And so it continues. Last night was the second night of the Bouncing Souls‘ New York leg of their “For All the Unheard Tour.” In case you missed it, they will be playing two albums per night for four nights, covering their entire catalog. We already talked about the first night, where they played “The Good, The Bad and The Argyle” and “Maniacal Laughter.” Last night was their self-titled album and “Hopeless Romantic.”
Unlike Wednesday, when I rolled in during the third band and waited impatiently for the Souls to start, I actually got there in time to see two of the openers (Wildstreet was playing their last song when I arrived). Yuppicide are always entertaining, and last night the singer was wearing a vest covered in feathers with an alligator head on each shoulder, plus they closed with a hardcore cover of a Specials song.
Star Fucking Hipsters were the last opener. This was the first time I’ve seen them with new singer Kelsey, or with Mikey Erg on drums, and it seems like the new line-up is a working out. It’s always a little disconcerting to hear a different voice than you’re used to on songs you listen to a lot, of course, but it sounded good. They played several new songs that will be on the upcoming album “From the Dumpster to the Grave,” one of which (possibly called “Broken Records”) you can see a poorly-recorded video of here, and now I’m looking forward to the record even more than I already was.
The main act started as it did before, with a boxing-style announcer talking up the album’s stats. This time the record cover carrier was a man, wearing an ill-fitting Elvis suit.
First up was the self-titled album. If I can get nostalgic on you for a minute here, I was the most excited to hear this one because it’s pretty much the first non-compilation punk album I ever bought. They play a lot of songs from the record during their regular shows, but hearing it front-to-back was pretty awesome. They skipped playing “I Like Your Eyes” (did you think we wouldn’t notice?) and had the man who was carrying the card come out to do the voices on “Shark Attack.”
Before starting “Hopeless Romantic,” the same announcer and album carrier came out — this time instead of an Elvis suit he was wearing bondage gear. This time they powered through the whole record without skipping any tracks. A young woman named Stephanie came up from the crowd to take the female vocal part on “Wish Me Well, You Can Go To Hell.” It was impressive that she just hopped up and did it, because if I’d gotten on stage I probably would have immediately gotten nervous and forgotten the words.
And we’re halfway through the series. I should probably rest my vocal cords (who knew I remembered every word on both records?), because tonight is “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” and “Anchors Aweigh.” Check back tomorrow for whatever I have to say about the show.
You can check out my photos from the show right here.