大象传媒

It's fair to say I'm excited. If the sixteen year old me knew about this, he'd likely combust. Whilst standing outside the Spring and Airbrake, admiring the sizable tour buses, I decide it's best to dive head-first into the nostalgia of it all and channel that sixteen year old.

The first band to take to the stage is The Dollyrots from L.A. The band exudes confidence, and rattle through an impressive set, vocalist Kelly Ogden possessing boundless energy and enjoying every second. Highlights of the set include, current single "Because I'm Awesome" and a significantly rocked up version of Melanie Safka's "Brand New Key". Spurred on by being in a bar in "Ireland" two of the guys from Bowling for soup join the band to sing the "Cheers" theme tune, quite the way to wrap up a solid set.

The second band of the night, Forever the Sickest Kids, do not take to the stage immediately, instead we are treated to Ezekiel 25:17, delivered by Samuel L Jackson (anyone who has seen pulp fiction, you'll know what I'm referring to). After what this strange introduction the band take to the stage, bright eyed and happy to be here. They obviously have a number of loyal fans in the audience and use this to their advantage. They are incredibly tight as a unit and incredibly entertaining, and I can't help but nod along. By the end of the set they have gained a lot of fans with their hook-laden, well polished pop songs that stick in your head whether you want them to or not.

The lights go down once more and A take to the stage, announcing that the last time they played in Belfast was 11 years ago with Reef. This is going to get nostalgic.

The band rattle through all of their hits, but you cant help but get the feeling that 90-plus percent of the audience are only really aware of "Nothing". The band plough on through an incredibly tight set interspersed with crudeness and entirely inappropriate jokes, until they finish up with the anthemic "Nothing". Needless to say, the crowd go nuts. A real blast from the past indeed, but still wholly impressive.


Bowling for Soup take to the stage, an odd looking bunch, self proclaimed "four fat guys from Texas". Quite possibly the crudest band I have ever seen live, the band comes out with statements that make even the hard-nosed bouncers cringe, but it's all in good fun. The band are joined mid-set by A's guitarist, while Jarret proclaims "You guys need some metal" before they all launch into a great cover of Bon Jovi's "You give love a bad name".

They seem genuinely happy to still be doing what they are doing all these years on, and towards the end of their set they are informed they've overplayed by twenty minutes...and still go on to play for another twenty. And with that they are gone, leaving in their wake a legion of satisfied fans.

Mark McFarland