The duo, comprised of Jaret Reddick and Ryan Hamilton, took to the stage at 9:25, and did a little sound check. “Hello.” Ryan sang into this mic, then Jaret soon quipped, “That is our first song of the night… We were going to call it ‘Hello’, but you know, with Lionel Richie.” The two began strumming their guitars, and after a few moments Ryan started singing “Better Off Dead”, “Live life free of inhibition…” They trade off on the singing quite often in that song, and not too far into it Ryan trailed off, then stopped, while Jaret looked like he wasn’t sure what was going on, before starting to sing his line, which was about half over. For most bands that would not be a good way to start a show, but Jaret can pull it off as being comical. Then, after the song, Jaret reminded everyone of something. “Remember,…” he said, “The rain is not pee.” Then after that sage like advice, they went into “Back to Being Friends”. Afterwards, they mentioned the next song was on their EP that was released this past November. “…EP stands for Extended Play.” Jaret said, then added, “I’ll take time to explain to you why sometime on the interweb.”, before they started into “She Was the Only One”. To be no further into the show then what they were, there had been some good laughs, but at this point it got downright hysterical. Jaret held up two fingers, signaling to the waitress that he wanted two beers, and Ryan pointed it out. “That’s what I do at home.” said Jaret. Ryan responded with something like, “You do remember your wife is here tonight?” “I didn’t say I do that to her, I have a six year old for that.” Jaret responded. Ryan then admitted he thought it was a bit weird that Jaret’s son had brought a beer to him while he was over at the Reddick household. “Why!? It’s not like he’s drinking it with you, you’ve got to wait at least four more years for that to happen.” Jaret told him. That then led Ryan to ask Jaret when he had his first beer, “…Like a full beer, not just your dad giving you a sip of his.” Jaret then recounted a story of drinking his first beer in high school, then soon had a bad experience, “…And I didn’t drink beer again until I was twenty-five.” Ryan didn’t buy it, and called him out. “I didn’t say I didn’t drink again until I was twenty-five.” said Jaret, “I just didn’t drink beer.” He stated that after that, he took up with Bacardi 151, which later in the set he said that after one or two you “…Realize you can breathe fire But then one day you wake up, and it’s like, ‘Wait! I just graduated college!” This is the grade A banter you expect from these guys, and when it ended, they played “The Lucky Ones”. They followed it up with another song, with part of the chorus being, “…Well it’s just us, let’s get fucked up, maybe even get high…” Jaret declared it as being “Ryan’s jam.” . It apparently wasn’t one Ryan was too keen on at first, but eventually came around, “…And he told me that if we didn’t record it immediately, he would never speak to me again.” said Jaret. “And I really considered not recording it.” When it was over, they hit more gold with their conversations. “So, we went from saying fuck a few times, and now we’re going to say it a lot.” Ryan announced to the dozens of people who had the back room of Renfield’s packed. “But no more drug references. Nope, I’m looking through the set list, and no more drug references.” That led them into talking about rehab, and Jaret said something like, “Isn’t that how it usually goes, “Drinking, drugs, rehab?” Ryan stared at him, “You have just described everyone of my ex-girlfriends.” The sentence had only barely left his mouth when Jaret had the perfect remark. “But I didn’t say small chested or bitchy.” The crowd died laughing, while Ryan was unsure how to handle that one. It was a classic moment, and that brought them into my favorite POV tune, “Alone with You”, which does say fuck quite a few times. They went straight into their next song, but Jaret quickly added that their EPs made for a good Valentine’s Day present. This song was a cover one, by the band, The Eagles. I’ve never really listened to much of their music, but what I’ve heard I like, and I imagine POV’s rendition was pretty complimentary of the original. We just wrote that on the ride down here.” Ryan said, rather cooly, before Jaret threw in that despite growing up in different decades, they both had a shared love for The Eagles music. It was at this point Jaret had some mic trouble, and while the sound guy was messing with the cords to fix it, Jaret blamed the problems on gremlins. As they were waiting for the issue to be resolved, Ryan mentioned an apparently funny story of how Jaret’s wife had some of the lyrics to that Eagles song wrong. “Can you tell the short version of that?” he asked. “I don’t tell short stories.” Jaret replied, and someone in the crowd threw in their opinion, saying, “Impossible.” “Did someone just say “Impossible”? Jaret asked. “That is hurtful.” The story didn’t get told, as they instead began the first song they wrote as a band, “Rainy Day. Another favorite of mine followed, “Because of the Sun”, and I can’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but there was something about it that made it the best song they did this night. They really just did a spectacular job on it, even more so than usual. When it was over, they said the last acoustic show they did they had a lot of time to fill, so they added something new. Jaret left the stage, saying he needed a pee break. “It’s only a three, but I feel like it could be a five alarm.” he told everyone. So, when he left, Ryan told the story of Smile Smile, and how he and Jencey were once a couple, then broke up. “…We wrote an album about our break up a few years ago, because our record label was like “We want y’all to make a record about that, because we think we can make some money of it.” “Boy were they wrong!” exclaimed Ryan. “But this song isn’t about her, so I don’t know why I just told y’all all that. This is about the girl after her… and I broke up with her after I found cocaine in her purse. Then we went on tour, and I thought when I came back we could get back together, but when I got back I found out she was pregnant.” That led him into what may well be one of the most ridicules songs ever written, but is sheer greatness. “This is called Leggo My Preggo.” he announced. After one of its best lines, “She’s not on birth control, and I didn’t wear a condom.”, he added his one reflection, “Man, this song is deep!” Jaret got on stage when Ryan was done, while he left for a bathroom break. “Leggo My Preggo” did come across my desk,…” he said, “and I was like, no. I’m in a fart joke band for a living, and I’ve finally found something I can’t do. But now, I see him do it, and I’m like, wow…” He said he didn’t usually do Bowling For Soup songs when he was solo, “…But I do a lot of things alone.” I think everyone’s mind entered a dark place upon hearing that. “Like folding socks.” he said. “You’re never in a group and like, “You know what I need to do, fold some socks!” Then, after saying he didn’t usually do BFS songs when he’s alone, he pulled one out with “Friends O’ Mine. Ryan rejoined him on stage when it was finished, as they did another cover song, this time with “Cum On Feel the Noize”. Jaret had mentioned earlier in the show how Ryan didn’t like one of his songs, well now he began saying something like, “For every song I bring to the table that Ryan doesn’t like, he… I don’t know what the fuck I’m saying.” Ryan helped him out, and clarified that they each write songs the other doesn’t like at first, in this case it was Ryan’s catchy tune, “Punk Rock World”. They did another one of their wonderful love song next with “All I Ever Wanted”, then Ryan said something about the next song being a fake leave, and if the audience wants you to do more, they’ll let you know. If not, than just call it a night. They debated on this one for a moment, and Jaret told him, “This one’s okay, but not the dreary town one.” That sounded like they had axed “Where Do We Go?”, and instead did their sing along, “It's Not Love”.
