A gorgeous view of the east river, Canadians in black muscle tees, and early 2000s punk: it’s a match made in heaven. On August 25th, Sum 41 and Simple Plan delivered an energetic performance at Pier 17. The second leg of the Blame Canada Tour acted like a joint birthday party: Sum 41’s debut album All Killer No Filler turned 21 and Simple Plan’s debut No Pads, No Helmet…Just Balls turned 20.
Simple Plan was also celebrating their recently released album Harder Than It Looks, which came out May of this year. Before performing “Iconic,” lead singer Pierre Bouvier dedicated the song to all the “weirdos” out there. Not only that but lead singer of Sum 41 Deryck Whibley announced the group was working on a double album entitled Heaven and Hell.
In honor of the birthdays, Sum 41 preformed iconic hits from their debut album like “In too Deep” and “Fat Lip.” Simple Plan played “I’m Just a Kid,” arguably the most popular song off their debut album. So when lead guitarist Jeff Stinco strummed the first few cords, the crowd was frenzied. In the final bridge of the song, drummer Chuck Comeau stepped up to the mic to announce he wanted to mosh with the crowd. He explained that due to Covid-19, his team urged him to wear protection. Comeau suited up in a yellow hazmat suit and pink respirator mask before plunging into the crowd. As the final chorus was sung, the crowd exploded with moshing, crowd surfing, and head banging.
Even in the most chaotic moments, there was still a strong sense of community. In between calling the crowd “motherfuckers,” Whibley emphasized the band’s love of their fans and how they were all a “family.” During Simple Plan’s set, Bouvier asked the crowd how the band stayed together for two decades. He answered: “it’s because of people like you!” Who knew punks could be so sentimental.
