quality, and audience interaction needed for a successful arena show. I have no doubt that they will absolutely smash it with their ambitious Wembley date later in the year.
Bowling For Soup:
Jaret Reddick – vocals, guitar
Rob Felicetti – bass, backing vocals
Gary Wiseman – drums
Bowling For Soup setlist:
(all from 2004 album ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, unless stated)
‘Almost’
‘Trucker Hat’
‘1985’ (SR-71 cover)
‘Get Happy’
‘Ohio (Come Back To Texas’
‘Ridiculous’
‘Shut-Up And Smile’
‘Last Call Casualty’
‘Next Ex-Girlfriend’
‘A-Hole’
‘My Hometown’
‘Smoothie King’
‘Sad Sad Situation’
’My Wena’ (from 2009 album ‘Sorry For Partyin’)
‘Really Might Be Gone’
‘Down For The Count’
‘Two-Seater’
‘Friends O’ Mine’
(encore)
‘High School Never Ends’ (from 2006 album ‘The Great Burrito Extortion Case’)
‘Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day’ (‘Phineas And Ferb’ TV theme, 2009)
‘Girl All the Bad Guys Want’ (from 2002 album ‘Drunk Enough To Dance’)
Between sets tonight we have DJ Jon Mahon, whose mission is to maintain the party atmosphere during the breaks. I must admit, I don’t really understand the point of playing records then talking (or shouting) all over them, other than for ‘Smashie And Nicey’ style parody, but it seems to still be a thing and is surprisingly well-received. Jon has made a record himself (‘You Got This’ by jbpm) and takes the opportunity to play it, and to be fair, he talks all over that too. His admirable enthusiasm keeps the crowd engaged through an eclectic playlist that ranges from appropriate pop-punk classics to toe-curling wedding DJ staples like ‘Angels’ and ‘The Final Countdown’. The audience are having great fun singing along and swaying their arms, so it’s a job well done.
Main support are Wheatus, who formed in Northport, New York in 1995, and are best known for their 2000 hit single ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, which reached number two in the UK charts. Based around the songwriting of singer and guitarist Brendan Brown, the band has seen numerous lineup changes over the years and is currently a seven-piece. On stage, they are arranged in a semi-circle, with Brendan house left and new drummer Dustyn house right. His double bass drums are in blue and yellow, reflecting the colours of the band logo projected on the main screen. Three backing vocalists are centre stage, along with keyboardist Brandon, while bass player Matthew is particularly animated, striding vigorously around the stage throwing plenty of shapes.
The band opens with a cover of ‘Growing On Me’ by The Darkness, Brendan’s impressive vocal range easily able to replicate Justin Hawkins’ trademark falsetto. Brendan can shred a pretty mean solo too. A cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’ was a hit for Wheatus back in 2001, and tonight’s rendition elects an enthusiastic singalong from the audience. The vocals really soar on original number ‘Fourteen’, and ‘Leroy’ features a very satisfying solo with some nifty use of an expression pedal. ‘Lemonade’ has an interesting sampled backing that sounds like a marimba, and draws some enthusiastic clapping along by the audience.
There’s a touching moment when Brendan presents flowers to his partner Gabrielle, who is one of the backing vocalists. Apparently, their first date was on Valentine’s Day, which is very romantic and certainly makes the anniversary easy to remember. Appropriately enough, the next number is ‘Valentine’, which moves nicely on a shuffle beat. A rather unflattering photo of the band’s sound engineer is projected on the big video screen as part of an in-joke. There’s not much doubt which number will conclude the set, and a sea of raised phones are ready to record the iconic anthem ‘Teenage Dirtbag’. The vast crowd turns in a hugely impressive unaccompanied rendition of the turnaround section where the previously unattainable object of the protagonist’s affections announces she has two tickets to Iron Maiden. Brendan feigns leaving the stage before returning to conclude the song and a very enjoyable set.
Wheatus:
Brendan Brown – lead vocals, guitar
Matthew Milligan – bass
Brandon Ticer – keyboards
Gabrielle Sterbenz – backing vocals
Joey Slater – backing vocals
Shannon Noël – backing vocals
Dustyn Murphy – drums
Wheatus setlist:
‘Growing On Me’ (The Darkness cover)
‘A Little Respect’ (Erasure cover, from 2000 album ‘Wheatus’)
‘Fourteen’ (from 2013 album ‘The Valentine LP’)
‘Leroy’ (from 2000 album ‘Wheatus’ album)
‘Lemonade’ (from ‘Hand Over Your Loved Ones’ album, 2003)
‘Valentine’ (from ‘The Valentine LP’, 2013)
‘Teenage Dirtbag’ (from ‘Wheatus’ album, 2000)
Opening the show tonight are Magnolia Park, a five-piece from Orlando, Florida who have released four albums. It’s a big, brash and bouncy sound, combining pop-punk with modern rock. Frontman Joshua is a mesmeric presence, lively and animated. Drummer Joe plays shirtless, whilst guitarist Tristan is bundled up in a big coat, though that is probably more of a style choice than a response to the prevailing climatic conditions.
I particularly like ‘Addison Rae’, a catchy number that inspires some enthusiastic clapping along in the audience. The crowd are very much on board, and happy to sway their arms to the slow opening section of ‘10 For 10’. The set moves up a gear with the boisterous ‘Shallow’, and most impressive of all is closer ‘Animal’, whose strident vocal and skittering electronics inspire a full-on mosh down at the front.
Magnolia Park:
Joshua Roberts – lead vocals
Tristan Torres – guitar, backing vocals
Freddie Criales – guitar, backing vocals
Joe Horsham – drums
Vincent Ernst – bass
Magnolia Park setlist:
‘Misfits’ (from 2023 album ‘Halloween Mixtape II’)
‘Do Or Die’ (from 2023 album ‘Halloween Mixtape II’)
‘Crave’ (new, unreleased)
‘I2I’ (Tevin Campbell cover – a 2024 single)
‘Addison Rae’ (from 2022 album ‘Baku’s Revenge’)
‘10 For 10’ (from 2021 album ‘Halloween Mixtape’)
‘Shallow’ (a 2024 single)
‘Animal’ (from 2023 album ‘Halloween Mixtape II’)
