Simple Plan – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 10th December @ CBD Live, Gold Coast QLD
Simple Plan
CBD Live (Southport RSL), Gold Coast QLD
10th December 2019
Supports: Stateside, Waxflower
Good Things Festival officially wrapped up for the year on Sunday, but there were still some bands who were keen to continue the party going and one of them happened to be Canadian pop punk act Simple Plan. This time, in a full headlining set against the backdrop of Summer Paradise…errm, I mean, Surfer’s Paradise!
Upcoming Brisbane three-piece Waxflower started the night off the right way with their mellowed out pop punk. While they’re still a fairly new band to the scene, they nailed first single ‘Cut Your Teeth’ in a live setting and having just released their latest single ‘Together’, I’m excited for the bright future this band has.
Another act who has an even brighter future ahead of them are Stateside. Also from Brisbane, they opened for Simple Plan on their last Australian tour and were inevitably invited back to play this gig. Tonight was my first time seeing them in over a year, and boy did I welcome their return! Hearing tracks like ‘Neon’ and ‘This Is War’ once again, this four-piece sounded tighter than ever. Frontwoman Erin Reus shines so radiantly on stage, you can tell she’s in her own element and she just owns that stage.
I haven’t heard a full Simple Plan setlist in over a year, so after two festival shows, I was anticipating what else the boys had lined up for their headliners. The French Canadian five-piece fired straight in with ‘I’d Do Anything’ and ‘Jump’, followed by fan favourite ‘Welcome To My Life’, throwing it back to our wholesome emo teen years. But the best and biggest throwback of the entire show was hearing ‘Me Against the World’ live again – as soon as frontman Pierre Bouvier asked, “who loves themselves some metal?” I was fucking stoked!
The return of bassist David Desrosiers was refreshing as well. Banter between David and Pierre in between songs was many a fan’s favourite from back in the day, and seeing the OG line-up together again was so heartwarming. While Simple Plan are one of the few bands I know of to feed off the crowd vibe as much as possible, I couldn’t help but notice that tonight’s crowd was a little…off. I mean, it’s not every day an international band of that calibre plays on the Gold Coast. Regardless of the crowd’s efforts that night though, Simple Plan nailed their set to a tee and finished their encore performance with emotional belter ‘Untitled’ before finishing with everyone’s favourite song from their teen years, ‘Perfect’…with a little bit of Wonderwall thrown into the mix!
I couldn’t have asked for a better band to end the year 2019 on. I’ll never ever get sick of seeing Simple Plan live, and I think I speak on behalf of every hardcore SP fan when I say that, as soon as they announce tour dates, it’s the best excuse to take a vacation from reality. But can we please get ‘Vacation’ on the setlist next time?
Setlist:
I’d Do Anything
Jump
Jetlag
Welcome To My Life
Your Love Is A Lie
Me Against The World
Boom!
Addicted
Can’t Keep My Hands Off You
You Suck At Love
What’s New Scooby Doo
Summer Paradise
Thank You
Crazy
Where I Belong
I’m Just A Kid
Shut Up
Perfect World
Untitled
Perfect
Gig Review by Tamara May @citylightsTAM
Revisit our chat with Simple Plan‘s Jeff Stinco & Chuck Comeau on Wall of Sound: Up Against The Wall ‘Good People Doing Good Things’ podcast here.
Photo Gallery by Bec O’Reilly. Find Bec on Facebook and Instagram.
Please credit Wall of Sound and Bec O’Reilly if you repost.
Stateside
Simple Plan
