
If you asked me Saturday morning who was the band I’d seen opening the most shows, I would’ve told you, with no empirical evidence to back it up, that it’s probably a tie between Gob and Pup. Saturday night did nothing to break that tie, as both bands were setting the stage for Sum 41. The reason these bands are the bands of choice for punk bands swinging through the great white north is that they consistently deliver quality, high-energy punk that gets crowds moving. Also, Gob is fronted by Sum 41 guitarist Tom Thacker, who didn’t have enough with double duty came out to play with Pup.

Now, as I was waiting for the main attraction, I started to process my upcoming existential crisis. Two of the girls scanning tickets were chatting as I came in. One asked “do you know the band tonight?” “C’est d’la musique de vieux,” she answered (It’s old fart music). Don’t get me wrong, I came to terms with the fact that 90s bands are old now, but this is different, Sum 41’s music is filled with the piss and vinegar of youth, but looking around, yeah, there was a lot less hair than there used to be. It made me wonder if Simple Plan concerts are now a bunch of 40 year olds singing “I’m just a kiiiiiiid”….

Luckily, Sum 41 broke my crisis and gave me Motivation… literally. That’s the song they opened with to a huge pop. We may be old but dammit we can still scream! And so can Deryck Whibley! Honestly, if you go through his autobiography and everything he went through, which was written before COVID tried to kill him last year, it’s a miracle the man is standing before us as energetic as he was in his youth.
We didn’t stand on ceremony after, we went straight into a classic banger with “The Hell Song”. The crowd chanted the chorus at the top of their lungs. “Over My Head” and “War” continued the classics.

Mid set we had a little fun when guitarist Brownsound ripped into the iconic riff of Slayer’s “Raining Blood” which got the mosh pit moving into overdrive. After about a minute, as we got to the part where the vocals kick in, Whibley stopped the band, joking that he didn’t know how to play that one, but he asked if the crowd wanted some Metallica? The crowd started booing and screaming no…. Just kidding, that was a rhetorical question, of course Montreal wants some OLD ‘talica. We got the solo and one chorus of “Master of Puppets.” Honestly, this band plays that thrash metal style so well, even in their own material, it’s a shame they never gave us more tracks like “Pain for Pleasure”. They did follow it up with the heavy “We’re All to Blame” which was perfect.

The first set was closed with a trio of their biggest hits. It started with Whibley on piano for the emotional “Pieces”, which got some of the best crowd participation of the night. The “Fat Lip” brought us straight back to the 90s and jumping. The seemingly evergreen message of “Still Waiting” brought the set to a close with a roar.
They came back on stage with an emotional message from Whibley, reminding us all that this was the last week of Sum 41’s farewell tour. I couldn’t help but think of the Alexisonfire farewell tour and the six times I’ve seen them since. But if this is truly farewell, the band is going out on top and in top form. They played the first song they wrote which they thought was good, the poppy “Summer”. The ended the encore with their biggest hit, the song that made them Much Music darlings “In Too Deep”. The crowd bid them farewell by screaming the words as loud as they could and the band left the stage emotionally.

If you’d peaked at the setlists for the tour beforehand, well you were one of the many who were rushing out the aisles, content with your night of rocking out like your knees were twenty again. But if you were a dawdler, well the band surprised with a second encore, something they hadn’t done anywhere else. They played the very appropriate “So Long Goodbye” as those left in the audience swayed. They ended the Montreal chapter of Sum 41 with one of the first covers they played as a band, NOFX’s “Linoleum. They apologized beforehand that they hadn’t practiced the song in a long, long time, but that made it more authentic to NOFX.

If this is truly the end, a chapter of Canadian rock history ended this night with an amazing performance that froze the hourglass of time. If five years from now, you find yourselves healthy, rested, and missing the stage, we will welcome you back with open arms, forgetting that whole farewell thing. Some say we’re never meant to grow up… well we grew up with you and thanks for the memories. Think before you make up your mind 😉


Review – Richard Brunette
Photos – Kieron Yates











