Bouncing Souls

Waterloo Park, Nov. 9

Heralded by, of all things, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Jersey’s finest pop-pub-punk rockers proved to no one’s surprise that a great riff nailgunned to an even greater chorus makes for a perfect slice of pie (aka “The Pizza Song”). Mining hopeless romantic frontman Greg Attonito’s tried-and-true tales of boardwalk breakups and makeups going back to 1994’s The Good, the Bad, and the Argyle, the Souls’ exceedingly bouncy (jaunty, even) set was an instant crowd-pleaser. Instant classic “Lean on Sheena” may sound like some sort of emo-meets-South Boston mash-up on CD, but live it rocked the dust off the crowd (immediately replaced by more dust, unfortunately). There’s a lot to be said for and against the East Coast punk sound that came up in the mid-1990s after the dissolution of earlier Bostie/Philly/Jersey bands like SSD and the Freeze, but the Souls’ tight, shouty oi-gasm scored points for being the perfect mix of playful and political. Kudos, too, for bringing out Kevin Seconds for the finale, a rip-roaring rendition of 7 Seconds’ “Young ‘Til I Die.” Sweet.

This article appears in November 14 • 2008.

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