The Wonder Years - 28 NOVEMBER @ Bóveda, Barcelona - review by buh!

Is there anything more endearing than an enthusiastic Euro talking emotively about their passions? Skatepunkers Spanish forum member, and friend of this blog, buh! (not his real name..) agreed to share his experiences from The Wonder Years show in Barcelona. Would they wear sombreros and play some flamenco songs? Would they take a stance against bull fighting? Would they appear to have any fun at all? Let's hand over to buh! to find out... 

It was pretty cool because my last show was in May so I was thirsty haha. I wanted to have a nice singalong show and I went there with no expectations at all. Not really into the new album so I showed up and just let the thing go.

TWY got on stage fastly (and) started playing without saying hello. Soupy just showed up right before the first chord, there was no presence of them before the venue opened and they were nowhere to be found...Bad point.
 
They played 5 songs from the new album and I just liked 2 of those...boring moments... But at least they played some truly great songs like Coffee Eyes, Came Out Swinging (as the last one) Melrose Diner, Don't Let Me Cave In and Washington Square Park. Those were the highlights for me, no doubt. So much emotion I just run out of voice. Man, that was passionate.

In between songs there was Soupy motivational and posi speech...talking about "you can do whatever you want if you really fight hard to achieve it even though the world will be against you" kinda stuff. Really nice and heartfelt yes, but I would have loved 2 songs more instead of him talking...

Whatever...just 12 songs...less than 45 min of music? Oh c'mon!! That was really disappointing.

Fun fact: Soupy touched his hair more then 16 times during the show. At moments he was just about to cry, red eyed and looking kind of anxious. Passion, or he just gets into the role too much? 

The sound was good and they played nice. The 3 guitar thing is unnecessary for me but...


The crowd was nice but too small...less then 50 people haha. Really sad. And there was a lot of kids who didn't know the old songs... I even yelled 'PLAY KEYSTONE STATE, KEYSTONE STATE DUDE CORE!!' two times but they looked the other way or didn't listen!

The moment they ended the set Soupy jumped offstage and vanished out the exit door. I was hoping for them to get a little bit closer to the fans but whatever haha.

Moshup Monday: The Wonder Year vs Paramore

Moshup: n. A song comprised of elements of two or more pre-existing pieces of music that RAWWWWK.

As a music nerd, I love seeing patterns and loops that can be used in multiple songs. Eg. singing 'my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard' over any song that has 4/4 rhythm will work. Try it. Take the opening riff of Smells Like Teen Spirit by the Nirvanas and sing that over it.

Anyway, I've been sidetracked... Some people think DJs are just lazy, leech-type creatures who push buttons and have no musical talent. Wrong! Some of them have talent and if you can't admit that then you sir, are jealous. While I enjoy a ridiculous dance remix as much as the next occasional weekend binge drinker, even better to me are remixes that use elements of alternative/rock songs.

Enter Dr Brixx, who has made a pretty seemless mix of The Wonder Years and Paramore. The intro is a bit forced, but the rest of the song, espeically the bridge are really good.


If anything, it makes me a little sad to hear how TWY could sound if Soupy hand't turned into such a miserable moanbag!

I think I like the new Wonder Years song (eh, I think)

LET'S HAVE A SRS TALK ABOUT POP PUNK 

As we all know The Wonder Years used to be a really fun pop punk band, then the weight of the world fell on Soupy's shoulders and they wrote the amazing Upsides all about not fitting in, loneliness and generally whining but trying not to be so negative and figuring out wtf is going on.

It just so happens that I had left college and was in a wasteland at the time it was released and the album really resonated with me (maaan). Then I took my head out of my ass, picked myself up and started to have fun again. Unfortunately by the time TWY released Suburbia..it seemed Soupy had not gone through the same metamorphosis and the album was kind of a wet blanket. Good in places mind you but overall..meh..just not where I was..selfish of me but hey...

