Simple Plan: More than just pop punk...
Oh Simple plan, this years Good Charlotte, the number of are they aren't they punk debates they've started are countless, the thing about bands like these though, are no one seems to give them a chance to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pop punk pack. Simple Plan are a multi platinum band in several countries around the world, and I came to this show expecting to see the typical pop punk crowd of young teenagers in black Made hoodies and converse trainers, but I was rather startled to find these were not the only ones present and singing along to every single last word, wait hold that, screaming along in attempt to drown out singer Pierre Bouvier's voice, the age range was massive. If it can be said Green Day and Blink 182 were the "gateway" bands for the teens of 90's, I can easily say to some of this crowd they hold the same baring.
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Simple Plan have stage presence no doubt, the second they step onto stage you can tell they could've had each band member each playing varying degrees of utter rubbish and this crowd would've loved them. The thing is, is that despite this, the band knows how to work a crowd. When the band told the crowd to jump, they bloody well jumped so hard I thought the floor of the Astoria would fall through. Simple Plan have a good banter going on stage, pausing for the right amount of time before they launch into yet another catchy song after catchy song, they interact with the crowd well and if it was even possible they made them more hysterical than I thought was possible. They read out notes thrown on stage, at one point one reading out "Pierre, will You do Me backstage after the show, I'm 16", which in response bassist David responded "That's just wrong", but in this crowds eyes they could do no wrong, this was a following based on total devotion. The screaming was deafening. You get the feeling these people would do anything to enjoy this show.
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They started with the new single "Shut Up", with a chorus so catchy that if the other songs that followed it weren't so perfectly formulated to stick in your head I would have had that one song stuck in my head all night. Every Simple Plan song has potential to be a hit here, if the kids like Mcfly and the late Busted, then they will love Simple Plan. Simple Plan have had a lot of flack thrown at them for being so called "poseurs", but let me tell you, go see them live and you cannot tell me they're fakes, they do what they do well. They play perfect power pop, and they fulfil that role better than anyone I've seen. They stop countless times to thank the crowd and make sure they have a good time, and they make the most of every excuse to show off their ability to shine, they play a snippet of Guns and Roses 'Sweet Child Of Mine' and the ever so cheesy Darkness song 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' to disperse their non-stop ammunition of hits including 'I'd Do Anything', 'Grow Up', 'I'm Just A Kid', 'You Don't Mean Anything', 'Addicted' and 'The Worst Day Ever'. Easily their best song live is the new cut 'Me Against The World', produced by Bob Rock, which gives a hint of what to maybe expect from Simple Plan in the future, it is easily their most significant rock song, I could see an arena full of people singing along to it in a minute. These songs are Simple Plans' narrative for teenage life, and rather than being angst and pain ridden like most teen geared bands, these guys are all about sneaking out to shows, liking someone so much you're addicted and how they'd like to sit at home listening to "Gc, Sum and Mxpx rocking" in their room, just about having as much fun as you can, and you could tell all the kids in the room could relate. The most touching thing to see was that they genuinely seemed to be in awe of the reaction they garnered from this crowd. The energy Simple Plan gave off from stage was that of the teens I spoke of earlier. Even though the band are all in their mid twenties, it was like watching some teenagers jump around in their garage, but only if they were polished down from the looks to the sound, poised to be the next big thing.
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The treats they had for this crowd never really seemed to end with drummer Chuck playing his fist ever bass solo, singer Pierre jumping into the crowd again and again, the barrage of covers and not so PG rated jokes. Some bands write songs for themselves and share them with the world, this band clearly are only it in for their fans and every move they make shows their equal devotion to their followers from the lyrics to the tricks they pull from the water throwing and the crowd singalongs.
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I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of music, but you can tell what kind of music Simple Plan grew up listening to by watching them, and you can easily tell they've always wanted to be idolised in the same sense they may have idolised Blink 182 and Green Day. They proved that though they may not be breaking any new ground with their music, this was a milestone for the band, their biggest headlining UK show and they were able to get a response like that? All I want to do is congratulate them because from the smiles that I saw, the band have clearly made even more of a devoted fan out of everyone that were there, every song will stick in your head and they will make you jump up and down, regardless. Winning over the Astoria is not usually an easy feat, but being 5 guys from Canada who pretty much get no airplay here, it seemed to me they had achieved their goal for the night as they said goodbye to the cheering crowd...it seemed like they were thinking. "...we won... again."
To view all photos taken during this set click here. There are 25 available.