Bowling For Soup
Acoustic In A Freakin’ English Church
(Brando Records)
These guys are one of my all-time favorite bands. Texas-based Bowling For Soup has pulled no punches with this acoustic album/DVD. Famous for their raucous, energetic, hilarious, and entertaining live shows, BFS brings us a little twist on their live performance with this acoustic version of some of their most popular pop-punk tunes. Lead vocalist and guitarist Jaret Reddick and bassist/vocalist Erik Chandler entertain a huge English crowd with only their voices and acoustic guitars. If you don’t think you can bring punk rock down to acoustic and still get your rock on, you’re sadly mistaken.
This 2013 show is BFS’s first official acoustic performance. And what a performance! The duo starts off with “Me with No You” from their 2009 Sorry for Partyin’ album. Next they slide into their up-tempo, fun tune “Almost” from 2004’s A Hangover You Don’t Deserve album. Jaret and Erik perform 19 of their hits representing pretty much all of their albums to date. From the heartfelt intensity of “Goodbye Friend” and “Turbulence” to the lyrical brilliance of “A Really Cool Dance Song,” “The Bitch Song,” and “Last Call Casualty” to the mainstream favorites “Almost” and “1985,” BFS is enormously entertaining with these acoustic renditions. You straight up can’t fake talent in an acoustic performance.
Jaret and Erik are always in sync when performing, but this performance shows us just how spot on they are together with those dual guitars and complementary, harmonizing vocals. Also, in true BFS fashion, the banter between the duo and the crowd is entertaining in itself. All in all, BFS once again shows us why they’ve been around since 1994 and are still just as relevant as they ever were. The talent of this band is evidenced by this fabulous performance.
I’d suggest that you grab yourself a copy of this live CD/DVD immediately. Go ahead… I’ll wait. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Bowling For Soup, definitely get your ass in gear and check them out. Grab one of their albums before you check out this one though so you know what they’re all about. In any case, this album and DVD is a must have for your collection.
Purchase the album here: iTunes | Amazon
