Bowling For Soup, Simple Plan, Capdown - London Astoria 02.28.03
Posted by Phil McCann on 03.06.2003
More punk, more fun, more bruises!
With my Hell is for Heroes ‘The Neon Handshake’ review on the way to the NEW 411mania.com I wanted to put out a concert review to really dig my heels into, solidify my place if you will.
However, before I start, I’d like to show my respects to all those who suffered from the affects of the Great White concert last Friday, there is no way I can put into words how shocked I was to hear of the extent of the loss, and so this is my show of respect.
And after a momentary pause to pay my respects I’d like to go back to the happier subject of the Bowling For Soup concert held at the London Astoria, which had a pretty packed set of supports, those being Uncle Brian, Simple Plan, and Capdown~! Now I’m by no means a fan of Bowling For Soup, in fact ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ annoys me intensely, and their only redeeming quality seems to be that they know they’re not good, but they put on a good show live…hey positivity!
The crowd wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be involved in, well when you’ve got to choose between laughing at someone’s Good Charlotte hoodie, and the Linkin Park and Blink 182 patches on his jeans, then you know there’s a slightly pop crowd on hand, but really what did I expect- it was Bowling For Soup, not exactly the band to expect hardcore AFI fans to turn up to.
So I’ll get to the actual concert, held at the Astoria, apparently my new home for gig going…really. The concert opened up with British small-timers Uncle Brian, who put forward their own brand of punk with confidence and style, and made them my second favourite act of the night. They were fun, they musically good, and they had the right attitude- they took nothing for granted, and loved every minute of being able to support at such a high profile (in punk terms) gig. Despite only having twenty minutes to show their stuff the band were impressive, and deserve to go somewhere with their music, I’m hoping they play the club circuit in my area sometime soon.
Next up were Simple Plan…things didn’t look good as soon as a Zebra-Striped carpet was brought out for the band, and also at seeing that the band had more guitars than one of the guitarists did hair wasn’t encouraging. However, I’ll give the Simple Plan credit, they were an honest band. Their music made me simply nauseous, and they planned all their jumps to perfection- Busted have nothing on this five piece with four members all spinning round at once. Make no mistake this band is being paid to go places, and if they are marketing as well as Good Charlotte have been then they will go places, not on talent or song-writing, but because they’re pop and make no attempt to be rock. Not to be too blunt, but a band with a song called ‘The Worst Day Ever’, or the equally bad ‘I’d Do Anything (For Breasts)’ don’t deserve to be pushed to the top…but there we go. I have no respect for this sort of manufactured push for a band, and look forward to getting an automated e-mail from their record label telling me how this band played clubs all over Louisiana for years to get where they are.
The build-up to the next band was electric for those who didn’t leave the floor to find their pop idols, as Capdown were up next- Capdown being one of Britain’s finest on the more underground scene, as they mix ska-core (a mixture in itself) with a love for drum and bass. It sounds weird, and isn’t to everybody’s tastes, but it was an amazing show live and proved to be (in retrospect) one of the best performances I’ve ever seen live. Playing through their best known songs such as ‘Cousin Cleotis’, ‘Kained But Able’ and the brilliant ‘Ska Wars’ the band won over many fans, especially with their UBER~! -large circle pit creating before ‘Ska Wars’, oh and their anti-war attitude. Now the temptation to download those songs might be high…but if you can then buy their first album ‘Civil Disobedient’, and if you like then look for ‘A Pound For The Sound’ as both will no doubt amaze you. Oh, and their intro was a minute long drum and bass track, which really ruled in unspeakable ways.
The headlining act, Bowling For Soup, were a good show live, as their music came off as a slightly more rounded rock act, and they seemed to recognise that they weren’t the best band in the world and instead focussed on the comedic aspect of their performance. The highlight of the act was a five minute long break in a song to sing some covers, including snippets from ‘Complicated’, ‘Lose Yourself’, ‘Miss Jackson’, ‘Lifestyles of The Rich And Famous’, and ‘Always On Time’, which was priceless for the whole crowd “bouncing it” during ‘Lose Yourself’. The band played ‘The Bitch Song’, a hilarious ten second ‘Sh!t’ song, ‘Emily’, and ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ in what turned out to be an enjoyable performance, if not one that matched up to Capdown’s awe-inspiring show
Not much else to say on the night other than all the bands were probably worthwhile for different reasons and different fans, but my main recommendations would be Capdown and Uncle Brian, with a recommendation to avoid Simple Plan at all costs (to the record company).
The 411: Well a mixed night, but check out Capdown just to see whether you can bring yourself to like the drum and bass aspects.
