Gig Review
TITLE: Bowling For Soup
VENUE: Holmfirth Picturedrome
REVIEWER: Fiona Mannifield
“HOLMFIRTH the coolest place I’ve never heard of.”
That statement came from Patent Pending’s Joe Ragosta before comparing the Picturedrome to a pirate ship!
The New Yorkers rocked the Holme Valley as first support to Texan punk aces Bowling For Soup – a real coup for Holmfirth rock fans.
Patent Pending along with Dollyrots are supporting Bowling for Soup (BFS) on their One Big Happy tour.
By the time BFS took to the stage the audience was buzzing and within a couple of songs the whole crowd was bouncing.
The band enjoy a banter with the crowd between songs and this gig had some classics including pro-Yorkshire chants, booing hangovers and the worst ever crowdsurfer.
Amongst their well known songs like Girl All The Bad Guys want, 1985, and High School Never Ends, they slowed it down with a semi acoustic version of Turbulence, and performed a cover of Stacy’s Mom originally by Fountains of Wayne which, bizarrely, BFS seems always to get credit for.
They were joined on stage at various points by the support acts, with Patent Pending taking over mid song, taking the instruments of the band and finishing the song, while Dollyrots Kelly Ogden joined in with the encore.
Patent Pending’s punk pop style opened the show complete with pirate hooks, Justin Bieber inspired dance routines (choreographed by Jaret from BFS) and crowd surfing, before a cover of Smash Mouth’s All Star got the crowds bouncing.
They were followed by Dollyrots with a harder, rockier punk style, more like classic American punk bands than their tour mates. A rock cover of Brand New Key went down well with the Holmfirth crowd, mainly due to Combine Harvester the Wurzels’ parody version.
It was one of the best gigs I’ve been to, and from the impression of the rest of the audience and the bands I don’t think I was the only one with this thought. Having seen BFS in both small and large venues, I think the best live experience comes from the smaller venues like the Picturedrome.
