Bouncing Souls

live in Chicago [Night 3] (2011)

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I was excited for Night 3 of the sold-out For All the Unheard Tour in Chicago because I think that the Bouncing Souls' How I Spent My Summer Vacation (2001) and Anchors Aweigh (2003) are by far the two best and most consistent of their catalog. Overall, the show was very good. The songs sounded very good and tight; the crowd was very into it; and the band seemed to be having a great time. Guitarist Pete Steinkopf seemed to be having a blast; bassist Bryan Kienlen is criminally underrated with his basslines that rival Matt Freeman's; and drummer Michael McDermott was fantastic on the drums. That being said, there were a few setbacks that kept the show from being classic.

It's hard to get over singer Greg Attonito's blank stare over the audience throughout the show. It is very awkward and it's hard to tell if he's into the songs or having a good time at all. I've seen this in the past and I feel that it really brings the Souls' live show down a few notches. It makes a disconnect with the audience. Greg also had to use cue cards during a few songs, which is understandable considering they have to play 100 different songs over the course of four nights, but it added to the awkwardness at times.

My last criticism is that three songs were left out of the set lists (one of which I grabbed for confirmation). "No Comply" was not played off HISMSV, and "New Day" and "Todd's Song" were left off the AA portion of the set. These songs would have added a mere eight minutes or so to the set, so their absence doesn't make much sense to me.

All in all, though, the music sounded great and it was nice hearing alot of songs that rarely or never get played live from these two classic Souls albums. Fun night, but not quite as incredible as it had the potential to be.