We constantly witness the passing of time, and yet the effects of ageing continue to surprise us. Why the heck was everyone at Challenge Stadium 10 years older than the average age of people at a pop-punk gig? Oh yeah – it’s been that long since Simple Plan graced us in Perth. The crowd was clearly keen for a night of nostalgia.
Nobody could say they were disappointed by the highly energetic and fun display that the French-Canadian rockers put on. Their old-school cool had everybody in great spirits.
Young Sydney-based rockers Tonight Alive took to the stage with the fun mess of heavy guitar and showy drums. Lead singer Jenna McDougall bopped and flitted her way across the stage, belting out a decent mix of their older tunes as well as numbers from their recent release The Other Side.
Only three months after their last appearance in Perth, the five-piece were clearly pumped to be on the road again. They jammed heavily throughout their set, headbanging and crotch-grabbing as any young alt-rockers should.
McDougall broke up the songs with chatting and chanting as well as sharing her passion for believing in yourself – which was nice for the dozen or so under-18s in the room who were yet to be completely jaded by life.
While McDougall endeavoured to get the audience involved, her requests for crowd-surfing and participation fell flat for most of the set, but the punters did join in for the last song and recent hit ‘Lonely Girl’.
Then it was time for the main attraction. Simple Plan still had the same energy and fun-loving attitude that they did at their last Perth gig in 2005, launching on stage with early hit ‘I’d Do Anything’.
Frontman Pierre Bouvier invited those in their seats to join the standing floor crowd, some of who enthusiastically took up the offer that undoubtedly made their night.
Highlights of the show all came from the older songs with ‘Jump’, ‘Addicted’, ‘Astronaut’, and ‘I’m Just A Kid’ getting almost everyone’s feet off the ground and their hands in the air.
Another moment that had punters cheering and dancing was when Jenna McDougall returned to the stage for ‘Jet Lag’, possibly the biggest number of the night.
Of course the moodier songs were popular as well, with ‘This Song Saved My Life’, ‘Welcome To My Life’, and ‘Shut Up!’ taking people back to afternoons in their room blasting these tunes while wondering why no one but the band understands them. The nostalgia high from these numbers was palpable.
The cringe factor was well and truly covered by David Desrosiers, who spent most of his time on stage trying to pick-up, skeezing on the girls in the crowd and humping whatever stick-like object he could find in reach. What could have been a quirky joke or two was a complete awk-fest, and even his fellow band mates were over his sleazy remarks by the end of the night (which incidentally saw him sucking his hand and offering it to girls to touch and squeal over).
With the crowd a fair bit older than the last time Simple Plan played, the musos rightly realised they needed something more than just themselves to keep the punters truly engaged. Non-song entertainment was flowing in the form of Aussie accents, truly awful puns about how ‘Perthect’ the night was, a few dozen giant beach balls bouncing around, and some rarely seen encouragement for crowd-surfing and shoulder hopping.
The final song was, of course, ‘Perfect’. The tune started as an acoustic number with just frontman Bouvier before launching into an all-out rock that had all the boys running back on stage for the final party.
After spending the evening waxing lyrical about their love for Perth and Australia, the lads gave their word that they would be back before too long – though next time a smaller venue would be a good idea.
