Pop Break Live: ‘The Bigger Than You Think Tour’ with A Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, 30H!3 and Lolo at The Stone Pony Summer Stage on Wednesday August 27, 2025 in Asbury Park, NJ
The PERFECT summer tour doesn’t exist … or so we thought. Lolo, 3Oh!3, Bowling for Soup, AND Simple Plan graced The Stone Pony Summer Stage on Wednesday August 27 for the better part of five hours, right next to the beach in Asbury Park, NJ, on what may have been the nicest day of the whole year. Most of these bands are now in their final form, aging like fine wines and perfecting their crafts.
Simply put, every single act delivered.
Show opener Lolo proved that she belonged. The Canadian rocker was the real deal featuring strong vocals accompanied by a stripped down band of drums, guitar, and synth. Think 21 Pilots meets Avril Lavigne and Hayley Williams, yet a very unique sound of her own. Lolo particularly shined when she would go on to join Simple Plan later in the evening for a duet on “Jet Lag” which was absolutely incredible. Excited to see where she goes from here.
Up next was 3Oh!3, who kicked things off with their Dire Straits sampled version of “Punkb*tch,” which was super fun. This band is such a good time, especially by the beach. It’s super cheese, but in the best way. Such a party, electronic band, with just a hint of a boy band. As a bit of a band snob, this was a group I thought wouldn’t be my cup of tea LIVE, but boy howdy, was I wrong.
If I haven’t said it enough over the years, Bowling for Soup is the most fun band you’ll ever see LIVE. In our recent interview with frontman Jaret Reddick, he stated, “You can genuinely see that we’re having a good time. We’re glad to be there with each other. We’re glad to be there with you. I think sometimes when bands try to fake that, fans can see through that.”
The now three-piece couldn’t have been tighter. Perfect vocal harmonies, great guitar and bass tones, and hard hitting drums throughout the set featuring, “Girl All the Bad Guys Want,” “Stacey’s Mom” (Fountains of Wayne) , “Almost,” and of course the infamous “Phineas and Ferb Theme Song.”
The band is so good, but they ALWAYS make you feel like you are part of the show, and much like bands like Blink-182, the mid and between song banter is key. The thread throughout their set was not being able to curse between songs in New Jersey (that’s a thing?) and convincing one fan that they were indeed the BEST band in the world. I can’t say enough good things about this band. An all time act in my personal experience.
The night closed with an hour plus set from headliners Simple Plan. Another group that is tighter than ever, after a twenty plus year run. The group played all the hits with a few medleys, one from the first album, and another of covers including a well, killer, rendition of the Killers’ ““Mr. Brightside.” Many fans came dressed as Scooby-Doo and were invited to come onstage for a rendition of “What’s New Scooby-Doo?” , the acclaimed theme song from the band. A nice moment was when lead singer Pierre appeared at the back of the crowd with a keyboard to perform a beautiful version of “Untitled.”
The one glaring gap, and this is me nitpicking, is the absence of a live bass player and third vocalist, as the band had parted ways with their longtime bassist for all the right reasons in 2020. I personally love that the band is keeping it just original members, but the backing tracks for bass and select vocals took away from A Simple Plan I had seen in the past.
I completely understand the decision, and ironically this is the best I had ever seen them live. Yet I think I wanted to see a more unapologetic, less polished, authentic version of the group. That all being said, they are at the top of their game. They ended the night with a 2 song encore, “I’m Just a Kid” and their emotional closer, “Perfect.”
The Bigger Thank You Think! tour continues and is one I HIGHLY recommend, as all four bands put on an all time show. Fans make sure you are there from the very first note to the last.
