Bowling For Soup (w/ Rival Town and The Anti-Queens) Have Fun at Théâtre Beanfield [Photos]

The Théâtre Beanfield was the scene for Bowling For Soup’s long-awaited return to Montreal. (We caught them in London, England in February.) In modern times, that usually means that they haven’t visited the town in a few years, but in this case, it has been a long time since their last visit. Twenty-one years, to be exact. A quick poll of hands showed that some of the crowd were indeed at that Warped Tour show two decades ago, and a few were there on this night with their children. I guess this makes Bowling For Soup a generational talent.

Though they have fallen off of my radar in recent years, I ended up re-listening to their hit song from 2002 recently, “Girl That All The Bad Guys Want,” and quickly was reminded why they were so popular back in the day. Crunchy guitars, humorous lyrics and the little melodic (ah-ahhh-ahhhh) during the chorus always made that song one of my favourites. In a sign of the current times, the band explained their return to The True North Strong and Free was due to Canada suddenly jumping to third place on their list of countries where the band was most streamed. They figured that if everyone was streaming their music, there might be a few who would want to see them perform as well.

A well thought out strategy, as not only was this show sold out, but two others on this five city tour have already sold out as well. Bowling With Soup was joined on the tour by Rival Town and Montreal favourites, The Anti-Queens. This was my first Rival Town experience, and they played a terrific set that got the crowd going. They said that there was only one rule when attending a Rival Town concert: when they jump, the crowd must jump as well. Lots of jumping was done on this night, which might explain why they were outed by The Anti-Queen a little bit later for being a little smelly. I usually wouldn’t mention such a comment, but it was confirmed by the band, who laughed off the comment while they sat at their merch table.

As for The Anti-Queens, they remain one of Montreal’s favourite imports from Toronto. They visit the city often and already announced a return show this coming Summer. They have a new album coming out in May and played a mix of new and older songs while finishing off their set with their huge hit, “Worse Than Death.” Bowling For Soup’s most recent album, Pop Drunk Snot Bread, was released in 2022, though last year they also released a greatest hits compilation, Songs People Actually Liked, Vol.2. Bowling For Soup is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their hit album A Hangover You Don’t Deserve all over this coming year; check them out!

Bowling For Soup (w/ Rival Town, The Anti-Queens) @ Théâtre Beanfield (Montreal, QC) on April 6, 2024

86 photos