Dark clouds gathered over Halifax’s Piece Hall and there were two choices: head for cover or embrace it. Judging by the sea of primary-coloured ponchos and steadily soaking band T-shirts, this crowd had already made its mind up. As the evening wore on, the rain became less of a nuisance and more of a welcome way of cooling down the bodies flying around the pit.
Boston’s American Hi-Fi opened the night with a sharp, no-frills set that got things moving quickly. There wasn’t much time to dwell as the co-headliners waited in the wings, but the Massachusetts outfit did exactly what an opening band should: warmed the crowd up in style.
Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls don’t really believe in easing themselves into a show. I Still Believe arrived almost before people had chance to catch their breath, and thousands of voices were there with him from the opening line. For an artist who rarely makes it to Halifax, he was welcomed back like he’d never been away.
Turner pointed out that his last show in the town came more than 3,000 gigs ago, in one of Halifax’s grassroots venues. Now up to show number 3,161, and having struggled with a cold over the previous few nights, there wasn’t the slightest hint that he was pacing himself.
He spoke passionately about supporting independent venues. It wasn’t delivered as a lecture or a slogan, more as someone remembering where he came from. If people want nights like this to keep happening, those smaller rooms have to survive. Turner knows that better than most.
That sense of community runs through everything he does. Instead of calling for another circle pit, he asks for a “circle of hugs”. The music drops, people sprint towards each other… and then hug complete strangers before dancing together. It sounds ridiculous on paper. In reality, it somehow makes perfect sense.
His only real rule is “don’t be a dick”, and you could see that reflected all around The Piece Hall. The pit looked after itself. People picked each other up, made space when they needed to, and sang every word back with huge smiles on their faces. It’s still punk, just without the posturing.
Bowling For Soup have built a career on not taking themselves too seriously, and from the moment their own tongue-in-cheek entrance music rang out, it was obvious nothing has really changed. Jaret Reddick may now be in his 50s, but his between-song chat still has the same daft charm it’s always had, with jokes coming almost as quickly as the songs.
The audience barely stopped moving. Hands stayed in the air, beachballs were batted back and forth, people climbed onto shoulders and every chorus felt louder than the previous one. More than 25 years on from Let’s Do It for Johnny!!, these songs haven’t been forgotten. If anything, they’ve found a new generation as there are some who are younger than that first album right there in the thick of it.
High School Never Ends, Emily and Ohio (Come Back to Texas) all landed perfectly, while Stacy’s Mom brought a huge hit of nostalgia along with American Hi-Fi’s Stacy Jones on stage, casually pouring himself a drink. It’s the sort of daft visual joke Bowling For Soup are probably incapable of refusing.
For all the laughs, though, Reddick knows when to change the mood. Introducing Turbulence, he spoke openly about living with mental health struggles despite appearing to be “the happiest person I know”. It was a genuinely moving few minutes that reminded everyone there’s a bit more to Bowling For Soup than punchlines.
Normal service is quickly resumed and, by the time Girl All the Bad Guys Want, The Bitch Song and 1985 closed the night, pyrotechnics lit up the old stone walls and the rain was pretty much irrelevant. Everyone left soaked, slightly hoarse and grinning. That’s usually a sign you’ve had a pretty good night.
