- Show Reviews
- Bouncing Souls
w/ THE EXPLOSIONS / MUSTARD PLUG / YOUTH BRIGADE
October 26, 2000
Fletcher's - Baltimore, MD
Me and Brett went to this show, this other boy was supposed to come too, but he backed out at the last minute. so we had an extra ticket. And like a minute after we got out of the car, this group of people came up and bought it off of him. We got there a little late, so we missed The Explosions, but all the other bands kept saying how cool they were. The first band we saw was Mustard Plug. I cant say I really liked them all that much, not just b/c they are ska, they just didnt sound "full". And the bassist was this fat guy, who looked like he was going to have a heart attack from playing these simple bass lines. After them was Youth Brigade. You could hear people yelling out "OLD BRIGADE," b/c they looked mad old. The singer said they were all brothers, too, kinda strange. But they were all right. Anyway, when the Souls came out they started off with that little "Here we go" beginning and everybody was screaming it. I stayed in the back the whole time, b/c I felt really shitty that nite, and it really pissed me off. Anyway, Brett told me that the pit was horendous, so maybe it was better I stayed back. So he told me most of what happened since I couldnt see that well. Like, the security was barely operating, and all these people were jumping up on stage. And one guy got up on stage and started to drink the drummer's beer, and he got all pissed off, lol. They played a few songs off their new album that isnt out yet, it sounded pretty cool from what I remember. But the coolest part was the last song they played, The Freaks, Nerds and Romantics, my fav. I was trying to push my way up as soon as I heard the beginning. Afterwards, I met up with Brett and he was all fucked up from the pit, it was cool. I got this rad Hopeless Romantic work shirt too, it was only $7. Now thats what I'm talking about.
SETLIST:
n/a
BOUNCING SOULS
w/ VISION / BOY SETS FIRE
February 23, 2001
The Chameleon Club - Lancaster, PA
Well, I was sick again for this concert, and almost didnt end up going. But, considering I didnt get to really see them in good health last time, and this was one of their 4 tourdates for the next few months, I said fuck it, I'm going. Vison was ehh, alrite I guess. I thought Boy Sets Fire was supposed to be emo, oh boy was I surprised. The singer had this goofy ass "jesus just saved me" look on his face the whole time, and in the middle of their set, he busts out some speech about taking "it" out on the streets...whatever the hell that means. After surviving them, the souls bounced onto the stage; Gregg wearing a nice little black dress shirt and a white tie, so distinguished. They played a good variety of stuff, and after they played "I Like Your Mom" some guy screamed, "Your mom is a whore!!" The bouncers were dragging people out of the pit that were crowd surfing, sometimes dragging them by their legs, haha, it was cool. They played a bunch of stuff off of the new record, and it sounded pretty rad. My only complaint is that they didnt play "The Freaks, Nerds and Romantics."
SETLIST:
n/a
BOUNCING SOULS
w/ THE EXPLOSIONS / VISION
June 10, 2001
The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
I went with Glenn and Rich, and we had to go through mad traffic to get up to Phillie. I was feeling all tired and stuff, so me and Rich sat in the lobby for the first two bands, in order to save strength for the Souls. The club was projecting the 76er's game up on the wall in between bands, and all the people were watching it and cheering and shit like that. Then, there was like 4 mins left in the last period, and they cut it off cuz the souls came on. And when they did, Papillion and Greg were like "yeah, we really dont care about basketball," and all these people were like booing and stuff, hahaha. They started off with "That Song" which was very cool. I stood in the back the whole time, b/c I had an awesome view of the whole band. I wanted to get up front, but then I saw Glenn come out of the pit and was telling me how awful it was. The show was rad though, and they played a bunch of stuff off the new record. Halfway into the set, Papillion goes "who likes the cure?" and then they started to play one of their songs, I forgot what it's called. And then, right before the encore, they start to play Blue Moon and this girl and a guy dressed up like Spiderman come out and are slow dancing to it, it was really fucked up.
SETLIST:
that song
hopeless romantic
quick check girl
true believers
here we go
say anything
k8 is great
the something special
i like your mom
east coast fuck you
*cure song*
gone
headlights... ditch!
