ALBANY – Time flies when you’re having fun, and that notion certainly applies to one of the true pillars of pop-punk fun: Wichita Falls, TX nice guys Bowling For Soup. The millennium-era radio and TV-friendly rockers rolled into Empire Live here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album A Hangover You Don’t Deserve for a sold-out crowd, with support from Long Island power-pop faves Wheatus and Don’t Panic, a rising pop-punk band with familial ties to BFS.
Stroudsburg, PA’s Don’t Panic are frequent visitors to Empire Live/Underground, and this particular night was another of their trademark killer live sets. Ted Felicetti (vocals/guitar), Zach Falkow (touring bass), and AJ Larsen (guitar) make up a very tight frontline, energetically punk-jumping throughout their set, while Anthony Paesano (drums) was just as tight in keeping time. Ted Felicetti also happens to be the older brother of Bowling For Soup bassist Rob Felicetti; I can only imagine that touring with your brother’s band is a dream come true, especially if his band is Bowling for Soup.
Don’t Panic opened their set with “Woe I,” from their 2021 album Dark Horse, and went on to perform several songs from 2023’s Setting Up To Fail, such as “Numb,” and “The Long Way.” The set ended with a little crowd participation, for their song “Fall of ’99” off their 2020 release, See Through It All. This high-energy punk outfit was a solid opening act for this tour, and great musicianship and showmanship made this band really fun to watch. They would also go on later to assist Bowling for Soup during their set.
Up next was Northport, Long Island power-pop act Wheatus, first with members Matthew Milligan (bass), Brandon Ticer (keyboards), Gabrielle Sterbenz (backing vocals), Joey Slater (backing vocals) and Dustyn Murphy (drums) taking the stage. Finally, vocalist/guitarist Brendan B. Brown—the only original member—appeared, sporting an AC/DC Back in Black shirt, as the band opened with “Temporary Song,” one of 10 additional tracks recently debuted on their re-recorded self-titled album, Wheatus 2020.
Brown, who has cited AC/DC as a major influence, prefaced his fandom for the band again on this night, before they performed AC/DC’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Damnation.” Wheatus also performed several key originals like “Fourteen,” “Lemonade,” “BMX Bandits” and “Hump’Em N’ Dump’Em,” rounding out a full set of fan favorites from each of their albums. When the time came for the band’s most well-known single, “Teenage Dirtbag,” Brown donned the iconic bucket hat from the video and started the song. The crowd was ready, and did not miss a beat! In all it was a great set of songs that fans of Wheatus who were in the house truly appreciated.
For the final act of the night, headliners Bowling For Soup set out to perform a full playthrough of their iconic 2004 album, A Hangover You Don’t Deserve. Rob Felicetti (bass), Gary Wiseman (drums) and singer-guitarist Jaret Reddick arrived donning black and yellow Bowling For Soup jerseys, but noticeably without guitarist Chris Burney, who was not able to tour. The band promised the audience they’d deliver the best show they could in his absence, and they more than made good on that promise.
The set opened with “Almost” and “Trucker Hat,” with a few snippets of “Mickey” by Toni Basil and “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!),” by the Beastie Boys, followed by BFS’ smash-hit, undeniably ubiquitous cover of SR-71’s “1985.” The band then had Don’t Panic come back up on stage to finish performing “Ohio (Come Back to Texas)” for them, followed by Wheatus’ Milligan joining on keys for “Ridiculous” and “Shut-Up and Smile.”
BFS ripped another half dozen songs, and then asked a member of the crowd to spin a wheel on stage to determine the next song. The fan’s spin landed on “Life After Lisa,” from the 2002 release, Drunk Enough to Dance. So of course, they busted it out. Reddick later walked off stage and returned with a puppet of Chris Burney, just before performing the solo in “Friends o’ Mine.” The crowd roared with delight.
But Bowling for Soup was not done just yet. An encore consisted of “High School Never Ends,” from their 2006 album, The Great Burrito Extortion Case, before it was time for the moment Phineas and Ferb fans were waiting for: “Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day,” the band’s beloved theme song for the show, in which Reddick lets us know that “there’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation ‘til school comes along just to end it.” That got the crowd even more hyped, before the band closed with, “Girl All the Bad Guys Want,” another gem from Drunk Enough to Dance.
Although they were regrettably one member short on this night, Bowling for Soup still wowed the sold-out Albany crowd, between their charm, a great setlist, and the help of a few friends. Here’s hoping that the next time they come around, Burney is able join in the fun.
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Bowling For Soup – 9/20/24 at Empire Live, Albany, NY (Photos by Ron Loria)
Wheatus – 9/20/24 at Empire Live, Albany, NY (Photos by Ron Loria)
Don’t Panic – 9/20/24 at Empire Live, Albany, NY (Photos by Ron Loria)
