24 hours ago, if asked what the best gig i'd ever been to was, I would have undoubtedly said Green Day. Seven years ago, at the MK Bowl, they played to their largest ever audience. The band themselves say those shows were among their best - that gig made a huge impression on a 10 year old me. However, to give you an idea of how much I liked seeing Bowling For Soup last night, my favourite gig award has a new and very strong contender…
Three words come to mind when I try to describe what it was like in the crowd last night: awesome, bizarre, and genuinely-terrifying. (yes, I know that's technically four words..)
Orange were first on, the lead singer arriving on stage wearing what I can only describe as a significantly brighter version of Gerard Way in The Black Parade, with impressively big red hair. If you've read any of my blog posts, you might have noticed I've mentioned them a few times before. I love their album Escape From L.A, and was a bit disappointed when they played mainly new songs, but I’m not trying to be negative - it was a good set. They had great stage presence, with their 'Orange Salute' certainly engaging the crowd, I just felt they were perhaps not playing completely to their strengths.
Other than one or two songs, I didn't know much about Suburban Legends prior to last night. I soon realised what I’ve been missing - catchy upbeat songs, mixed with awesome outfits and a phenomenal amount of energy! Sometimes support bands can fall a little flat with crowds, but it’s safe to say that they certainly didn't! If I wasn’t so ridiculously excited I think I could have appreciated their set a bit more! Forget a support band, these guys deserve their own shows.
The main reason I like Bowling For Soup so much, is because their songs are both fantastic, and happy. So many bands, especially in punk-rock, have an endless back catalogue of truly depressing songs. Seeing what I like to call “miserable-emo-crap” bands live, is more often than not, just no fun. I’m so glad to say that last night couldn’t have been more different. The mixture of feel-good songs, and the fact that the band thankfully don’t take themselves too seriously, made the atmosphere in the crowd infectiously happy. Determined to get away from the moshers that kept pushing me over (who were for the record, unnecessarily violent!), I managed to get really near the front. The relaxed, genuinely funny nature of the show was what made it so fantastic – I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at a gig. I was so incredibly excited, I am ashamed to admit I did an embarrassing girly scream and hugged Jaret when he has near the stage. That is definitely not how I’d normally behave, to give you some idea of how excited I was! After two hours of singing my heart out and dancing non-stop, I honestly could have cried when it came to an end. It was without a doubt one of, if not the best gig I have ever been to.
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