Words – Tracey Moyle Music Maven
Photography by Tam Schilling | @tamcamimages_
This week saw pop punk icons Simple Plan play to thousands of fans across two nights at The Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane. With both nights sold out, it was always going to be high-vibing crowds and musical mayhem. The popular Canadian rockers were undeniably the voice of the angsty latch-key generation of the 2000s. Now, a whole new generation of Simple Plan fans were in the crowd for some upbeat, fun, angsty and incredibly relatable songs. Some weren’t even born when the band first hit our radio airwaves. People were pouring in the door, with fans from 6 to 60 in the crowd. Their sold-out live shows across Australia have cemented a fact their fans have always known, their music is timeless.
Bringing an incredible entourage with them, We The Kings, Boys Like Girls and JAX opened their shows across the country. Each with their own unique style, both musically and their on-stage interactions. Each artists bringing in their own fans, eagerly heading out for the mega show of the year.
Opening the night, the playful energy of popular New York artist and ex-American Idol performer JAX immediately brought the almost full house alive. Winning the crowd over from the start with her smash 90s Kids, she performed with an energetic joyfulness, sharing her excitement of touring with her idols. Music fans quickly picked up another familiar face on stage with Tennessee pop rockers Hot Chelle Rae’s, Nash Overstreet on guitar. Sitting at the drums was Jess from The Summer Set.
JAX connected with the Brisbane crowd straight up, giving the fans her own unique cover of Teenage Dirtbag from “Noelle’s point of view”. Her music is full of light-hearted storytelling. She spoke about the daunting move to LA from New York and her way of coping with the change in her own, special way, introducing a new song asking, ‘What would Adam Sandler do?’
Her songs are fun and relatable. She finished her set with an important message about young girls and body image issues with her popular track, Victoria Secret; jumping into the front row of sweaty bodies to connect with those in the pit. The gathering crowd were happy and engaged from the very first artist. JAX was the perfect musical hors d’ouevre for tonight’s smorgasbord of artists.
The crowd had a vibrant energy, with the excitement equally as evident across a broad generational spectrum. Scooby Doo costumes, t-shirts and hats were scattered around the crowd showing love for the band’s soundtrack to the early 2000s series.
The crossover between openers was short with We The Kings arriving on stage to a roar from their fans in the crowd. The band’s playfulness brought the crowd alive, frontman Travis Clark enjoying the banter with the crowd and loving the keen interaction from the Brisbane fans. They moved through tracks Skyway Avenue, new song When We Were Young, and I Feel Alive. The crowd were all in, jumping, clapping and singing along, building up the momentum, ready for the show’s stars. Clark asked who in the crowd hadn’t heard of the band before, a few punters showing they were new to their music. He announced, in all seriousness, their most popular song and said maybe they’d heard it before, breaking into a cover of Oasis’ smash Wonderwall.
You could hear the burst of laughter from the crowd over the music. It was a fun moment that inspired the whole music hall to sing along. It was a great set, building up a light-heartedness in the crowd, something most of us need right now. They brought out the big guns at the end with Sad Song, and it wouldn’t be a We The Kings set without Check, Yes Juliet closing out the night evoking another venue wide sing-a-long to this massive hit.
WTK left a buzz across the venue you don’t get at every gig. Everyone was vibing high. I think it’s a natural feeling at Simple Plan shows but tonight was packed with support bands with a big number of their own fans evoking something like a human electricity current running through everyone at The Fort.
Again, the set changes are quick and Boys Like Girls sauntered onto the stage like the rock stars they are. The crowd’s response proved there were fans of all bands in the room, with the place roaring. BLG brought a completely different energy to the room. With leather pants and headbands, we were in for less playful banter and more rock. Their rock persona was sealed with members lighting up cigarettes as they casually walked on stage. The fans exploded when vocalist Martin Johnson appeared front and centre. The band lapped up the adoration for a few seconds before jumping into Love Drunk. It seemed like the whole venue sang along to Five Minutes To Midnight and Blood and Sugar, the guitarists and frontman sending prized tokens out to the crowd, with a constant flow of guitar picks being tossed into the crowd.
BLG holds its own in the pop rock world, with Johnson’s melodic vocals on point and the harmonies from bassist Bryan Donahue and lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni blending beautifully.
