11 December 2024 – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane – words by Cody-James Henderson – pictures by Tam Schilling
ood Things 2024 will forever been known as the festival to bring us a multitude of acts well overdue to come back to Australia. Violent Femmes are here for the first time since 2017, Korn are here for the first national shows since 2014. 311 for the first time since 1998! Lord I need a moment.
Joining Korn for their first visits since 2014 (oddly enough, being a part of the same festival in Soundwave 2014) is Bowling For Soup. The pop punkers have been highly anticipated for sometime now, but with long time guitarist Chris Burney being out of action with health issues, we weren’t sure if the band would be back for sometime, but you can’t stop a band out celebrating 20 years of their seminal album A Hangover You Don’t Deserve. Fun fact, if you released ‘1985’ in 2024, it would be called ‘2005’… anyway, enough feeling old. Let see if this time away from the beloved land down under was going to throw the band off course or set their sights on national glory.
Taylor Acorn: as her band comes flying out the gate with guitar spins and blast beats, Taylor joins them in an excited frenzy. Opening the night with one her latest powerhouse tracks ‘Final Nail’ Brisbane is quickly introduced to one of Pop Punks fastest rising names.
It seems Taylor has already made an impact on Australian ears before her 2nd Australia visit of the year as the crowd assists in taking over vocal duties for parts of ‘I Think I’m In Love’ much to the glowing grin of Acorn and crew. Acorn presents pop punk with a slight Nashville twist, combining the strong power melodies of your classic 2000s acts like Simple Plan/All Time Low with the hooks of Pop Country, the likes mastered by Nashville fellows Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert. This fresh take allows Acorn to have a stand out personality, a combination of home town pride with home town sucks.
Taylor Acorn – The Princess – photos by Tam Schilling
With a debut album now under her belt released in September called Survival In Motion tracks ‘High Horse’ and ‘Greener’ fill a set of high energy, short career spanning singles and EP that are already at the level of artists her senior. The craftsmanship of relatability, honesty with the sentiment of being an ear worm let Acorn establish a beautiful connection with faces unfamiliar with her voice.
Save your comparisons to the women who have dominated pop punk for over 2 decades, Acorn stands as the future of the Pop Punk Genre, and whilst she doesn’t stand alone; she sure stands at the front leading the charge into the future. It’s in safe hands to say the absolute least.
Bowling For Soup – Sounds of Sum 41 have been playing non stop throughout the interval. A solemn display of support for the unfortunate friends that couldn’t perform at Good Things due to Derick’s untimely sickness. If the closest we get to saying goodbye to Sum 41 is before a Bowling For Soup concert, well at least it’s something.
But as Derycks voice fades, the Bowling For Soup Theme takes over welcoming the Texas trio (we wish Chris all the best health in the world) out for ‘My Hometown’ before an effortless transition into ‘Emily’ to get the voices loud and proud. Jaret pushes through days of looming sickness that has affected his voice. Slightly strained? Sure, but the effort to still put on the best show will always outweigh a slightly less than 100% performance.
Bowling For Soup – The Princess – photos by Tam Schilling
“I feel like a resident in your city” explains Reddick feeling glad to be back in Brisbane after a long 2 day vacation as an almost full room cheers for having seen them just over 48 hours ago. And an interesting segway about having Mexican food in Brisbane leads into ‘Ohio (Come Back to Texas)’. If you think Bowling for Soup are one hit wonders in any capacity, I encourage you to see them live. The atmosphere and power behind the crowds voices would make you think every single they’ve ever released went straight to #1 on every chart in the world. But when you’re the self proclaimed “greatest band in the world” you would expect nothing less. Besides, what other show would you stop a song half way through to do various spirit fingers and jazz hand routines? See, you’re missing out.
Using ‘Trucker Hat’ to break down into ‘Mickey’, ‘Cum on Feel the Noise’ and ‘Fight For Your Right to Party’ keeps audience at the highest of almost any show I’ve been too this year. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to Bowling for Soup, and not one moment feels forced or out of place. Even after 25 years, Bowling For Soup has the ability to make entertainment so natural. Shout-out to Jaret for shutting down a shoey chant by saying “there’s no pressure on me to do it, I already have your money” brutal honesty is key, but it’s time for that chant to die.
Bowling For Soup – The Princess – photos by Tam Schilling
Smashing out ‘Punk Rock 101’ in double time fashion, something a band like the Descendents would be absolutely proud of, a room of hundreds are ceremoniously Rick Rolled for a patented ‘Bowling For Soup’ photo opportunity. Like I said, never a dull moment. It’s hard to believe that this only the bands 3rd ever visit to Australia, however they’ve definitely have our accents down to a tee as they converse back and forth with drunk punters asking Jaret to take his shirt off. Every moment feels like you’re witnessing an improv show as songs come and go off the cuff and not a single piece of dialogue feels scripted in anyway. Every moment feels authentic and the joy of the band is infectious. The script for a concert is there, following it is optional for Bowling For Soup.
Committing their “fake ending” by sitting on stage and refusing to go off stage because “there’s stairs involved, fuck that” and refusing to be down 2 members, the band invites ‘Becca’ up onstage who asked Jared earlier in the day if she could help the band sing a song which happens to be “the best song ever”, ‘Girl All the Bad Guys Want’ goes off with triple level harmonies between the band and their special guest. Well done Becca!
Bowling For Soup – The Princess – photos by Tam Schilling
And now the moment you’ve been waiting for;
WOO HOO HOO.
Rounding a spectacular night of laughs, singing and discussions about the difference between NRL and AFL, ‘1985’ tears the theatre down with over powering voices and dancing. The funnest ending possible to a beyond entertaining evening.
As I said earlier, Bowling For Soup may be perceived to some as a ‘one hit wonder’. But rest assured, no flash in the pan act could put on the entertaining spectacle that Bowling For Soup are capable of. After 30 years, Bowling For Soup are still the epitome of loving every moment that comes with being a band and the responsibility of entertainment that comes with it.
