Bowling For Soup - Farewell Tour - Sheffield - 17/10/2013 - Live Review

Bowling For Soup

Farewell UK - Sheffield O2 Arena 

We were lucky enough to secure press passes to Bowling For Soup's Sheffield leg of their farewell UK tour. We also managed to squeeze in an interview with Bassist Erik Chandler which will be available via our Youtube account very soon.

Chandler made it absolutely clear that this was not the end of Bowling For Soup and that they would be returning to the UK to play festivals. 

Patent Pending - Patent Pending may be very little known to most of you but the way these guys opened for Bowling For Soup showed just how huge they are going to be. They came on with all guns blazing and immediately commanded the stage. Their presence was that of a well seasoned band and the fans were more than happy to see them leaping around the stage. 

They really held their own up there and it seemed as though Bowling For Soup had moulded them in their own image. They were goofy, funny and deadly serious throughout their set bringing out props such as a Shake Weight (see below picture) and some Armbands as they continued their tour competition "Crowd Swimming" in which vocalist Joe and Bassist Corey participated in. For those wanting to know, Crowd Swimming is where the band separates the crowd, much like the start of a wall of death, they then race to the midway point on foot before the crowd picks them up and carries them back on their fronts as they make swimming movements. Bassist Corey is currently 8-1 up against Joe and with the amount of shows left on tour, by default is the outright winner.

Patent Pending had a variety of props and games lined up for the evening.
Photo by Sarah Cowlin

Patent Pending demonstrated pure class in their set and if there was ever a band capable of filling the void left behind from Bowling For Soup it is most definitely these guys, they were on par with the punk rock giants every step of the way. 

Not even a broken guitar could stop the young lads.
Photo by Sarah Cowlin

Bowling For Soup - Bowling For Soup are without a doubt one of the most influential and popular bands of the last decade. With a back catalogue of hits at their disposal and a new album currently out there they have enough ammunition to pull of a spectacular show, and that is exactly what they did. The second they stepped out on stage the sold out arena erupted. 

Erik Chandler of Bowling For Soup.
Photo by Sarah Cowlin

They showed exactly why they are regarded one of the biggest bands of the past decade with a flawless performance playing songs from their new album Lunch. Drunk. Love and some old fan favourites as well as the obvious hits. There were also a lot of young children present due to the bands success in the hit children's cartoon Phineas and Ferb, but this did not prevent the show from being a typical Bowling For Soup show. Sex jokes, swear words and all around fooling about were still very much a large part of their show.

Speaking before the show Erik Chandler told us that the band wanted to go out whilst they were still on top and that they didn't want to drag out what they already had like many bands do these days. 

Bowling For Soup have been one of the most prominent pop-punk bands of the last fifteen years.
Photo by Sarah Cowlin

I think he and the other members will be extremely happy with the way Sheffield received them and if it is anything to go by for the rest of the tour then they most definitely will be going out with a bang. 

The stage set up was amazing with their own bar placed on stage, stage boxes at the front of stage and huge steam vents for added drama. There were many crowd surfers including a couple of very young lads who were no older than ten who went absolutely crazy once they had made it to safety showing that Bowling For Soup isn't just for the older generation of fans and that their music still survives ten years on.

Bowling For Soup played with intense energy throughout their set.
Photo by Sarah Cowlin. 

The band are about to hit their twenty year anniversary but they play with the energy and enthusiasm of a band just starting out, you could tell they had fun and who knows maybe a few years down the line we may have a sneaky show or two in the UK when they start to really miss us.

- Adam, Editor.
- Photo's by Sarah Cowlin.