An evening of acoustic entertainment with Erik and Jaret
Photo: Scott Cole
Anyone out there who's been to a Bowling for Soup gig before will know two things for certain: how incredibly funny the live shows are, and also how many fourteen-year-old kids the band seem still to attract.
Imagine my surprise then as I walk into Koko and there's not a child in sight. Instead, the barrage of pre-pubescent teenagers seems to have been replaced with 40-something bald men with 'Bowling for Soup Acoustic Tour 2010' t-shirts stretched over their beer bellies. While obviously not a bad thing, it’s made the queue at the bar a hell of a lot longer than I was expecting.
The acoustic tour, comprising of Erik and Jaret, has become a regular occurrence. As well as touring as a full band in the UK at least once a year, the duo have also made this acoustic outing an annual event. While seen by sceptics as a bit of an overkill, the constant sell-out dates across the UK seem to say otherwise.
It’s easy to forget when watching Bowling for Soup normally that behind the toilet humour, the jokes and the childish antics, Erik and Jaret can actually sing. The fun stage-shows have become such an integral part to their performances as a band that often their talent is disregarded amidst talk of their entertaining shows. Tonight however, stripped down and without any gimmicks, the duo remind fans of why the band are still together after seventeen years and eleven albums.
That’s not to say of course that the trademark humour is left totally at home. The guys provide a lot of laugh-out-loud moments along the way, but for once, it isn’t the focus of the evening’s entertainment. It is this very fact that now, in hindsight, I realise must be why the dynamics and age of the audience change so much between full-band and acoustic tour dates.
Koko acts as an ideal venue for tonight’s show. The old theatre is the perfect home for a night of acoustic fun, to the point where I feel sorry for people who saw the tour in other less majestic locations than here in London.
With yet another successful acoustic tour now under their belt, it’d be easy for the guys to rest on their laurels for a while. That’s just not the Bowling for Soup way though, as they have their eleventh full-length album due out on 26th April and are also appearing at this year’s Download Festival.
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