After calling Bowling For Soup’s lead singer Jaret Reddick’s phone continuously for 20 minutes, the only thing I heard was a bizarre message from his son. One that you wouldn’t have recognised as a voicemail if it wasn’t for the operator saying that you may re-record your message if you’re not happy with it.
Fast forward one week and I managed to get through to him. It seemed the singer was unfazed by this and even found it a funny thing to have done, laughing it off as a joke and continuing as if nothing had happened.
When Bowling For Soup return to the city next week, it will be their third time – somewhat of a rarity for any band who comes to Lincoln, let alone one from America.
“When the promoters go to put a tour together, it’s all about availability and location and I think Lincoln is just one of those places that works out really well as far as that goes so it’s really great. It’ll be fun to get back and do it again,” said Reddick.
The last time the band came to Lincoln, Reddick and bassist Eric Chandler played an acoustic set. This time round, it’s going to be a full band affair. “They’re two completely different shows so for us, it’s nice to have that where we can go and do the full big rock show and to then have a more intimate time with the audience and be just that little bit closer to everybody,” said Reddick.
If you’ve seen the band before, you’ll notice that they don’t really have a set list and the shows will vary throughout just one tour. Reddick feels this is something that sets them apart from everyone else.
“Most of the time we know what songs we’re going to start with and then it can go anyway. I mean it can be based on a sort of vibe or a song that is yelled out or a particular bit of banter and we can take it anyway. We just kinda go with it. We’ve been doing this for so long that the guys can just read my mind. They kinda know what song to play before I start it,” he explained.
Having spoke about his favourite place to play, unfortunately it was Manchester and not Lincoln, Jaret went on to explain that this tour will be similar to the ones they have done in the past. “It’ll just be a Bowling For Soup show, that’s the main thing. It’ll be a lot of fun, a lot of music, a lot of messing around. It’ll be the night of your life!”
So why should you go and see a band who writes about “1985” and “Almost” getting the girl? “Because we’re the greatest band in the world and if they don’t come see us they’re gonna miss a great show,” Reddick joked, but added quite seriously afterwards: “Because I’ve got kids and I really would like to send them to a good school some day.”
Tickets for the show are still available from the Engine Shed box office and are priced at £18.50 plus booking fees.