Aug 12

Aug 12 Show Review: Simple Plan & Sum 41 Bring Canadian Pop-Punk to Sold-Out Sacramento Crowd

Simple Plan
Sum 41
The ‘Blame Canada’ Tour
w/ Magnolia Park
Ace of Spades
Sacramento, CA
August 10th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

Yes, Canada is known for its exports like maple syrup, the two Ryans (Gosling and Reynolds), and Tim Horton’s coffee and donuts. But it must be noted that Canada provided the world with some of the greatest pop-punk acts in the last several decades: Sum 41, Gob, Simple Plan, American Hi-Fi, Avril Lavigne, Billy Talent, just to name a few. Two of these acts (Sum 41 and Simple Plan) have been on the road hosting one of the year’s biggest tours, aptly titled the “Blame Canada” tour. The two bands made their way through Northern California this past week, with a show in San Francisco on Tuesday and a performance at Sacramento’s Ace of Spades on Wednesday evening. Fans from all over the area packed into the iconic room to witness a completely sold-out show from two of the biggest and best acts in the genre, and one of the best deals for any concert attendee this year.

The tour only featured one opener in the form of Magnolia Park, and up-and-coming pop-punk act from Florida that are taking the scene by storm. I’ve already counted three different shows outside of the Blame Canada tour that Magnolia Park have been a part of this year throughout Northern California, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down. The Florida five-piece play with a great deal of passion, creating music that is pop-punk in nature while incorporating various elements of emo and hip-hop throughout. Some of their tracks feel like they could have fit well within the era of early 2000s alternative and pop-punk, right as Blink-182 was emerging as a force to be reckoned with, and all of these acts were starting to explode into the pop culture echelon. While this is still just the beginning for Magnolia Park, they certainly made a great first impression with the crowd.

To my surprise, Sum 41 was up before Simple Plan. This is in no way a slam; I’ve seen both bands and think they put on tremendously entertaining live shows worthy of headlining spots. But Sum 41 has always had an edge about them that brings out the rowdiest in people; their albums have blurred the lines between pop-punk, alternative, and heavy metal, making them a must-see band any time they come through. Usually, their sets come towards the end because that’s when all of that pent up energy is released, when circle pits that span the venue’s entire floor plan begin to pop up, and security gets put to work. Whether we were ready for it or not, Sum 41 took the stage and exploded into three of their biggest tracks: “Motivation”, “The Hell Song”, and “Over My Head (Better Off Dead)”. I was quite surprised to see the band’s frontman, Deryck Whibley without his guitar for a majority of the second, choosing only to don a microphone for most of the performance. Even without the guitar, Whibley is a natural band leader, egging on the crowd and leading the band through a series of their biggest hits, including “Underclass Hero”, “In Too Deep”, and “We’re All To Blame”.

The band are currently celebrating twenty-one years since the release of their debut album, All Killer No Filler, which features the aforementioned “In Too Deep” and arguably the band’s biggest hit, “Fat Lip”. While they didn’t play the record from start to finish, they did pull out rarer tracks like “Summer” and “Never Wake Up” for this run of dates. They even threw in a mix of two of their most mosh-inducing songs, with Does This Look Infected?’s “A.N.I.C.” and Half Hour of Power’s “T.H.T”. With the exception of their career-defining set at the Warped Tour finale in 2019, this was easily the best Sum 41 show I’ve ever seen.

After a brief changeover, Simple Plan took the stage for an excellent career-spanning set that found the band celebrating the twentieth-anniversary of their debut album, No Pads, No Helmets..Just Balls! Like Sum 41, they didn’t play through the record in its entirety, but they pulled out some of the album’s biggest hits like “I’d Do Anything”, “Addicted”, and “The Worst Day Ever”. Simple Plan proved to be a good counterbalance to the heaviness of Sum 41’s set: they still managed to bring out adrenaline-charged pop-punk, but with a slightly more laid back edge. Vocalist Pierre Bouvier even noted how much he loved relaxing out on the beach, giving their set that summertime feel with a song like “Summer Paradise”. Simple Plan are self-aware, and know that they fall onto the tonally lighter side of the pop-punk spectrum; look no further than the inclusion of their performance of the “What’s New Scooby Doo” theme song for an example of this (and yes, they are the band behind it!)

During the performance of the No Pads hit “I’m Just a Kid”, drummer Chuck Comeau took the microphone and let the crowd know that he was insistent on doing a stage dive and highfiving everyone in the crowd. Because we’re still in a pandemic, the band and the venue came to a compromise: Comeau was able to do the stage dive, but he wore a hazmat suit and gas mask. In mere moments, their drummer was in the crowd, looking more reminiscent of Slipknot’s Sid Wilson as the crowd cheered and sang back the words to the anthemic chorus of the song.

After an acoustic rendition of “Untitled” from Still Not Getting Any…, the band concluded the “Blame Canada” tour with “Perfect”, bookending their set with tracks from the No Pads album, and showcasing how many truly memorable songs Simple Plan have crafted throughout their decades long career. This was indeed one of the year’s best pop-punk shows, if not one of the best shows of any genre on the touring circuit this year. Don’t miss it if it’s in your area.

Simple Plan Set List
I’d Do Anything
Shut Up!
Jump
The Worst Day Ever
Addicted
Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over)
Summer Paradise
Welcome To My Life
Boom!
Crazy
Iconic
All Star/Sk8er Boi/Mr. Brightside (cover medley)
What’s New Scooby Doo (theme song)
Where I Belong
I’m Just A Kid
Untitled
Perfect

Sum 41 Set List
Motivation
The Hell Song
Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
We’re All To Blame
Summer
A.N.I.C.
Never Wake Up
T.H.T.
Underclass Hero
Walking Disaster
With Me
In Too Deep
Makes No Difference
Pieces
We Will Rock You (Queen cover)
Fat Lip
Still Waiting