Bowling For Soup + Zebrahead + MC Lars + Leftovers @ Birmingham Academy – 22nd October 2009

It might be dull and dreary outside the Birmingham O2 Academy but a slice of Texan sunshine is here to warm everyone up in the shape of the Bowling For Soup “Party in your Pants Tour 2009”.

Before we get onto the main attraction there are 3 support acts to get through, which makes sense a little later in the show, but on the outside looks like good value for money in a time when everyone is measuring how much bang you get for your rock buck.

First up are The Leftovers who rudely interrupt the crowd’s vociferous singing along to the Queen tracks being pumped out by the sound desk, so much so that the crowd actually boo’d when the kicking “We Will Rock You” gets turned off to allow them to take to the stage.

The band speed through a 7 song set which starts with “Untouchable” and rolls into “Can’t Stop” which sounds like it’s come straight from a non-offensive Disney-rock movie. The backing vocals are tight, harmonious and sticky sweet and the guys can play but you get the feeling there’s more they could do. The stand-out track of the set comes third in the shape of Telephone Operator which if you closed your eyes you’d swear was being sung by Elvis Costello, but the rest of the set really doesn’t match the class of the start of the set and the polite applause which is given at the end of every song is the best measure of the bands ultimate under-achievement.

Next up comes MC Lars, who seems to be a white rapper with an identity complex. His fluctuating style seems to draw influences from the Beastie Boys, Rage Against The Machine, House of Pain, Bloodhound Gang and maybe even a little 90’s Dog Eat Dog. The result of this rock / rap mix is a set which is undeniably delivered with passion and energy but has no continuity and little crowd-participation until the introduction of Jaret from Bowling For Soup who comes out to guest vocal on a track, at which point the reason for the evening’s packed bill becomes clear.

It turns out that both the support acts so far are on Jaret’s label, which doesn’t in any way undermine the value for money, but certainly does make you wonder if they’d have legitimately made it onto the bill in their own right any other way. MC Lars finishes off his set with a flourish and leaves to good applause for a short 30 minute set.

Zebrahead are up next and this is where you start to get the impression that you’re watching a real support act. There are no gimmicks that we’ve seen earlier in the night like asking everyone to hold up their phones, asking who likes weed etc or getting everyone to shout happy birthday to the sound guy, Zebrahead are here to kick ass and they’re doing it with their music alone and give a statement of intent when lead singer Ali stands on the monitors and screams “We are motherf*&$%ing Zebrahead, B*tch!!!!”

From then on the band scream through a one hour set which pulls from Panty Raid, Phoenix and Broadcast To The World cd’s and kicks the previous gimmick-laden and lightweight performances into touch. Even the sound guys really under-mixing the guitars and bass on the first track doesn’t stop the crowd from going totally mental and that energy doesn’t stop until they take their leave from the stage an hour later. As far as a warm-up act goes, Zebrahead hit the nail right on the head, they storm on, kick ass and leave.

And so onto Denton’s Finest!

SET LIST:

1) The Bitch Song
2) I’m Gay
3) Almost
4) My Wena
5) Come Back To Texas
6) No Hablo Ingles
7) 2-Seater
8) High School Never Ends
9) If Only
10) The Last Rock Show
11) Punk Rock 101
12) Hot & Cold (Katy Perry Cover Version)
13) When We Die
14) Girl All The Bad Guys Want
15) A Really Cool Dance Song
16) 1985

Bowling For Soup have such a massive back catalogue of tunes that no matter what they play there could have probably been an entirely different set which would have satisfied the crowd just as well. The set list tonight pulls from some of the older cd’s and mixed with the newly-released Sorry For Partyin’ although it’s interesting that the band kept the new material to a minimum (3 songs) in a set which stretched to an hour and a half.

Kicking off with The Bitch Song the crowd instantly went into pogo-mode and it’s obvious that the vibe just went into full-on “party mode”. If there’s one thing that BFS can’t be accused of it’s taking themselves too seriously and haling from a state which isn’t notorious for it’s liberal stance on homesexuality the impressively catchy “I’m Gay” is belted out with the crowd giving Jaret his backing vocals “la-la’s” without as much as a request from the spiky haired frontman.

The band fly into “Almost” which is followed by the first new track “My Wena” which gets a slightly more lukewarm reception and features an entire band change as The Leftovers come on stage and swap instruments to finish the song off. As much of a fun ending as it is, the crowd doesn’t take to it that well. “Come Back To Texas” has the whole crowd back in karaoke mode and all’s forgiven as the 2800 crowd give the headliners a loud and raucous demonstration of their singing skills.

The new “No Hablo Ingles” gets a much better reception and the catchy chorus is obviously a hit with the Birmingham crowd, as is the favourite “2-Seater” which comes next, with the band taking a cocktail break mid-song.

The mid-song banter continues and is a good chance for the band to show their fun side, with all the guys taking time out to pose at the front of the stage while Kool & The Gang’s Celebrate blasts out over the PA. For the record, Birmingham is mentioned as the only date on the tour who actually got the singing right which the crowd takes much pride in cheering themselves for!

From that point the band rips through the last half of the set, ditching their trademark cover of Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time” to throw in a cracking and slightly sped-up cover of Katy Perry’s “Hot & Cold” which just proved that no matter what these guys play it’ll sound good!

Rounding out the set with “A Really Cool Dance Song” which seems to have a bit of a dig at the current electronic rock trend the band leave the stage to huge applause, coming back on to kick it up a notch with the impressive rendition of “1985” which sees the audience sing it back to the band, then again in the style of Antonio Banderas (you really had to be there) and again in Falsetto.

They might not be rock royalty and their songs might be more on the “fun” end of the spectrum, but you can’t argue with the band that brings a party to your pants!!

Review – Matt Pargeter
Photos – Shaz R

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