They were there to play music, and that’s what they did, taking the fans through music spanning their almost 20-year career. Heart Heart Heartbreak, MIRACLE and Be Your Everything had the crowd so engaged it was like BLG were the headliners. They slowed it down with Two Is Better Than One, their track recorded with Taylor Swift, phone lights shining like stars inside the venue. They took the show out, taking fans back to the beginning, with their 2006 hit, The Great Escape. The crowd left so hyped up you wondered what they had left in them for the Canadian legends soon to take the stage.
Hours in, and there is still a lineup at the merch tables. It made me think of festival merch lines and the constant flow of cash in exchange for memories. Supporting artists is done in many ways today, and buying merch is a win/win for everyone.
It was hard to think the crowd could become more alive than what had unfolded so far but of course, this was a Simple Plan crowd and regardless of how amazing the openers were these pop punk legends have been the voice of several generations for a reason.
The momentum of the crowd was kept alive with the music between sets playing a plethora of pop-punk sing-a-longs. When the music stopped, and the lights when down – the crowd went loco. The Star Wars Theme rang out. The roar of the fans made it feel like there were double the bodies were in the room. Sébastien, Jess, Chuck and Pierre walked onto the stage, and the lights went up. “What’s up Brisbane”. The crowd roared. “We are Simple Plan. Everybody Make Some Noise!
Pierre’s voice rang out as the lights went up, and the band took the hyped-up fans into their smash anthem, I’d Do Anything. Smoke machines exploding on the stage, and the crowd clapping, screaming and singing filled the room with an energy you could possibly only get at a Simple Plan show. The opening song finished with an explosion of streamers raining down on the crowd. It was obvious we were in for a massive show. Tonight was about the fan favourites. Sticking with early hits they asked the crowd if they were “ready to party with Simple Plan tonight”, and with the fans’ roar they went straight into Shut Up!, everyone yelling to their own conjured image of someone, “shut up, shut up, shut up, don’t wanna hear it”.
Pierre Bouvier is the perfect frontman, still full of energy after performing for over 20 years. He had the crowd at his command, and the instructions were easy, “I want everyone to Jump”, exploding into the 2004 anthem from ‘Still Not Getting Any’.
The crowd’s energy and enthusiasm was not lost on the band with the singer talking about the band’s love of Australia and the people here. His attempts at the Aussie accent kept us all amused throughout the show.
Of course, there are pop punk love songs that are not like regular love songs, so we all sang along, again to that someone in our head, to You Suck At Love and Your Love Is A Lie, the latter had fans singing with such emotion, it was intense. Simple Plan’s music touches fans in a special way and it was definitely felt in the crowd on this night.
It was like every song was a favourite. The fans putting in as much effort as the band for most of the night. Addicted shook the foundations of the venue, with the whole venue belting out the song, with the bands smash Welcome To My Life almost bringing down the walls.
The focus of the night were older fan favourites but a few from their 2022 album ‘Harder Than It Looks’ made the list with JAX joining the band on stage for Iconic. The energy of Pierre and JAX was a great match with the joy factor for what they do flowing through the performance. Bouvier again talked about how much they love Australia, describing their time down under as a trip to Summer Paradise, the perfect segue into the song.
The music flowed; the fans sang until they were hoarse. They pulled tracks from their whole catalogue, including slower emotive tracks; Astronaut, Crazy, Perfect World and the popular This Song Saved My Life, amongst the big hits including Jet Lag, I’m Just A Kids and, of course, the invasion of fans onto the stage, in Scooby Doo costumes for the massively popular TV show theme. Travis joined them on stage for Where I Belong, a track they recorded with We The Kings and State Champs. And they paid tribute to classic Aussie music with maximum crowd participation with their cover of The Angels Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? You know the rest.
The night finished with the acoustic guitar out and Bouvier thanking the old school fans again for supporting them over the years and welcoming the younger fans to the Simple Plan family. He gifted the crowd the song without a name, with Untitled ringing out across the Hall. They closed off the show with Perfect, again bringing out the vocals of everyone in the entire venue.
There is something incredibly special about a Simple Plan live show. Whether it’s the mutual adoration between the band and the fans, or the music that strikes such an emotive chord in the hearts of those who relate to it, or the explosive energy of the band or the fact that Simple Plan just simply seem to be the nicest guys in the music world, or maybe all of the above, regardless of what that special bit of magic is, it was a night that left everyone full of happiness and hope at a time when that is needed more than anything else.
Thanks to Dallas Does PR
