Bowling for Soup is one of the best bands in the world, and I'm most certainly not exaggerating. This is the second concert of theirs that I've been too, and I think I would have to say that this one was more fun than I remember the first one being. One of the best parts of my BFS experience took place long before the band even took the stage. Don't believe me here's the proof.
This picture was taken at about 4:30 outside of Jason's Deli. My friend and I were getting something to eat before we headed over to the venue to wait in line. As we're walking in there were two guys walking out. One I had never seen before in my life, and the other was Eric, the bassist and a singer in the band. He's the one on the right with the Leftovers shirt on. As I pass them I turn to my friend and say, "I think that was one of the guys in the band?"
She of course agrees with me. That's when I turn back around to get another look, and that's when I see the third person. It's Jaret Reddick, the lead singer. Without trying to alienate the other band members because they all rock hard, but I have to be honest and say that Jaret is my favorite. Obviously he's the other guy in the photo, with the killer red sunglasses. Lets move on from that tangent and back to the story. After seeing Jaret leaving with them I once again turn to my friend, this time saying, "That's the lead singer! I have to go meet them! I'll be right back." I then raced out the door after them trying to catch up before they dissappeared around the corner.
"Excuse me, are you guys from Bowling for Soup?" I ask this even though I have no doubt in my mind that it's true. I also probably had a horribly goofy grin on my face. That probably somewhat looked like a 13 year old girl about to meet her favorite pop boy band. But I didn't care.
They turn around and are really nice as they say hi to me. Then Jaret sees my shirt (which if you can't completely see it says Bowling for Soup/ Fat Guys to the Rescue. All the proceeds for the shirt is going to help Haiti.) and says, "Cool, you have one of those shirts. That's only like the second one I've seen. Are you coming to the show tonight?"
"Hell yeah," I respond in the affirmative. Then I quickly ask, before they can get away, "Can I get a picture with you guys?" That's how I got the picture, and what totally made my night before the night had even begun.
Now we'd gotten to In The Venue about 15 minutes before the doors were supposed to open, but something had happened earlier in the day. The band had ended up getting there late and we had to stand out in cold, as the sun set, for an extra half hour. I look at it as a positive. Why you might ask? If they had gotten there on time they wouldn't have been leaving the restaurant as I was getting there, and I wouldn't have been able to get a picture with them. I guess everything does happen for a reason.
We finally get in, and there's three bands playing before BFS. I wonder up close to the stage during like the second band, because there's still a lot of room. Of course that's only until the last band plays and they start setting up for Bowling for Soup. Everyone started getting as close as the could to the stage, and all of a sudden people are all crowding in around me. Which wasn't so bad. I was still at the front, right at the stage.
The concert itself was amazing. They played quite a few old songs as well as a few off their new album. They started the night off with one of their older songs, 'Bitch Song'. Things would start to get crazy from here on in, and mostly that had to do with they were easily distractible. Then they'd continue on hilarious tangents.
Here are a few of the funnier moments of the night:
-Some guy in the crowd, and this was only after the first song, yells out, "I want to here Belgium, now!" He draws out the last word, and the band cracks up. Jaret responds, "It's a little too early in the set for Belgium, but we're going to play it just because you said 'nooow'" He imitated exactly how the guy had said it too.
-During this song they stopped in the middle. I don't remember why they stopped, but this guy in the audience asked them to do this imitation of Shaggy that he does. It was awesome because it sounded just like him, it was almost creepy. These are the two that were doing the impression, the same ones I met. Jaret was the one who actually did the Shaggy voice though.
-Jaret was constantly doing crazy things with his guitar pick. Throwing it in the air and catching it in his mouth, and then spitting it out and re-catching it. Which always ended with him, and the rest of the band, throwing it out to the audience. Now to the funny part of the story. After it happen Jaret told the entire audience. Nobody would have known if he hadn't. He was near the front of the stage and went to stick his pick to his forehead. Apparently he would get so sweaty that it would stay there. Well this time it didn't, and it fell right down the cleavage of the girl standing in front of him. I guess she'll have a nice little souvenir.
-They were playing their song 1985, and one of the lines is "She was gonna shake her ass on the hood of White Snakes car." Now just image their lead guitarist, Chris, turning his back to the audience and shaking his ass during this line and a bit afterward. Here let me show you a picture:
-Early in the night Jaret had told everyone in the place to put their hands up in the air and if there was anyone who didn't then they had herpes. This all by itself wouldn't have been that funny, but you have to add it to another part of the night. He's talking about the other bands and he gets to one called Madison Lights. He points over to them. "Remember when I said if you didn't have your hands up you had herpes? Well those guys over there," again he pointed and his voice got a bit higher and he drawled it out, "herpes." He said it a couple times, and everyone thought it was hilarious, even them. You might have had to of been there to get it.
-Now for what I thought was the funniest moment of the night, also said by Jaret. He was talking about Madison Lights again. He was telling about how when he had first seen them coming over to talk to them that he thought they were (these are his words) "street toughs" coming to kick their asses. As he's talking about this he starts snapping his fingers like the Jets and the Sharks from West Side Story. Chris said he wasn't afraid of a group of guys coming towards him snapping his fingers. Jaret disagreed completely. This is what he had to say on the matter, "I would be. If like 15 guys were coming at me and all of them snapping their fingers like that I would think they were either going to kick my ass, or butt rape me."
At both concerts of theirs that I've been too I've gotten things directly from band members. This latest one was a guitar pick. Just like the yellow one Jaret is using in the photo above. As both Jaret and Eric are throwing their picks back and forth to each other Jaret decides to throw his at Eric's head. It sticks right to the middle of his forehead. Eric tries to do the same thing and it falls uselessly to the stage floor. Eric comes back over to his mike stand, directly in front of me, and takes Jaret's pic from his forehead. He sees me wanting to take it so he drops it in front of me and into my pocket it goes.
At the first concert of theirs I went to all throughout the show Jaret was throwing out these yellow and black wrist bands with 'Bowling for Soup' on them. After playing their last song, 1985, and still having a handful of wrist bands decides to start tossing them out. If any of you know me you'll know that I am 5 foot even and I was shorter then everyone around me. Even though I was right at the stage I still was not able to catch one. Oh the woes of being short. Jaret sees me doing everything I can to get one but still coming up short. (I know, now that I've written it it looks stupid to me too, but I can't take it out. It must stay.) He then leans down, reaches towards me, and hands me the very last one. Would you be surprised if I said I was wearing it at the second concert? I didn't think so.
That's my BFS story and I'm sticking to it. If you've never heard of their music then you need to go right now and do it, because they one of the best.
TNT
Words by Ali
