Bouncing Souls – Bayside – Broadway Calls – at The El Rey Theater – Los Angeles, CA

Halloween in Hollywood is huge. The word huge seems small when describing the world-wide known carnival that happens annually down in West Hollywood, along with all the other parties and festivities going on in the area. However, hundreds of dressed-up and dressed-down fans spent their Halloween on probably one of the best events in Hollywood- The Bouncing Souls show. Not only was this an amazing show due to the fact it was Halloween, but the Souls were celebrating their 20th year together as a band.

Before I even entered the venue, I could see few people waiting enthusiastically and proudly showing off some of their costumes in line. For a few minutes, my mind was rattling thinking that no one was going to be in the Halloween spirit, and not come in costume, but when I stepped inside the El Rey, I was mistaken. People left and right were dressed up, as zombies, pizza, flapper girls, astronauts, Indians, and even the restroom attendants were dressed up as Shrek and Princess Fiona. One of the events going as part of the Halloween celebration was a costume contest, where they had categories for Scariest, Most Original, Best Homemade, and "Good Job", and the contest would take place before the Souls hit the stage.

The first band to perform where a band called Broadway Calls. Broadway Calls is a pop-punk band from Oregon, and are signed on Side One Dummy Records. The band came out dressed as babies, with diapers, bonnets, and over-sized pacifiers. As hard as it seems to get serious while dressed as a baby, the group played their set with energy from beginning to end. It's somewhat hard to find a pop-punk band that's infectious vocals and melodies don't clash together, and Broadway Calls defeated that challenge. Each member of the band (Ty Vaughn, Matt Koeing, and Josh Baird) added their own uniqueness to their sound and overall vibe, and making all members complement each other.

The next band on the list was Bayside. The once small-sized crowd became a medium-sized crowd, due to the popularity of this band. The group's alternative rock sound was somewhat generic to the genre, however, they still performed a great set. They had catchy tunes, with honest and deep lyrics, and tons of playful, energetic, and almost metal-like guitar riffs. Their performance consisted of fast and straight-forward songs, that made you want to sing along.

After Bayside was done, the people who entered the costume contest made their way onto the stage around 9:15PM to be judged, and hopefully win a prize. The crowd decided who would win, based on the amount of cheers and applause received when each person was presented. The first category was "Scariest", which an elaborate "Trick or Treat" voo-doo looking doll won. After "Scariest" was "Best Homemade", and the prize went to a man dressed as money with eyes from the infamous, and somewhat creepy, Geico commercial. "Most Original" went to a woman dressed as the lady from the Progressive commercials, wearing bold red lipstick and her hair in an up-do. Although she won the category, she had some competition with a man wearing a shirt that read "NANCY KERRIGAN" and had crutches and bandages around his knee. The costume contest was not only a fun event to incorporate Halloween into the show, but it was a sign that the Bouncing Souls would soon take the stage.

Around 9:30ish, the curtain opened to reveal The Bouncing Souls. Greg Attonito and Bryan Keinlen has both dressed up, Greg as a zombie priest, and Bryan as a zombie Buddhist. The stage was decorated with spider webs, candles, and pumpkins donning their infamous cross bone broken heart. They started out by playing "Fight to Live", a perfect song to get the crowd excited and fired up. Throughout the night, they played "Lean on Sheena", "Hopeless Romantic", and two of my personal favorites, "Cracked" and "Kate is Great" both from their self-titled album.

They continuously threw out candy for the audience to catch, like SweetTarts and mini Jawbreakers. At one point, Greg picked up an acoustic guitar and performed a brand-new song appropriate to Halloween, titled "Ghosts on the Boardwalk". The band also performed a new song, (which was not acoustic) called "Gasoline", which the crowd enjoyed a great deal. The Souls also performed "East Coast! Fuck You!", which was dedicated to the baseball team, The New York Yankees. The pit became insane, with people tripping and carrying each other when they sang "True Believers", one of their most popular songs. One surprise towards the end of the night, was the lead singer of Alkaline Trio, Matt Skiba, came out during the encore and started getting "touchy-feely" with guitarist Pete Steinkopf, making the crowd go nuts with laughter and applause.

At the end of the night, everyone was satisfied, whether it was winning the costume contest, eating too much candy, or just seeing one of Punk’s most legendary bands, The Bouncing Souls. The Souls have come a long way from playing in garages to selling out venues, and their fun, whimsical, and energetic shows are one of the core reasons they have reason to celebrate 20 years as a band.
 

-Sarah K.-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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