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Billed as Bowling for Soup versus Frank Turner, this show was more like the weather versus 6,500 punk rockers – and, unsurprisingly, the punk rockers won.
Dressed in the standard punk-rock uniform of Vans, three-quarter-length shorts and T-shirts – maybe a cap if you were lucky – the crowd refused to let the relentless rain spoil the evening, even though it barely stopped throughout Frank Turner’s set.
It was a performance that had everything: full-throated singalongs, a slow-motion circle pit and even a Wall of Hugs instead of a Wall of Death. It was exhilarating from start to finish.
Frank Turner really is catnip for 45-year-old men and their ilk, and every single one of them loved every minute of it. It was a far cry from his last Halifax appearance 20 years ago, when he played to just 15 people in a pub. By the time he’d finished his hour-and-15-minute set – crowd surfing, then persuading the audience to spin around like ballerinas – he’d set a remarkably high bar for anyone to follow.
Fortunately, the band following him were Dallas, Texas favourites Bowling for Soup, who have never taken themselves too seriously so won’t care who they were following.
Their show is like a live-action episode of South Park where Cartman forms a pop-punk band with his mates. It has its own theme tune, credits and a brilliant soundtrack, and it’s gloriously silly from beginning to end.
The only time things become serious is when Jaret Reddick speaks candidly about his struggles with the Black Dog before an emotional performance of Turbulence, which provides one of the night’s standout moments. Other than that, they’re busy debating the correct size of Yorkshire puddings, offering seemingly everyone in the venue a guitar before actually giving one away, dancing around the stage like a reunited boy band, pulling ridiculous faces for the on-stage cameras and generally talking complete nonsense between the hits.
Their cover of Stacy’s Mom is pure nostalgia for the Piece Hall crowd, while Girl All the Bad Guys Want still sounds as infectious as ever. Even when the rain tried one last time to spoil the party towards the end of the set, nobody was having it. Everyone was simply having too much fun.
It’s incredible how good classic pop-punk sounds within the historic surroundings of the Piece Hall, and hopefully this won’t be the last time the venue welcomes bands of this ilk.
