Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Galleries: Reel Big Fish, Bowling For Soup
Bowling for Soup and Reel Big Fish stopped by the Palladium last week. I’ve photographed and written about both these bands before many times. That’s what happens when you pick your own shows. You tend to shoot your favorites a lot.
Opening band Nerf Herder put up a great set. The house was already pretty full when they came out. These guys put a lot of humor into their lyrics, so they fit in nicely with the headliners. Take a listen to The Girl Who Listened to Rush. As a Rush fan (who’s wife is *not* the girl in the song), I have to appreciate the sheer number of Rush lyrics that they packed in. There was a bunch of goofing around during the set, including an a-cappella rendition on “stuck my dick in a frosty, and someone’s gonna lick it off,” which nicely set the mood for the rest of the night.
Bowling For Soup and Reel Big Fish are co-headlining the tour, and tonight it was Bowling For Soup that came out first. A Bowling For Soup show is always part music, and part kidding around with the crowd, which is what makes it so fun. Topics tonight covered how fart noises evolve as you get older, human wavy guys, and others. They even did a BFS comedy jam where each member of the band took turns telling jokes, after which the audience voted for a winner. The jokes were all terrible. No one deserved to win.
They also played a bunch of your favorites. Jaret did a great Rob Halford impression at the beginning of the Last Rock Show. The horns from Reel Big Fish came out to accompany during 1985.
Next out was Reel Big Fish. By this time, the audience was really amped up. There were tons of crowd surfers and they even started a circle pit. Didn’t expect that with a non-metal band, but hey, this is the Palladium. I think people are just used to it.
During Take On Me, which they jokingly referred to as a Weezer cover, there were even people doing cheesy 80’s dancing in the back. That’s what I love about these shows. Everyone is here to have a great time being a little silly.
Even after shooting these bands so many times, it’s always so easy to write the story (this thing) for the show. The bands are always having fun and goofing around on stage, making it fun for the crowd too.