On Thursday the 13th of February 2025 Bowling For Soup proudly brought their 20th anniversary show of “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve” album to the Nottingham ice arena for their second largest ever indoor concert to be witnessed by over 10,000 fans. For Matthew who had only recently celebrated his 14th birthday, it was a great way to celebrate with his largest show to date.
Opening proceedings were Magnolia Park an American rock band from Orlando Florida. They took to the stage with smoke and classic lighting which suited their energetic style of rock for the opening 30 minutes. The crowd was alive and were encouraged to create circle pits and crowd surf which gained and pleased old and new fans alike for which I am now one.
Next up was Wheatus, the American rock band from Northport New York with lead singer Brendan Brown, bassist Matthew Milligan, new drummer, their three backing singers and keyboardist who all are very close friends with Bowling For Soup and make an excellent support. They played 45 minutes which included all of their hits from their career including “A Little Respect” and ultimately their biggest hit “Teenage Dirtbag” for which at this point Brendan stopped singing and the crowd took over, which being there really was a sight to behold and hear. They assured us they will be back later in the year the celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album Wheatus. Massive thanks to Matthew Milligan and Cameron their tour manager who granted us access tonight.
Then it was time for the mighty Bowling For Soup to take the stage having played 7 venues before this within the UK on this tour. Now being a three-piece after sadly Chris has had to retire they were as tight as ever. Hailing from Texas in America they told the crowd they have played Nottingham many times before usually at Rock City who they thanked, but tonight they played the 10,000 capacity ice arena and I couldn’t see a single seat that was spare. Here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve” and to play it it’s in its entirety is a sight to behold. Lead singer Jaret Reddick seemed in ore at the size of the crowd who knew all the words to all the songs with us all singing along and dancing it really was a night for celebration.
It is worth noting that “ A Hangover You Don’t Deserve” has 19 tracks and comes in at just under 59 minutes long so hitting the stage at 9:15 they played hit after hit including “1985”, “Almost” and “Ohio” and a good mix of other songs finally came off stage just after 11:00 PM. During the set, there was plenty of conversation from the band making for a really relaxed and party atmosphere. What made the night special was the fact there was a bar placed on the stage where some lucky fans got to see the show as well as some other musical celebrities including the new an up and coming band Alt Blk Era and rock royalty Blaze Bailey to name a few.
There was even an opportunity for a fan to pick a song to be played whose birthday it was. They were invited to spin the wheel to play one of six songs which they gratefully did the song was played, the t-shirt was given and she was also placed on the stage at the bar to watch the song being played. There really is a good connection between the band and the audience.
An hour and 45 minutes seemed to go by very quickly but as I looked around the arena there were smiles from ear to ear and every word was being sung back to Jarrett who himself made a comment about being in his early 50s and the songs they were playing were about high school, drinking beer and having fun – we all remember 20 years ago, just but it was great to relive this age again were for most these were the golden times before we all grew up!
There was plenty of conversation between the band and the audience which really did help galvanise the evening and they also gave a message in between one song about depression and how just picking up the phone and contacting a friend can make all the difference whether you know that struggling or not, which was great advice for us all and a reminder.
They didn’t leave the stage before their encore as they wisely said there were stairs and if one of them tripped on the stairs they might break a hip and then the group would be 2 band members down which raised a good cheer from the crowd. With the final cannon of white ticker tape shooting into the crowd that was it……what an evening and great fun that had been had by all – of all ages. I saw children whose parents have brought them to relive their youth. I was proud to have my 14-year-old son Matthew shooting the photos and this was great to have him hear the album live, he knew the songs even though he wasn’t born when they were released!
Bowling For Soup returns to the UK on December 13th 2025 to play Wembley Arena – get your tickets now you won’t be disappointed.