Bowling for Soup, Less than Jake, The Aquabats, and Don’t Panic played a packed show at The Palladium in Worcester.
The opening band Don’t Panic set the mood for the night. The crowd was a bit more on the subdued side for the first band but the band did their best to put them in a good mood with their upbeat music. The crowd was singing along, dancing, and joining in on the fun for some of the crowd. Opening on such a stacked lineup with bands that have been around for so long can be a hard job but Don’t Panic took on the job with smiles.
Before The Aquabats hit the stage you could see the crowd was sprinkled with their fans by the costumes. Some fans were dressed up as The Aquabats or in other superhero-themed costumes. Their costumes set the mood for this fun and upbeat band. They kept the crowd interested, singing, dancing, and jumping along with them the full set. If it wasn’t obvious by the audience’s movement and interaction that they were loving the set, they even added fun things like children pizza surfing. This band has a larger-than-life personality and their sound is just as happy to match. Less Than Jake undoubtedly puts on an amazing show. After two decades of putting out music, it is clear the entire band knows what they are doing and how to have fun while playing live. Their smiling faces reflect the fun music they play. When certain members have a moment they aren’t playing, they’re urging the crowd to dance and join in on the fun. They have fun interactive moments like spraying the crowd with toilet paper and bringing people onto the stage. They made a joke saying how The Aquabats had brought on the youngest crowd members to the stage so instead, they were going to bring the oldest person on the stage and brought up an older gentleman in the front row to dance along. The crowd’s reaction to classic hits such as “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads” and “The Science of Selling Yourself Short” made it clear they were loving Less Than Jake’s set. Bowling For Soup has been churning out fun and quirky hits songs like “1985” and “Girls All The Bad Guys Want” for decades at this point. Millennials grew up on these songs with their tongue-in-cheek lyrics. It is not much of a surprise that these guys’ personalities reflect their goofy songs but them making time for a joke competition in between songs – the prison joke made by the drummer won that night if anyone was wondering. It’s hard not to have a smile on your face when they open with a hit like “High School Never Ends” or when there’s a circle pit when they played the theme song of Phineas and Ferb that they wrote. The ultimate joke, poking fun at themselves, was ending the night with their cover of “Stacy’s Mom” (no, they don’t actually play that song originally – that is Fountains of Wayne) in the middle of their hit “1985.” They had previously even made a joke about ending the night with this song, stating “if you only came to see ‘1985,’ this would be a great time to use the restroom,” followed up by a poop joke added in. If you love their hits, new songs, and jokes then you need to see Bowling for Soup! BOWLING FOR SOUPWebsite Facebook Twitter
LESS THAN JAKE
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THE AQUABATS
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