“There’s 104 days of summer vacation till school comes along just to end it. So, the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it. Like maybe….” seeing Bowling For Soup if you were in Tulsa on July 20.

The Wichita Falls band returned to the historic Cain’s Ballroom—celebrating its 100th year—for their “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve 20th Anniversary Tour,” playing the album in its entirety, among other classic hits. The show featured support from Eternal Boy and Keep Flying.

The evening began with a set from Pittsburgh-based group Eternal Boy, whose music and stage presence are reminiscent of Sum 41 and Blink-182—think of their much-loved middle school humor. Marking their Oklahoma debut, Eternal Boy blasted into a set in celebration of their newest record “Little Room to Breathe,” which was released the day before. Towards the end of their blistering set, the band treated the audience to a cover of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” featured on the record.

Next up, powerhouse Keep Flying took the stage, leaving attendees blown away by their extremely energetic and fun set. The six-person group is a force to be reckoned with, immediately winning over the audience with their brief, yet fully-packed, setlist. Uniquely enough, the band treated their newfound fans to a cover of the “X-Men Theme.” By the end of their set, it’s safe to say they had sufficiently warmed up—and then some—the crowd for Bowling For Soup.

Finally, it was time for the iconic band to take the stage for their massive twenty-song setlist, comprised primarily of “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve” songs—all in order—which saw fan favorite “1985” third on the setlist. Something that lead singer and guitarist Jaret Reddick said will never happen again after this anniversary tour in a comedic anecdote on stage.

One of the highlights of the evening came before the band played “Ohio (Come Back to Texas)” when Reddick told the crowd that he should say he’s from Oklahoma, because “this is where my biological father did it to my mom. I’m an honorary and he was ornery,” earning laughs and loud cheers from the sold-out crowd. Midway through the song, Reddick paused to acknowledge that Troy Aikman is actually from Henryetta, Oklahoma (which made the Henryettan write this “Woop” loudly). The song’s end saw BFS being replaced on stage by Eternal Boy, who sang the final chorus.

Keep Flying also made an appearance during Bowling for Soup’s set as their saxophonist, John James Ryan, came out to help perform “A-Hole.” Ryan was an infectious ball of energy and had the whole crowd up and bouncing on their feet.

The evening came to an end with the encore, which saw the group play some of their greatest hits like “Girl All the Bad Guys Want,” “High School Never Ends” and even “Today is Gonna Be a Great Day,” the theme song to Disney Channel’s iconic television show Phineas and Ferb, which Reddick provided his voice for as the character Danny, lead singer of Love Händel in the show.

Bowling for Soup’s tour runs until the end of October, so you have plenty of chances to catch them performing their iconic album in its entirety. Check out a full list of tour dates here. https://www.bowlingforsoup.com/tour-dates

Bowling For Soup

Keep Flying

Eternal Boy