ballad of johnny x
born to lose
blue moon
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lamar vannoy
freaks, nerds and romantics
BOUNCING SOULS
w/ MADCAP / ONE MAN ARMY / FLOGGING MOLLY
November 21, 2001
The Nation - Washington, DC
Me and Rich got there late, and totally missed Madcap and about half of One Man Army. There were a ton of people there, and it seemed more crowded than the night before, since they had the balcony closed off for some reason. We just sat in the other part of the club during Flogging Molly, seeing as how Irish Folk Punk isn't really my thing. We also saw Michael from the Souls standing in front of the merch stand right when we came in. Anyway, I hadn't planned on going into the pit or anything since my back and neck still hurt like hell from AFI. But as soon as they came out and burst into "That Song" I couldn't help myself, as usual, haha. And I had my sweatshirt on the whole time too, so I was all kinds of hot. They did a cover of a Bad Brains song, since we were in DC and all, and also covered a Cock Sparrer song, with Jake from One Man Army playing guitar along with Pete. And during "Headlights...Ditch!" Michael goes into a pretty rad drum solo, and then breaks it down into a riff or two of "Walk This Way" and Pete and Bryan joined in. And they they started playing "Hot For Teacher", hahaha... and Greg even did the little talking parts in the beginning, it was fucking awesome. All in all it was a basic rocking show, nothing spectacular you know, just an all around rad Souls show. Until the end that is. A couple songs before the end, I had made my way up to the front on the left side and was enjoying the show out of the pit for awhile. And for their last tune, "Manthem", Greg gets down into the front of the crowd and is letting people up on stage to sing along and stuff. Well, I was right there but didn't go up on stage, but got something even better. Greg made his way over right in front of me and leaned out into the crowd and was singing with us for the whole song. And I was right in front of him and he was grabbing my hand for awhile and we were singing out together, it was so fucking rad. I had flyers for my punk show in my hand, cause I was going to try and throw them up on the stage hoping that they would reach the band... but instead I just gave them to Greg and he put them in his pocket!! Haha, how cool is that? And they were the Souls version flyers too, I hope he gets a kick out of it and actually goes to the page and signs the guestbook, I would shit my pants. But yeah, so I was like totally hanging out with him for the last song, and having a great time, he's the man.
SETLIST:
That Song
Hopeless Romantic
Kid
Gone
True Believers
ECFU
Quick Chek Girl
All of This and Nothing
K8 is Great
- Bad Brains song
No Rules
Headlights...Ditch!
- Cock Sparrer song
Born to Lose
Argyle
Here We Go
The Something Special
Private Radio
Ballad of Johnny X
Blue Moon
Night On Earth
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Manthem
BOUNCING SOULS
w/ ANTI-FLAG / ? / ?
September 27, 2002
The Nation - Washington, DC
Me and Rich went, same as last time, and totally ignored the first 2 bands just like last time, too, haha. So I was all excited to see Anti-Flag, cause I love their cds, they totally rock and shit. I admit I didn't really know more than like 5 of their songs, but I just figured it would rock anyways. So eraserhead Justin Sane, his wannabe devil lock'ed bassist, the fat always-opened-mouthed drummer, and the half normal other guitarist walk onto the stage (can you tell this summary is already leaning towards the negative side?), and kick into the first song. Well, Justin tries to do a bunch of cool guy jumps off of the drum riser, but idiot boy decides he's gonna jump in the middle of a chorus or verse and NEVER on an actual accent in the song. Then he starts the obligatory political preachings, which I'm sure were intentionally more long-winded than they've been in any other city, because we were in DC. Well him and the politically-savy bassist are just ranting ON AND ON about their stupid ideals and slamming the gov't or anything else they can think of that is "opressing us all", regardless of the fact that 85% of the people in this crowd aren't even old enough to fucking vote, let alone have enough intelligence to try and learn about world news and gov't policies for themselves. But that's not their fault, they're just kids. Unfortuantlly when you buy a ticket to see Anti-Flag, you better get you thinking caps on and take notes for the next "Free Mumia" Rally that's coming to a town near you. Well, besides of the political bullshit, the songs were so-so, and I felt they could have rocked a bit more.
Anyways, the souls unrolled a huge version of the butterfly logo before they get on stage, a sign of good things to come. Can't say much more about the performance, just the usual: they fucking rocked and never stopped. However, it felt like their set might have been a tad shorter for reason. They played some new material, seemed alright, 2 covers were in there I believe. During the last song, Greg went up to the front of the crowd and was shaking hands and everything, when the coolest part of the show happened. Some girl was holding out this little disposable camera and waving it around trying to get Greg's attention. He sees her, grabs the camera, puts his arm around her, gives a classy smile, snaps the pic of the two of them and then heads off backstage. Now that's how you fucking treat your fans, what a fucking gentleman !
For the encore, both Anti-Flag and the Souls came out on stage, to cover each others songs, with mixed up members for both tunes. They did "Freaks, Nerds and Romantics" first, and I think I was the only one who was totally into it. I was pissed they didn't do it in their real set, but it was interesting to see Anti-Flag help out on it, even though the guitarist had this stupid ass look on his face when he started playing it. After that they did the Souls version of the Anti-Flag song that's on the split. I've never heard it before, so I really couldn't judge, but it was pretty cool if i remember correctly.
SETLIST:
That Song
Cracked
Hopeless Romantic
Say Anything
True Believers
I Like Your Mom
No Security
(cover song from split)
Quick Chek Girl
Something Special
Ballad of Johnny X
No Rules
Argyle
ECFU
K8 is Gr8
Lifetime
Private Radio
Night On Earth
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The Freaks, Nerds and Romantics