Bouncing Souls – December 30th – Bluebird Theater

The Scene: Beanies and parkas were abundant as fans braved negative eleven-degree temperatures for the first of a two-night Bouncing Souls extravaganza at the Bluebird Theater Tuesday night. Most fans were dressed down and there were several mullets spotted in the crowd, not a common thing for a Punk show.

Opener: Allout Helter. Denver local Melodic Hardcore band Allout Helter started the night’s performances and fans enthusiastically bobbed their heads. Singer Ross Hostage engaged the crowd with banter, his voice sounded great, and he displayed a tremendous amount of energy as usual; head banging and jumping around the stage. Allout Helter is a hard-working local band and has played numerous large shows in Denver. Hostage remarked during this show that it was the one he had been waiting for his whole life. Ryan Tate played as a new guitarist for the band and did a fantastic job doing so. The band played some old favorites as well as a few new songs off an upcoming EP, including “Manufactured Distraction,” “The Wasteland,” and “Zealots.” A highlight of the set was a superb cover of the song “Speculative Fiction” by Propagandhi.

Opener: PEARS. New Orleans Hardcore band PEARS played next and put on quite an interesting show.  Singer Zach Quinn was a little bundle of energy: performing without a shirt, he spent the time he wasn’t singing grinding the stage.  Drummer Tim Harman is a large man and pounded his drums effortlessly, as if holding chopsticks.  Brian Pretus (guitar) engaged the crowd in between songs while Quinn rolled around on the floor of the stage like a mullet wearing demon. PEARS is a new band and does not have a lot of written material yet. They played everything off of their recent release Go To Prison, including an excellent cover of The Ramones’ “Judy Is A Punk.”

The Bouncing Souls. The New Jersey band Bouncing Souls headlined the night and although they played extremely well, the sound was off. Before the Souls’ set, I spotted singer Greg Attonito walking into the front of the venue, and was harassed by a security woman for not having the proper wristbands on. This act seemed to define the tone for the night; things were just not running smoothly. Attonito is not a screamer, he is a crooner, very soft-spoken in voice and in song. His microphone started out being way too low to compete with the sound put out by the rest of the band, and halfway through the set the microphone stopped working entirely. Standing in the front, Attonito’s frustration was obvious and he refrained from singing some of the verses.

Fans of the band did not seem to notice problems with the performance, a moshpit broke out during the first notes of the first song, and people raised fists in the air, clapped, and screamed the lyrics.  Aside from sound issues that should not reflect poorly on the band (but do), the set was fantastic, covering twenty-five years of explosive sound. It was interesting to learn that they had never played a New Years Eve stint prior to this two-night run. Another first for this author was seeing Attonito taking requests from the audience, playing “You’re So Rad,” and  “These Are The Quotes From Our Favorite 80’s Movies.” The band played twenty songs, then left the stage, while fans chanted “Here we go, here we go, here we go,” the beginning of the obvious crowd favorite “Here We Go.” Bouncing Souls graciously returned to the stage and played four more songs, “Ship In A Bottle,” “Anchors Aweigh,” and “Kate Is Great,” ending the show with the crowd favorite “True Believers.” The Souls are always a delight to watch, but it is safe to say that fans that came out for the second night of the performance got a more energetic performance with a noticeably better sound quality.

Energy: B
Musicianship: A
Sound: C
Stage Presence: B+
Set/Light Show: B-

Overall: B