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The Bouncing Souls @ The House of Blues, Anaheim, 11/4/2006

The Gold Tour
Featuring:
The Bouncing Souls
The Street Dogs
Whole Wheat Bread
Left Alone
Saturday, November 4th @ The HOB in Anaheim
Text and Photos by: Audiophile

Left Alone never disappoints, at least not me. Although their line up has changed a bit since I last saw them, their sound has not suffered in the least. This ska-punk outfit's music is a throw back to early 90's sound, and it's damn fine. Whether you prefer to mosh or skank, Left Alone has something for you. And they brought it this night with some of my favorite songs, like "Another Feeling," "My 62,"and for good measure a song about how hard emo SUCKS. Then they of course closed it with a song (the title escapes me) about how no one likes them, and frankly, they don't care. For more info on Left Alone, their albums, and their shows, look no farther than their website, www.leftalone.net.

All the things I've heard about Whole Wheat Bread made me not want to view them. All anyone has ever told me about this band is that they sounded like Blink 182, and the only reason they had any popularity what-so-ever was because they had a "gangsta" look to them when they played. Every single person who has said that to me should be slapped. Whole Wheat Bread DO NOT sound like Blink 182. Not even close. Whole Wheat Bread (from now on being called WWB, because I'm lazy) not only have actual TALENT, but they have an entertaining stage show, which includes a lot of humor. WWB brought the house down to say the least, people were moshing in the pit, girls were dancing up on the second floor, and everyone was smiling, laughing, or singing along. For more info on WWB feel free to visit their website, www.wholewheatbread.net.

Three years ago, if you would have said to me, "Street Dogs", I would have gone, "huh?" But happily for me this isn't three years ago and I now know who they Street Dogs are, and I know how amazing they are. How amazing are they exactly? I have a math equation worked out for the whole thing, actually. Get this: Madonna's shows cost something like 200 dollars a ticket. Rip off, right? But supposedly she puts on a good stage show with all the dancing and cone bras and what not. The Street Dogs put on a show that is at least TWICE as good as her shows, and they only cost 15-20 bucks a pop, 20 being tops. So when we work it out, you can see a band twice as good as the child snatcher's live show, at 1/10th the price. They are indeed that awesome.

Everyone was set and ready for the 'Souls to come on stage. Kids were singing "Olay, olay olay olay, olay, o-o-lay" in anticipation. Finally the curtains opened and the Bouncing Souls took the stage and graced us with the first song of theirs off of their latest album, THE GOLD ALBUM (released 6/6/06) "The Gold Song" which is a very good song. Song after song came, the singer belting them out pleasantly while wearing a pink shirt and a pink skull tie (it was a pretty awesome tie). I have seen a total of 6 proposals take place at shows, tonight happened to grace me with the sixth. Still lovely, the guy came pretty damn far with his girlfriend to do it too, from Chicago I think, or Detroit. Someplace around there. Then sadly, as soon as the Bouncing Souls came they left, well, after about 60 minutes. But all was not lost. Like the vast majority of headlining bands they came back for an encore. These three more songs appeased the punk kids moshing around and screaming their names. Ah, what a night, everyone go see the 'Souls live, you won't regret it.