Wednesday 13 January 2010

646 BOWLING FOR SOUP, Feable Weiner, Bristol Academy, Friday 8 October 2004

Old school punk rock with Stiff Little Fingers last night, new school punk tonight! This was also an early one - we arrived in a 2 car posse about 7.15, finding out the reason for the early curfew was due to the gig's "All Ages" label. Indeed, this was full of early teens and kids for da Soup - quite the opposite of last night when I felt positively young at the SLF show! Despite this (the crowd cheers occasionally as squeaky as a hockey international), this was nowhere near as bad as it could have been; the "kids" were positively well-behaved!

Feable Weiner, a spritely young So-Cal punky pop band, were already onstage and finishing off their well-received set as we got in. We got drinks in and sorted out a viewing spot. BFS-uberfan Rich suggested a mosh, but we'd probably have crushed the kids!

The Soup took the stage to a heroes reception at a ridiculously early 5 past 8 (!). Opening with "My Hometown", a raucous number from their upbeat, consistent and almost mature (relatively speaking for BFS, that is!) new "A Hangover You Don't Deserve" CD, they kicked into a supremely fun set of new millennial punk rock; shiny, well played and excellently harmonised, and still featuring the most entertaining between-song flippant banter this side of Julian Cope. "I can't believe how lovely you people are," complimented vocalist Jaret early in the set, and proceeded to berate guitarist Eric for not wanting to frolic(!). "This is a song about the time my ex-girlfriend's dad hit me in the face with a shovel," said Jaret to introduce "Running From Your Dad"; possibly the best intro this year? The excellent "Belgium" was another mid-set highlight before the big guns - splendid new American Hi-Fi-esque single "1985" (the kids already singing along!), "Girl All The Bad Guys Want", and a superb "Bitch Song" - climaxed another entertaining, plectrum juggling, sassy-gobbed, inflatable-finger-waving, fun fun fun set from the Soup!

This, despite being a 1 hour 15 minute set, only ended at 20 past 9, but we weren't done. The bouncers ushered the kids out, and we hung back in the upstairs bar, eventually meeting BFS bass-boy Eric and hanging out for an hour or so, thanks to Rich's "in" with the band and crew. We also got to hang out with the rest of the band outside, getting stuff signed for a work colleague's teenage kids (whose goldfish is called Jaret, allegedly!). So, a late homecoming in the end from an early gig, one of the most entertaining and plain old fun shows of the year so far!

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