Live Review: Bowling For Soup + Less Than Jake - Manchester Academy 15/02/2024
2024 is looking to be a big year for pop-punk’s Bowling For Soup, as it sees them celebrating their 30th anniversary in music. Kicking the festivities off with a UK tour, they begin their journey with a sold-out show at Manchester’s Academy - the best way to begin any tour.
The band’s first headline show in the city since 2020, this is their first of two nights at the venue this time round and the first night of the entire tour. This is where the band and their fans set a precedent for the rest of the tour, and the bar was raised all the way to the ceiling as the confetti flew down to the crowd below.
Starting the night off was fellow Texan punk group Vandoliers. Letting loose and making a scene on stage in the right way, Vandoliers brought out a sound that may be lesser known across the waters in the UK but was still appreciated and cheered on. Specialising as a “country-ska-punk band”, as described by frontman Joshua Fleming, the northwestern audience were more than open to it. It was fun, it was funky, it was folk-rock fascination. Bringing a range of tracks such as their single ‘Howlin’’, dedicated to Fleming’s pet dog at home, and a jaunty cover of The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’. If that didn’t win the crowd over, then nothing would; it’s safe to say however that they were won with no challenges and no fighting.
With everyone warmed up and ready for a real party, it was time for the first main act of the night. Of course this tour wasn’t all about Bowling For Soup, as they are sharing the main stage with their friends, their pop-punk pals Less Than Jake.
Chances are if someone is a Bowling For Soup fan, they are partial to some Less Than Jake. Another pop-punk outfit that chose not to take life or music too seriously, their set played as part gig and part comedy routine and the two elements worked well in tandem. Breaking up their iconic hits with comedic skits in the form of fake sponsorships, including a car dealership ran by the appropriately titled Crazy Bob and a less-than-reliable dental service, they were the perfect paired act with the final band of the night and the crowd more than agreed. With everyone singing along, dancing along, and going crazy for that rocking saxophone, everyone forgot about the tricks and trials of real life for just a moment. All that mattered was laughing, singing, and having the best time in the world.
Now for the moment everyone has been waiting for. Those who are veterans of these shows, and those who are experiencing it for the very first time, they’re ready and prepared for a gig like no other. Here comes Bowling For Soup.
Such as any other Bowling For Soup show, there is good humour from their introductory anthem as it shows the members in professional wrestling-adjacent aesthetics with flashing lights and flashy outfits. From this, they dive straight in to their classic hit ‘Emily’ and the crowd are singing at the top of their lungs from the get-go.
The Texan group are bringing a new range of tracks to the live stage, as they tend to as they tours come and go. Playing lesser known tracks such as ‘Life After Lisa’ and ‘Two-Seater’, they were giving a treat to the die-hard fans that were certainly making up a majority of the attendance in the Manchester venue. Bowling For Soup’s most dedicated following are always flooding the venues, especially around the UK, and never take their live performances for granted. Once upon a time, many years ago, the band swore they were never going to travel across the pond again so the fans live every gig as if it’s the last chance and that always makes for a more raucous evening.
If there is one guarantee with Bowling For Soup, it’s that they will mention three things: penis jokes, un-sober activities, and mental health. The genital humour kicks off with the track ‘My Wena’, a bouncy love song that “is definitely not about dicks”, frontman Jaret Reddick promises with a tongue-in-cheek tone and recurs throughout the night. These men are older and (in their own terms) fatter, but they never stopped being silly little kids. And that is a lesson everyone can learn as they grow up.
Being fans of drinking and other recreational substances, Reddick reminisces about how his only time smoking marijuana is whenever he and his bandmates are within the same vicinity as Less Than Jake. Clarifying at that moment that he was currently not stoned, he utters the one line that describes the two bands’ bond better than any other that night: “Less Than Jake get me higher than a giraffe’s pussy”.
And as previously stated, with silly in one hand, there is a helping of seriousness in the other. Reddick being open and honest about his mental health struggles, stating to be taking three different medications to get his headspace set right, always takes the time to speak about the brutal truth of mental illness. Paired with a part-acoustic rendition of ‘Turbulence’, it was a necessary quiet in a rowdy beer-swilling storm. No matter how silly and funny and downright stupid these men can act, they are still people and they still have hearts and minds rich in feeling and experience.
Time flies when having fun, and the show felt like fleeting moments. Once the encore came, everyone was shivering anticipating the one song. That one song they needed to hear. Maybe it was the first song they ever heard by Bowling For Soup. Maybe it was just their favourite. Whatever the situation is, it was time to scream and shout and jump, as it was the ultimate closer. Their inarguably biggest hit, ‘1985’.
A song that comes and goes in an instant, it ends the night in style. Lights, flashes, tricks, big smiles and drinks in the air. Bowling For Soup will never end a show any other way and if they ever do, it will never feel as deserved as this surprising cover does of the coveted place.
Bowling For Soup will always be a group that brings the party pizzazz every night, on every tour, and if this first night is anything to go by, it’s going to be the longest and best party of the year.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Leon Mansley
