Iconic Montreal pop-punk band, Simple Plan brought their 15th anniversary tour of their first record, No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls to Ottawa in front of a capacity crowd at the Algonquin Commons Theatre on Sept. 20.
“This time around we decided ‘You know what, 15 years – that’s huge!’” guitarist Jeff Stinco said before the show. “We didn’t even think when we started out that we’d be around for that long.”
The record changed the band’s life, according to guitarist Sébastien Lefebvre. “It allowed us to be a band, to go on tour and to do this for a living. I think it’s a special album because it connected with a lot of people,” he said.
Before Simple Plan’s performance began, two Ontario-based pop-punk bands took to the stage: Selfish Things and Courage My Love. Each of those bands presented themselves onstage with a strong and energetic presence to fire up the crowd for the evening’s headliner.
The hype for Simple Plan continued even during the change-over, when the music of other well-known early 2000s pop-punk bands such as Yellowcard, Panic! At The Disco and Blink-182 played over the speakers, and got the crowd singing along.
Simple Plan’s set got off to an explosive start, with a fun and upbeat performance of “I’d Do Anything,” the first song from their first album. They then proceeded to play every song from that album in order, finishing with an emotional performance of “Perfect.”
The dedicated fans in the crowd sang through the entire set, including all the hits and some of the less-often played album tracks such as “My Alien” and “One Day.” After a quick break off-stage, they came back out to play some songs from their other albums.
What could have been major disaster for the band and crew turned out to be one of the highlights of the evening. When the sound cut out part way through their performance of “Summer Paradise,” the crowd kept singing and finished the song without the music.
Lead singer Pierre Bouvier, whose microphone was not working at that point, was so amazed by the crowd’s determination that he described it on stage as one of the most incredible things that have happened to them during a live show.
When you think about the fact that it has been 15 years since Simple Plan got their mainstream break, you cannot help but be amazed. Although they are all in their late 30s and have families and children, they are teenagers at heart, still perform fantastic live shows, and continue to put out great music.
Over the next few months, Simple Plan is set to bring their tour to Japan and Mexico, headline Vans Warped at Sea, before getting ready for what should be a busy 2018.
“Next year, I think we’ll start thinking about maybe a little more touring,” Lefebvre said, “there’s always a show popping up here and there, but I think we’ll start thinking about the next album.”
Perhaps Lefebvre summed it up the best: “It really has been a fun year for Simple Plan.”
Photo by Siena Domaradzki-Kim
