Bowling For Soup - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 9th February 2025

While it may be 20 years after their release of "A Hangover You Don't Deserve", Bowling For Soup are still pulling in an impressive crowd on their tours, especially tonight in Wolverhampton. Tonight is set to be a night of nostalgia for us elder emos, especially with the aid of Kerrang's Jon Mahon who is keeping the crowd entertained between acts with all of our favourite throwback tracks, as well as a few wild cards like ABBA's Dancing Queen (which of course we all knew every word to despite being all dressed in black and checkerboard).

The first band on the bill was Magnolia Park. A general consensus from those I spoke to was fans of Linkin Park would very much enjoy Magnolia Park. They may have only formed in 2018, but they have managed to put together a tight sound and high-energy presence. "Is this from the Goofy Movie??" someone exclaims as they cover Tevin Campbell's 'I2I'.

Next up were Wheatus, a slightly more mellower time in the evening compared to the prior, but full of sing-alongs. Opening with an unexpected cover of The Darkness' 'Growing on Me' and into an established cover of Erasure's 'A Little Respect', everyone loves a sing-a-long, no matter who is on stage. One song I was excited to hear on the setlist, which I think many people overlook, is 'Lemonade', it may be the nostalgia talking but it was a great addition. Of course, 'that one song' was saved until last, but I don't think any camera could have captured the electricity in the room as every single person sang along to 'Teenage Dirtbag', chills were felt during this stunning moment.

Finally time for Bowling For Soup, who will be performing "A Hangover You Don't Deserve" in its entirety. The band announced they were almost ready over the PA before a loading screen countdown appeared onstage while Ghost's 'Spillways' played. Taking to the stage, the band opens with 'Almost' followed by 'Trucker Hat'. "We played two songs in a row, you don't see Sum 41 doing that!" "Not anymore!" The onstage banter is a pivotal part of the show, I think I would happily pay for 2 hours of just them talking to each other.

'1985' kicked off literally with a bang of yellow confetti and enthusiasm from the crowd was turned up to 11.

"I drank so much my liver called parliament...I wrote that just for you!" joked Jaret as they continued to smash out songs from AHYDD, including an appearance from Wheatus bassist, Matthew Milligan, for 'Rediculous' and John James Ryan for a saxophone segment on 'A-hole'.

BFS really connect with their fans at their shows, with their highly praised VIP experiences all the way to having a rock paper scissors match with audience members in exchange for a guitar pick. One lucky fan by the name of Mason was invited onstage to spin the wheel to pick a song the band would play to break up the AHYDD set momentarily and win a swag bag. Of course, they set it up so that the lucky fan would win regardless and also chose 'The Bitch Song' to be performed.

After completing AHYDD, the band closed off with a much-loved curveball 'Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day' (aka the Phineas and Ferb theme song) before saving arguably the best until last, 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want'. A brilliant night of nostalgia.

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