ENTERTAINMENT BOWLING FOR SOUP STUNS CAMPUS CAMERON PARRUCCI BLAKE GERRITS/STOUTONIA
500 students bought tickets to see Bowling For Soup.
insight about performing different types of shows. “It’s a much more personal experience in a small venue... and you lose that intimacy that you get playing at one when the closest person in the crowd is 2025 feet away from you.” After seeing Bowling for Soup live, it’s obvious that ‘fun’ is a critical part of their identity. After 22 years of performing, the band has clearly perfected the art of
making concerts fun. Whether they were playing “1985,” “The Girl All the Bad Guys Want,” “Stacy’s Mom” or even the “Phineas and Ferb” theme song, you could always feel the happiness and energy emanating from the crowd. Chandler left us with this wonderfully insightful quote about the band: “We are extremely, seriously, dedicated to the fact that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.” ● BLAKE GERRITS/STOUTONIA
Bowling For Soup, the band behind your favorite pop punk hits such as “1985” and “High School Never Ends,” arrived at the University of Wisconsin–Stout on Tuesday, Nov. 1 as the Blue Devil Productions’ big show for the semester. Mixing a wicked concoction of their most well-known hits choice commentary and comedy in between songs, Bowling for Soup played an incredibly entertaining show that everyone in attendance adored. UW–Stout was the first stop on the newest leg of Bowling for Soup’s most recent tour, following the release of their newest album, “Drunk Dynasty.” Erik Chandler, bassist for the band, tells us about it: “Well our last album…it was really bitter. There was a lot of stuff going on, personally, outside the band, and we wanted to make something more uplifting… Back to more ‘Why can’t we just get along?’” The band just got back from a successful tour in the UK, where they hit multiple arena-sized venues. Chandler reflected on the past 22 years of being in a band and the experience of being on tour again. “I get paid to do what I love more than anything else. To even say that I’ve been on stage for more than 100,000 people is ridiculous. It’s just out of control. The best part has always been to do what you love, and to not have to answer to anybody.” It’s hard to compare a sold-out stadium show to a performance in our esteemed Great Hall with an audience of 1,000 people, but Chandler also gave some
Bowling For Soup took the Great Hall stage to perform for the campus. The band performed “Stacy’s Mom”, “1985” and even the “Phineas and Ferb” theme song.