My first ever Bouncing Souls experience came about five years ago (ish) when the skate-punks played an arena tour with Green Day. I remember they looked out of place opening such a massive stage, but they didn’t exactly sound like they shouldn’t be there. While this live DVD is on a slightly smaller stage than the Manchester Evening News Arena, TBS are equally at home sonically. Basically a 25-song greatest hits package made for video, this shows exactly why the band have chalked up a stack of albums and quality releases over the years.
As with the other releases in Kung Fu’s ‘The Show Must Go Off’ series, the filming is of a decent standard and the multi-camera angles are pretty well shot. The series as a whole has become a little formulaic, but not necessarily in a bad way. The band are strong performers throughout – with tracks like ‘Hopeless Romantic’, ‘K8 Is Great’ and ‘True Believers’ performed with the energy and enthusiasm of a band 10 years younger. The Bouncing Souls have always been relatively tight as a unit, and this DVD reinforces the point, as very rarely do you see a fuck up. What you do see is singalong anthem after singalong anthem, making this DVD a must for fans of the band.
A 25-song setlist is, however, a little on the lengthy side for those who are new to the band or may just be passing observers, and I do think they could easily have shaved five songs off to make an even more killer playlist. Still, fans won’t be complaining about the length or the assorted extras, and I guess that is what counts. With tracks from their older albums and from ‘Anchors Aweigh’, The Bouncing Souls‘ career is well represented throughout, making this DVD package a worthy investment.
www.thebouncingsouls.com
Kung Fu
Paul