I’ve only had a few celebrity sightings in my life, and one was three years ago in the Las Vegas airport during a layover. I was admiring the many slot machines and stretching my legs between flights when I glanced to my left and spotted said celebs. I did a double take and an investigative detour before I approached Jaret Reddick and Chris Burney of Bowling for Soup. I walked up, told them I’d seen them in 2003 in Portland, Oregon, and told them "You guys rock." Jaret responded "Aww, Thanks! Have a safe flight, and we’ll see ya later!" When I found out Bowling for Soup was headlining at the Orpheum, I figured their "see ya later" was due that Sunday, February 28.

Rarely is a band, especially a pop-punk band, better live than on disc, but BFS is that kind of band. They are truly laugh-out-loud, high energy, crazy musicians who love to make a scene and put on a great show. With Cheap Trick and Steve Martin as their inspirations, you can expect the unexpected with these guys.

In attempt to ready fans for a great show, BFS amped up the audience with two great opening acts. Neglected Superhero was up first with an amateur Lagwagon-ish sound. They had great energy, sang fun songs to dance around to, and bounced all over that stage. Their three-chord rock progressions started the head-banging and warmed up the audience quite well.

I realize I’ve overused the phrase “random array” for a crowd description, but seriously! There were 40-something women throwing themselves at the men of BFS, mothers and their children, punk rockers, Goths, and every type in between, including some hardcore fans for both the Dollyrots and Bowling for Soup.

The Dollyrots came out during a loud Family Guy intro complete with proclomations of "Giggity, giggity." Adorable blonde bass player frontwman Kelly Ogden took the stage and captivated  the crowd with her babydoll voice (like Jenny Lewis meets Joan Jett) and deep bass grooves. The Dollyrots had a harsher kind of Letters to Cleo sound, and guitarist Luis Cabezas and drummer Chris Black really brought some force to the band's punk feel.

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.