Will Marshall
Opening the evening are Beauty School, whose easygoing pop punk proves endearing and amps the slowly growing crowd up. It’s unclear exactly why they need three guitarists and the stage is a little crowded but somehow there’s no casualties even with one particularly energetic afroed member. Their frontman strikes an awkwardly charismatic figure with his between song banter and matching patterned shirt and shorts combo along with blue hair; not someone you’d forget in a hurry, certainly. Enticing the crowd into singing a line back as an opening band is always a gamble but to their credit, it pays off with such a receptive crowd – although the “Yorkshire!” chant doesn’t take off, likely for geographic reasons and the fact they weren’t serious about it. They’ve only been a band a short time but there’s a definite sense of momentum behind them from the reception they get.
Following them is Save Face, decked out in red jumpsuits and brashly declaring “I don’t give a fuck if you don’t know who we are or not – this set is for all of you” before delivering a barrage of post-hardcore. There’s more than a little Three Cheers era My Chemical Romance worship going on especially vocally, as they seemingly try to imitate the inimitable Gerard Way without the panache or songwriting. As performers they’re plenty energetic and instrumentally there’s interesting flourishes, but vocally Save Face fail to do that, especially on the painfully out of tune open to the ballad that is their penultimate song. If nothing else, you have to admire the audacity of the “gay Slipknot” t-shirt on sale at the merch table.
Thank heavens, then, for The Wonder Years. Fresh off marking the tenth anniversaries of Suburbia and The Upsides by playing them both in full in Bournemouth last night, they’re ready to start celebrating latest album The Hum Goes On Forever. The venue’s near full to bursting when they do finally take the stage, raucous applause and cheers welcoming them like Hometown heroes. From the opening of ‘Low Tide’, it’s abundantly clear they’re on typically fine form, sounding practically note perfect. New or old song, it doesn’t matter as they’re all greeted with same adoration and deafening singalongs. Hardly surprising given the enviable quality of their back catalogue, and they make the most of it by letting the songs do the majority of the talking with only the odd mid-song observation, including about fast crowdsurfers.
Related: The Wonder Years – The Hum Goes On Forever | Album Review
‘Flowers Where Your Face Should Be’ bathes the stage in phone lights as they slow things down momentarily, but The Wonder Years know not to dwell too much on the ballads. It’s a practically perfectly balanced setlist with old and new material, faster and slower moments and an honesty and appreciation of their fans and their ability to share their art that’s impossible to fake. That extends to an honesty about even their own songs, acknowledging past mistakes. Namely that they played ‘A Song For Ernest Hemingway’ too early on release tours back in 2015 before realising fans do love it – as the cheering proves when they say its name. ‘Wyatt’s Song’ is similarly beloved despite being so young, just as the son it’s dedicated to, and with its high energy is perhaps one of the biggest emotional peaks of the night, in an evening packed with them. Tonight, The Wonder Years prove once more why they’ve such a dedicated following and why they’re one of the most beloved veteran pop punk bands around.