LIVE FROM THE PIT: Bowling For Soup, Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls, American Hi-Fi

Tucked into the iconic North Wales venue, Llangollen rocked on Friday night as Texan pop-punk legends BOWLING FOR SOUP joined forces with folk-punk favourite FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS for a huge co-headline show, bringing their Bowl My Bones Tour to TK Maxx presents Live at Llangollen Pavilion. Thousands of fans attended for an evening packed with pop-punk, folk and alternative rock, complete with massive singalongs, plenty of laughs and a setlist full of crowd favourites.

Photo by Cuffe & Taylor

AMERICAN HI-FI got the night underway, warming up the crowd with an energetic opening

set which carried throughout the venue and over the surrounding hills. A surprise highlight

was drummer Gary Wiseman from BOWLING FOR SOUP joining their opener as a friend to

play The Geeks Get The Girl. “The best thing about touring with your friends is getting to

play with them,” said frontman Stacy Jones. A great reminder of how close knit a tour can be and the connections that last a lifetime.

Handing over to FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS. Making his first appearance in Llangollen, Turner had the audience singing along from the outset with favourites including I Still Believe, Photosynthesis, 1933, Recovery and a rousing finale of Four Simple Words. Getting the crowd involved in a circle pit is no easy feat but Turner encourages with

confidence that's easy to join in with. A message of love and kindness is clear throughout the set, with personal links to mental health struggles and support that we can all offer each other: for example the wall of death instead being the ‘wall of hugs’. Taking a moment to soak it all in, Turner told the crowd, “This is my first show in Llangollen. That means I’ve played 3,162 warm-up shows just for this gig. You guys rule!”

Photo by Cuffe & Taylor

BOWLING FOR SOUP closed out the night with a hit-filled set, opening with Almost before tearing through fan favourites High School Never Ends, Ohio (Come Back to Texas) and Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day — also known as the theme song to Disney's Phineas and Ferb. Packed full of swagger, jokes and larger than life personalities, BOWLING FOR SOUP commanded the stage from start to finish. Not afraid to let themselves be led into the first few lines of songs completely out of their genre if nothing to amuse themselves and the crowd. With a variety of pyrotechnics, inflatable beach balls, a guitar giveaway and enough confetti to cover the pit twice, it’s no wonder why BOWLING FOR SOUP are great live.

Photo by Cuffe & Taylor

Speaking backstage ahead of the show, frontman Jaret Reddick said, “It’s so great to be here in Llangollen, and my goodness, what an amazing venue, what an amazing crowd and what an amazing night. We’re really glad to be here.” One of the standout moments of the night came during a venue-wide singalong to FOUNTAIN OF WAYNE's Stacy's Mom, with AMERICAN HI-FI frontman Stacy Jones joining BOWLING FOR SOUP on drums. The band rounded off the night with Girl All The Bad Guys Want and 1985. With an endless amount of crowdsurfing, full crowd singing along to every word and fans of all ages packed into the Llangollen Pavilion it’s clear to see why BOWLING FOR SOUP are still rocking us and stages all around the world.

Words: Tyler Whiting

Photos: Cuffe & Taylor