Some of you may be thinking, “What on Earth is a Bowl My Bones Tour?”. Simply put, it’s a joyous collaboration of two friends providing fans with great music. It’s a co-headlining tour featuring the darlings of Texas, Bowling For Soup (the Bowl part) and UK punk rockers, Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls (The My Bones part, derived from their album title “England Keep My Bones”) Friends Frank Turner and BFS front man Jaret Reddick, have said they’ve wanted to tour together and the stars finally aligned. Australia was blessed with this outstanding union, but fear not, it was merely round one of this joint venture. Round two will begin in the UK in late June.
Opening the Aussie leg of the tour was Ninth Life Records’ artists from Brisbane, Talk Heavy. Compared to the road warriors they toured with, Talk Heavy is a young band. Formed in 2022, they have been inspired by a variety of styles. Their music draws upon emo, punk, and indie influences to which they add their own introspective twists. Talk Heavy did a great job at warming the crowds up across the continent with their powerful and melodic songs. They are truly a band to watch for and hopefully, they’ll get to take their show outside of Australia so the rest of the world can see what great new music that country is producing. To date, the band has not released any full length albums but I highly suggest you check out their singles HERE!
Next on the bill was Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls. As usual, Frank and the band mixed up their set lists across the tour which is always a pleasure when seeing multiple shows. The one question folks who have seen many of their shows ask is, “Do they ever have a less than enthusiastic night?” To date, I have yet to see them when they weren’t giving it their all and I’ve been seeing them for over 16 years. Even when they first started this tour in Coolum Beach, Queensland, dealing with severe jet lag and a very small stage, they delivered a barrage of fan favorites with high energy.
While there was none of Frank’s trademark crowd surfing, he did delight fans by welcoming Jaret Reddick to share the stage with him. The collaboration was more than 2 friends sharing a stage, it was two artists bringing together their talents in an enjoyable and heartwarming moment. One could feel the connection these two have for one another. Hopefully this magical moment will be repeated on the UK leg of the tour.
Closing out the shows was the always upbeat Bowling For Soup. BFS brings a level of humor to their shows that one rarely sees in a “pop punk” show. It’s not that they are not serious about their music. You couldn’t get farther from the truth. However, guitarist Reddick and bassist Rob Felicitti fill the spaces between songs with riotous banter. Occasionally drummer Gary Wiseman joins in on the fun. Also entertaining is Felicitti’s frequent striking of poses for the audience which also makes for great fun for photographers.
During the tour, a bond was formed between openers Talk Heavy and BFS that was wonderful to see. As the tour rolled on, during the closing set, the show’s openers would take over the stage during the Bowling For Soup song, ‘Ohio (Come Back to Texas)’. It was a fun moment that both bands seemed to enjoy. At Brisbane’s Tivoli Theater, BFS brought up a young man named Austin up to play guitar. They previously met at Australia’s Good Things Festival where he took over guitar duties on the song “1985”. He did a ripping job covering guitar duties on the same song once again.
UK’s leg will be seeing Boston’s alternative rockers American Hi-Fi taking the opening slot. Best known for their 2001 breakout single, Flavor of the Weak, this band will no doubt be a great addition to the co-headliners. Tickets are still available at most venues as of this writing but hurry, more shows are sure to sell out!!!
June 25th – Margate – Dreamland
June 26th – Southampton – Summer Sessions
June 27th – Lincoln – Live At Lincoln Castle
June 29th – Glasgow – O2 Academy Glasgow
June 30th – Halifax – The Piece Hall
July 2nd – Scarborough – Scarborough Open Air Theatre
July 3rd – Llangollen – Llangollen Pavilion
July 4th – Cardiff – Cardiff Castle
July 5th – St. Austell – Eden Sessions
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