Street Voice UK

4am starts are never the best but I was helping a band edit some video footage then off I went to my paying job to complete a full shift at work before I could even contemplate thinking about the Bowling For Soup gig in the evening!

4.45pm I arrived at home and had a crazed rush to be out the door and on the train for 6pm! Slight delay on the train but I arrived in Wolverhampton for 6.20pm and it was straight to the pub for a couple before I headed to the venue.

On arrival at the venue I had to quickly make my way to the photo pit to see the opening band Vandoliers. For me hearing their country / folk punk sound was a pleasure and it wasn’t too long before the audience had an appreciation for this Texas-based band.

I was surprised just how well they delivered their set and even more surprised that they weren’t well known though I reckon after this tour Vandoliers will get a load more fans if this performance was anything to go by.

Pretty much a faultless set!

Next up were Ska/Punk band Less Than Jake and the last time I saw them play was around 2003 at JB’s in Dudley! Going on what the band said this was the last time they played the UK! I thought they’d been a here a few times! The only other time I saw LTJ play was back in the late 90’s when I was in the USA.

This Florida based band I’ve loved for years and it was great seeing them deliver their music in style. Lots of the audience got in to them and who could blame them as this set was in a different league from the start to finish!

Chris DeMakes is a terrific front-person who not only sings but also plays lead guitar. What a dude! What with his performance along with Buddy Schaubs trombone skills I bet BFS were wondering at times if it was worth them actually going on!

That’s just how good a set LTJ played and the audience were lapping it up with some crowd surfing and the security having to pull out the odd audience member for their own safety health wise!

If you haven’t checked out LTJ make sure you do on this UK tour as to miss out is a huge mistake! When a band is on fire like LTJ were tonight you’d struggle to find many gigs where a band delivers such high standards music and visual wise!

Final band of the night were Bowling For Soup and they didn’t disappoint!

From the moment BFS hit the stage they delivered classic after classic and if that wasn’t enough there was plenty of smoke fired in the air along with a huge amount of confetti.

The crowd were now in their element singing along, crowd surfing and with all that security were passing out lots of water into the audience!

If that wasn’t mad enough BFS stopped the show to give away a free guitar! The guy’s face who won it was epic! So pleased for him. What a night!

In between the songs the band was having banter and with it making people laugh but there was also a serious side where Jaret talked about his mental health struggles and encouraged others to be good listeners!

Soon it was back to the madness with some great tracks played from 1985 to Punk Rock 101 to High School Never Ends and more!

Come 11pm the show was over and lots of smiles amongst the crowd.

Pop-punk is back with an almighty bang now!

Make sure you see Bowling For Soup at a show near you!

Thanks to: Holly Raven Collins at Good As Gold for sorting out the press / photo pass! Thanks also to Jamie Giberti at Rage PR for connecting us.

Words / Photos – Kat Riot