Sunday 2 December 2018

1,114 BOWLING FOR SOUP, Patent Pending, Not Ur Girlfrenz, Southampton Guildhall, Saturday 30th November 2018



A return to the “Scene of the Crime” for Logan, as it were…! Having decided, a couple of years back, that heavyweight melodic Texan pop-punk jesters Bowling For Soup’s 2016 Southampton Guildhall gig would be a good way for my then-8 year old son to kickstart his gigging days, we could scarcely have anticipated the events of that night, my little man joining the Soupsters onstage in the “arm-swing” during “Ohio (Come Back To Texas)”! An unforgettable way to start what’s been a pretty decent gig-career for Logan thus far, and BFS unsurprisingly still hold a place in his musical heart, so when Jaret and co. announced an “Almost Christmas” UK tour, this was pretty much a no-doubter for us. The fact that our preferred weekend date meant a return to the venue where those events unfolded was just a delicious coinkydinky!

Logan insisted in bolting on the same “Ohio” t-shirt that got him dragged onstage for this one, despite it now resembling more of a belly-top on his now-11 year old frame, but thus attired, we picked up BFS uber-fan The Big Man, plus his daughter Jess, for a swift and early drive down the A34 beat route. Parking up in our usual spot, we hit the slowly-filling old ornate hall early doors, snagging a barrier spot for the kids, house right. Result! So we were in place for openers Not Ur Girlfrenz, on at 7.30; I immediately remarked to Rich, “goodness Big Man, they look about 12!” to be informed that they actually were, well the bass player at least, the confident ponytailed vocalist-guitarist and her hard-hitting drummer colleague being relative veterans at 14 (!)… So okay, their spritely powerpop-punk was a bit formulaic and lightweight, okay it felt a little unrehearsed and clunky at times, but taken in context that could be forgiven. They’re kids! Real kids! In a band! On a proper tour, in a different country (one which they were utterly effusive about too, “your grass is so much greener! Ours is brown!”), so huge, huge props for that, girls. I liked their slowie, “Someday”, which saw the early audience hold phones and lighters aloft to the singer’s squealy delight, and their wilful punk rock demolition of “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree”. I hear they also dole out similar treatment to U2’s “I Will Follow”…

Our space filled up with a young crew led by a talkative Pompey lass called Shannon, a couple of her friends remembering Logan from last time out. Woah! Patent Pending were next up at 8.15, bursting onstage with a riot of super-fast shiny new millennial punk rock riffery, led by vocalist Joe Ragosta who, after one number, explained that the Ritalin that he takes for his ADHD had kicked in midway through said first song. That explains the bouncing around and crowdsurfing (during the opening number!), then…! Although again, PP’s actual Green Day-lite punk rock was a little lacking in originality, Ragosta was an uber-energetic performer, bouncing around the stage as if it was the local trampoline park, urging – nay, demanding – your attention and participation, and also later issuing out Turner-esque messages of kindness and positivity. A newie “Let It Burn” appropriated the hook from The Bloodhound Gang’s “The Roof Is On Fire”, getting the crowd chanting along to the, “let the motherfucker burn!” hook, Jaret joined them onstage for one number, and I enjoyed their almost faithful version of Frankie Valli’s old crooner’s standard “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. But Ragosta was the real star; boundless energy and a nice bloke too. Well done!

Enough time for a quick loo break, then the Soup were on in pretty short order themselves thereafter, Jaret entering last sporting a bobble hat festooned with fairy lights, quickly discarded (“this hat was a bad idea! It’s hot as shit here!”) as they eased into opener “Corner Store At Christmas”, their own take on the “12 Days” standard, which was then reprised twice more during the set. “Almost” kickstarted things proper, after which Jaret praised both Southampton (“scene of the only BFS brawl in the parking lot!”) and Patent Pending (“we take [them] on tour so they can do the jumping and we don’t have to; don’t want to risk a broken hip!”). From the off, the usual BFS scatological chat and antics were in full force and effect; plenty of pyrotechnics, a dummy Christmas lights button (the band pulling up a punter dressed in a Scooby Doo costume onstage to “switch on”, the lights then smashing to black in fake explosion fashion) and a posing “photo opportunity” midway through a frantic “Punk Rock 101” (during which Logan held up a prepared “remember me?” sign up, accompanied by suitable shouts from Shannon’s posse, Jaret squinting at it then giving Logan a thumbs-up…  nice!). Musically, the band sounded tight and relaxed, bassist Rob Felicetti filling in seamlessly for the absent Erik Chandler, and an earlier-than-scheduled cover of Fountains Of Wayne’s powerpop classic “Stacy’s Mom” (brought forward after a game of “Chinese Whispers” to decipher a mosh-bound fan’s shout resulted in a request for it; Jaret mock-complained about how that song isn’t even theirs, then they played it anyway!) and a later “Ohio” (during which Logan again lifted up his shirt to show the band the logo – sorry mate, lightning doesn’t strike twice…) were my highlights.
 
A fun and faithful cover of “Frosty The Snowman” and a final go-round of “Corner Store” ended the set proper, the band gathering in their corner “bar” to toast proceedings before Jaret stepped up again, asked the crowd to, “give it up for us… wasn’t that an amazing show we just played?”, then led BFS through a final singalong “1985”, after which he walked to our side of the stage and chucked a pick out for Logan. Nice, again! A friendly steward handed him a BFS set-list (an actual BFS list! Wow!) as a fine punctuation on a splendid evening, before a brisk wander back to the car and swift drive home. Overall, not the epic night last time out turned out to be – as I mentioned, lightning doesn’t strike twice and in no way were we expecting it to – but a great fun evening’s pop-punk entertainment nonetheless, in Logan’s “Crime Scene” return!

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