The Bowl My Bones tour rolled its way into West Yorkshire on Tuesday night for a night that promised to be a love letter to punk and pop punk alike at one Yorkshire’s most picturesque venues; The Peace Hall. A co-headline tour consisting of the UK’s very own punk troubadour; Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls and Texas’s pop-punk legends Bowling For Soup brought in the masses despite the rain for a show of two halves in terms of quality.
Up first in the ever unforgiving role opening the show were American Hi-Fi. Despite having a fairly meagre crowd turn out to watch them, they did their all and put on a decent show in the short time they had, Polite cheers and the nodding of heads were the rowdiest the audience were for these, the end of their set saw the audience warm to them much more as they brought out some of their big hitters such as The Art of Losing and Flavor of the Week.
It was a decent offering from them but I can’t help feeling they’re much suited to smaller and sweaty venues, but they warm up the crowd nicely for what is to come.
At 7:15pm sharp, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls take to the stage and launch straight into the show, opening on one of Turner’s biggest hits; I Still Believe. As soon as the opening lines of “Here ye, here ye!” are yelled out by Turner, the audience are already bellowing back in fine voice, a great signal for what is to come. It’s a great opener that instantly has the crowd in the palm of his hand as he then barrels into Try This At Home and Never Mind The Back Problems, the latter which sees Turner bouncing round the stage like a pirate filled with infectious energy. The hits keep a-coming from Turner who shows off his ever impressive discography which now spans 20 years, urging the crowd to start moving during Photosynthesis, the crowd are encouraged to start a circle pit, starting
off slow but turning into a hectic maelstrom of joyful smiles and chaotic moshing by the time it reaches its cresciendo. A one-two hit of anti-fascist song 1933 and No Thank You For The Music brings even more chaos amongst the crowd with mosh pits a plenty. During the latter, Turner orders the crowd to part, with a gleeful grin teasing a wall of death. Instead of this, he reveals it’s going to be a “wall of hugs” in a moment of unity. As the song reaches further pitch during the lyrics “I don’t want to be in your gang”, the crowd are almost impossible to keep apart as the crowds run towards each other, embracing one another in a wonderful display of unity and connection through music. Much to the relief of the knees of ageing punks, we approach the section of the show that promises us some respite. Turner introduces this section with Wessex Boy, a delightful folky song about how returning back to your hometown always brings about some inner peace and a sense of belonging, a feeling that he says brings much comfort to him after spending so long on the road. A sweet solo acoustic rendition of The Way I Tend To Be has the crowd in fine voice which segues into one of Turner’s earliest songs; The Ballad of Me and My Friends.
Once the “quiet bit” is over, The Sleeping Souls return to the stage as Turner brings the emotions with a rousing rendition of I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, a song that never fails to bring goosebumps and bring a lump to your throat through its passion and incredible lyrics. In a wonderful moment of timing, The Next Storm is played next just as the heavens truly opened turning the rain from drizzly to torrential. Turner doesn’t let this put a dampener on the show and neither does the crowd. Both of them see it as an opportunity to make the most of it as the energy surprisingly ramps up from both parties. Mega hit Recovery and Haven’t Been Doing So Well, the latter seeing Turner opening up about seeking help for his own mental health, a sweet moment as he urges those who are struggling to do the same. Bringing cheers from the audience, this sees them once again see the audience giving their all despite the elements and being the loudest they’ve been all night as they bask in the waves glorious waves of the punk spirit emanating from the stage.
Do One, Polaroid Picture and Get Better see a triumphant road towards the shows end and as the final notes of the latter ring out, the opening drum beat to Four Simple Words signals a wonderfully chaotic end to the show which allows the crowd to mosh, sing and dance one final time bringing an end to the better half of the nights show.
After a brief interlude, tonight’s co-headliners; Bowling For Soup, take to the stage for what should be a great set filled with pop-punk bangers. They start off strong beginning with Almost and High School Never Ends which sees a mass sing a song that brings an infectious energy filled with nostalgia with cool visuals that to be fair, are on show from start to finish.. Now, talking between songs from bands is expected and can be fun.
However, frontman Jarret Reddick takes liberties with this by going on far too long between songs which at times feels like a failed stand up routine as the energy dwindles both on stage and within the crowd. Songs like Emily and Ohio (Come Back To Texas) fail to bring back any form of momentum the band started with. Getting Old Sucks (But Everybody’s Doing It) almost manages but doesn’t quite succeed. A song like Punk Rock 101 should have the crowd bouncing and bring an element of chaos, but half way through, the band stops the song dead so the audience can have a photo opportunity to take pictures of the band. All the time this happens, The YMCA is playing and feels like you’re at Butlins rather than at a show. It is quite cringe inducing and you’re genuinely begging for it to end. Eventually the band finishes the song as they rush through it before going into a sub par cover of Stacy’s Mom. The ironically named Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day is up next which contradicts the show itself. Scope, Turbulence and Friends Of Mine follow one another before the energy does go up for hit, Girl All The Bad Guys Want which in fairness brings a bit of fun back to the crowd. Another moment is taken for Jarret Reddick to address the crowd but this time it’s a heart warming message once again urging those struggling with mental health issues to seek help if they need it. It’s a positive moment amongst a fairly dreary set.
The Bitch Song and Star Song follow before 1985 sees a burst of energy bring an okay end to a fairly poor show. Throughout this set, it’s apparent the band are so desperate to be like Blink-182 but feel like they’re a temu version instead. It’s very apparent that Frank Turner should have headlined this one outright due to the way he commands the audiences and has songs that everyone knows. If tonight was a class of Punk Rock 101, it’s very apparent that Bowling For Soup didn’t pass.
Words by Ed Walton
Photos by Jonathan Cohen