Now the lads have a new album on the way, (the worryingly titled) The Greatest Generation and a new song 'Passing Through a Screen Door' dropped today.

At first I was underwhelmed until DAT BRIDGE hit and suddenly I had a reason to listen to it FIVE TIMES IN A ROW. The vocals almost sound like they're being sung by a grown up now (besides the little whine of an inflection at the end of some lines) but they lyrics have always been what sucks the kidz in. And here's the thing: I'M 26 AND A LOT OF MY FRIENDS HAVE GOT MARRIED. Not many have kids though thankfully.

A lot of what I'm hearing (from Absolute Punk) is that this isn't the best song on the album and this gives me hope. Maybe I should ease up on these guys, I mean Man Overboard have the most cringe-filled lyrics of all time and I don't judge them so harshly. Then again Man Overboard didn't drop breakdowns for hipster coffee table books. The jury is still out but if I can come to terms with the Emotional Hipster Punk vibes then this might be my album of the summer, who knows?

Some lad does a Wonder Years vocal cover in his basement

While I admire the fact this guy likes both Slipknot and The Wonder Years, this isn't the kind of thing you should be putting on the internet as a CV for your vocal skillz. Some points potential bandmates will have to take into consideration..

• His bitchin' stage moves. Monitor/stomp box required.
• The Slipknot t-shirt - is that the 'look' we're going for with this band, guys?
• He does seem to have lots of gear and a relatively sweet basement to jam and drink beer in, though he probably has to wait until his parents are out before he can 'really rock out'
• Does 'attitude' outweigh 'talent' in terms of requirements for a frontman?
• Dem guest vox - No backing vocalists required!
  

The Wonder Years - Newcastle o2 Academy 13/9/11

This was the second time I have seen The Wonder Years, and a reliving of an early date with my beure. The trip to the pretty unloveable Newcastle was a birthday present from her, but she wasn't to know that the town would have about as much personality as a stack of shoeboxes. Though it did have a good indoor market and we were only there two days, so maybe we missed out on some areas.

Opening up on the night were Such Gold, who played Galway not too long ago, and Valencia, who I knew lilttle or nothing about.

I've grown to like Such Gold alot since I first heard in the last year. One of the guitarists from No Trigger was filling in for them and i think he actually added to their performance. No one really knew who they were (except two tall American easycore brahs) who blocked my damn view later in the gig. Despite the lack of crowd response the band were impressive, considering the circumstances.
As I said, I knew basically nothing of Valencia before this, but now I know that their basist seems like a douchebag. You know 'that guy' in the teenage metallica cover band..that was him.We've all been there. Non-ironic glam rock moves and trying to get the crowd to clap along with overenthusiastic beating of his ham fists, and all this from a bassist for goths sake. This coupled with his horrific on stage banter

"This reminds me of one episode of Byker Grove where they all went to a rock show..." 

made the bar seem that bit more appealing. In fairness, they have some vaguely likeable pop rock songs, and played a decent cover of Linoleum. But still.

After doing their own soundcheck, which was nice to see, thought they might have people to do that for them at this stage, The Wonder Years launched into Came Out Swinging from their latest album. The sound was so much better than they had on their support slot of the kerrang tour and they seemed happy to be there, despite the slightly muted audience reaction. It was a small crowd but there was a lower level of douchebaggery than there usually is at a 14+ gig. What I noticed this time was the backing vocals, which were pretty spot on with how they sounded on CD, even if the bassist, Josh seemed to be straining sometimes and doing a weird holding his throat thing on some lines. The setlist was solid, avoiding all but one song of their first album, which is a bit of a shame, but understandable. You're not Salinger.. was probably the highlight of the night and I think everyone left happy.

Got to say a quick hello to Josh before the charming security men hassled everyone out of the place. A lot of people seemed to be waiting around for their parents to pick them us. We went to look for a bar.

Oh and, The Wonder Years merch guy was wearing pyjamas. I hope it's not going to become a thing that people do in public, more than it already is. Wouldn't trust it.