As the sun set at Cardiff Castle for the penultimate night of Bowling for Soup and Frank Turner’s Bowl My Bones tour, it was hard not to feel the love at a gig headlined by longtime friends and collaborators that brought with it plenty of laughs and even more heart, despite the drizzle.
First up was American Hi-Fi, happy to return to our shores after more than twenty years, the Boston pop-punks brought a little early 00s sunshine to a surprisingly blustery afternoon. Regardless of the weather, they seemed genuinely happy to be back, with lead singer Stacy Jones giving a shoutout to the crew for being so kind and calling them “good fucking people”.
American Hi-fi did a great job of warming up the crowd, even got them to do a little cardio swaying to another perfect day.
The Art of Losing got the first big pop of the night, but special props need to go to the BSL interpreter for being every bit as entertaining as the band.
They then welcomed to the stage Gary from BFS for Night Tonight before bowing out with fan favourite Flavour of the Week. That had the collected 30 and 40-somethings singing along like it was 2001.
Next up was Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. Turner remains one of Britain’s greatest showmen. He has the uncanny ability to make any gig, regardless of size, somehow feel intimate. Transporting the audience to the clubs and crowded backrooms where he learned his craft. Tonight was no different as Winchester’s greatest son transported us all to the Railway for another set packed full of absolute bangers.
Frank opened show number 3,164 with ” I Still Believe” which sparked the first of many singalongs, at least amongst his fans, before launching straight into Try This at Home.
Turner then made sure everyone had their dancing shoes on with a high-energy version of “Photosynthesis”.
He clearly understood the assignment as he attempted to open a circle pit before the bridge, explaining to the gathering crowd that he used to play in hardcore bands and then ordered a large pit, before quipping, “When I say large, I mean fucking enormous.”
Unfortunately, the audience at Cardiff Castle did not know how a circle pit works.
The crowd was given a chance to redeem themselves as Turner informed them the next song was a “Punk rock song” and that they should “use this information and act accordingly.”
They did. Opening up a pretty large pit for “Girl from the Record Shop.”
Then, during “No Thank You for the Music,” Frank proposed a Wall of Death, but after getting everyone in position, he changed his mind, stating, “Call me old-fashioned, but punk rock is about community and looking after each other. We’re a family. “We’re not going to do a wall of death; we’re doing a wall of hugs. Run into the middle and hug someone.”
Even after the hugs, Turner and co felt they needed to address the elephant in the room. They weren’t from Wales, but from the South of England. But they were trying. Their drummer has family in North Wales, and on his first tour 28 years ago, Turner played a show in Merthyr.
After another big sing-along for “The Ballad of Me and My Friends”. Turner let the crowd know he’d met some American tourists from Texas and they’d given him their demo. Since he liked what he heard, he decided to let them perform after him since his set was ending early. Frank said, “I think they’ll be big.”
One of the fresh-faced Americans, I think his name was Jaret, then came and sang the second half of “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous”; the kid absolutely nailed it.
The bangers kept coming with fan favourites Recovery and The Next Storm, which both got a massive pop from the crowd even as the weather continued to take a turn for the soggy.
Before “Haven’t been doing so well”, a song about facing your fears and admitting you need help, Turner admitted that he needed to redeem himself because he “fucked up the solo so badly last night” at the Llangollen show; a tech handed him a note asking him if it was supposed to be jazz. Thankfully, it went a lot better. He nailed it.
Unfortunately, the crowd wasn’t better at singing than the residents of Llangollen, or Glasgow, or Southampton, for that matter, as the initial attempt at a singalong to do one described as Sub Optimal by Sleeping Souls guitarist Ben Lloyd. Something that oddly characterised the entire set from the audience’s end, maybe it was the weather, maybe they were mostly there for BFS, but it seemed to take them a lot longer to get going than your average Frank Turner show.
They did get there in the end, though, and by the time Frank brought the house down with the anthemic “Four Simple Words”, Turner had everyone literally twirling like ballerinas.
Finally, it was time for the fresh-faced young Texans, Bowling For Soup. I decided to stay for the first two songs. Then the rest, because bugger me, Frank was right. These kids are going to go places.
Seriously though, the legendary pop punks need no introduction; Jaret, Gary and the other one (I’m joking, Rob) are by far one of the best live acts you’re ever likely to see. A band so in tune with each other they can stop mid-song because they’ve noticed a cowboy hat in the crowd, get everyone to wave at them and get straight back to rocking and never miss a note.
Tonight, they brought their heartwarming and hilarious rock show to the good people of Cardiff.
After some technical difficulties during their opening crawl with the intro bluescreening while loading the Draig, Jaret and co bound onto the stage and launched into a song about nothing – “Almost”.
Before launching into “High School Never Ends,” Jaret admitted that it wasn’t the first castle the band had played, but it was the most badass castle.
To add to the badass nature of the castle, BFS augmented their set with a whole lot of pyros, with every hit accompanied by sparks and belches of flame.
With Bowling for Soup, though, it’s the shenanigans between the catchy as fuck pop punk that really make them stand out. The self-aware silliness of getting the crowd to chant Good job American Hi-fi and oggy oggy oggy before Jaret declares “isn’t it great chanting with friends.”
They launched beachballs into the crowd during getting old sucks but everyone’s doing it after dedicating it to everyone who doesn’t buy shoes that look good anymore, but feel amazing.
They played their most popular song early in the set. I, not that one. Or that one. It was “Phineas and Ferb”.
They even summoned a dragon for a photo op in the middle of “Punk Rock 101”. As Jaret quipped, “What fucking band does that?”
One that is considerate to their fans and understands many would have been torn between seeing them and Pitbull. Jaret kindly offered to sing all the Pitball he knew; I think it was two lines. But ultimately the band concluded we’d made the right choice because BFS had better hair, but still pondered whether Mr Worldwide has really hairy balls to make up for the lack of it up top.
Besides, I bet Pitbull didn’t summon a dragon, one with a modern name. You see, according to BFS, Stacey’s mum… is a dragon.
After that bombshell, Jaret revealed that it was a day of firsts for him and his family backstage. It was the first time he’d watched Wales win at the Rugby, and it was the first time his 13-year-old son was going to crowdsurf.
This went as well as you would expect. After pleading with the crowd, “Don’t drop him, don’t fuck him up. He’s cute,” they almost did, twice.
Thankfully, he was returned unscathed, and the security didn’t kick him. I bet his mother was still pissed, though.
The merriment then took a back seat for a moment as Jaret gave a touching speech about his battle with anxiety and depression (one this reporter knows all too well) and how anyone who feels the same doesn’t need to feel alone. He then played Passengers, everyone got out their lighters and torches, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The rest of the evening was all about the hits, starting with what Jaret dubbed “the best song ever” – “Girl All the Bad Guys Want.”
The main set ended with “The Bitch Song”, arguably their first UK hit, that the band said without it “we wouldn’t be here. I mean we’d be alive, but we’d be at Pitbull.”
After a brief intermission, where they didn’t leave the stage because “there were stairs involved”. Admitting that “we’re old and if someone breaks a hip it’s all over”
They then launched into “1985”, drawing to a perfect night with friends, listening to the same shit you did when you were 15. Now that you’re old enough to realise that although high school never ends, the worst times are just a little turbulence, and getting into pop punk and ska, missing the proverbial cool train was probably one of the best decisions you ever made.