Venue: Fort Gate @ Fort Canning Park, Singapore
Date: 15th January 2012 (Sunday)
Promoter: Midas Promotions
Review by: Melissa L.
Special Thanks: Yvinne and the Midas Promotions team
Photos by Melissa C.
Despite the four crazy girls standing behind me who screamed their lungs out at every single thing and the teenage boy standing in front of me who left a whiff of body odour every time he lifted his arms (which was every song by the way), I still managed to enjoy myself so much during Simple Plan’s concert at Fort Canning Park on Sunday night, and that should say something about how awesome the band was. In fact, I might have enjoyed myself too much, singing along, waving my arms in the air and even jumping up and down at some point, that I kind of forgot to take mental notes of what was going on around me so pardon me as I try to recall what I can remember from the beginning…
I reached Fort Canning Park at 7pm and there was already a snaking queue of fans waiting to go in. In fact, half the area was full by the time I got in at 7.25pm and the crowd was already hyped up and screaming while a local band, consisting of Brandon Lee, Stuart Wee, Er Chow Kiat, Mark John Hariman, Gerald Chan and Stephen Yonathan, opened the show. Some people were even singing along and it was great to see the audience showing such massive support for local talent! Sounding somewhat like a fusion of Nickelback and Daughtry, the band definitely rocked it up and got Fort Canning Park hungry for more.
When they finished their set at 8pm, the crowd promptly started chanting “SIMPLE PLAN! SIMPLE PLAN!” while we were entertained by some music and the stage crew, who were preparing the setup for Simple Plan. We all warmed up our vocals by singing along to The Killer’s Mr. Brightside and Paramore’s Brick By Boring Brick and some random group of fans would always start screaming at the end of every song, in anticipation for Simple Plan to start the show.
I think the band knew the audience consisted of mainly teenagers who had school the next day so they didn’t keep us waiting long and kick started the concert at 8.25pm with Shut Up. When they played the third song of the set, Jump, everyone was singing along and you could feel the teenage angst filling up the area. The crowd particularly sang the lines Jump! // Don’t wanna think about tomorrow with such conviction that I think they were referring to not wanting to go back to school the next day! And I must say, the fans were KE-RAY-ZEE enthusiastic and they knew the lyrics to every single song, which was a little weird because some songs were released about ten years ago, which would make them toddlers at that time! Being surrounded by people so much younger made me feel somewhat old but the moment I heard my teenage anthems like Addicted, My Alien, and Thank You live and everyone started singing along, I was hit with such nostalgia!
Before Pierre launched into Astronaut, one of the songs from their latest album Get Your Heart On!, he asked everyone to whip out their mobile phones and wave them in the air. It created such a cozy atmosphere and it was very reminiscent of the times back in the days where people used to wave lighters at huge rock concerts. The band also played a medley of Cee-Lo Green’s F*ck You, Taio Cruz’s Dynamite and Pink’s Raise Your Glass, and another of their newer songs, Jet Lag, to the delight and deafening screams of the audience. By the time they got to Welcome To My Life, you would think the crowd would have tired out but there was no such thing. If anything, we all sang even louder and we were singing so loudly I think the shoppers all the way at Park Mall could hear us!
David was particularly flirty with the audience that night, and said he was looking for a Singaporean girlfriend after the band performed My Alien, proclaiming “I need a girlfriend in every city we perform,” which prompted all the girls to scream as loud as they could. Pierre didn’t shy away from some attention too, when he announced how hot the weather was before lifting up his shirt a little to show off his abs, again, to the delightful screams of all the females around. Sébastien also got us to clap along and pump our fists whenever they played a catchy song. Jeff didn’t really walk to my side of the stage a lot but I could see him throwing picks once in a while and I wish he’d thrown one at me! I also couldn’t see Chuck at all from where I was standing but from what I could hear, he never missed a beat.
Throughout the whole show, the band also never kept still, constantly walking around and jumping off the little red boxes they placed at the front of the stage, and because everyone but Chuck could move around, they would walk up to the drums set and play a little with him so he wouldn’t feel left out. I could really see that they were genuinely enjoying themselves, even after playing together for 12 years and that they had such great dynamics. It really is so heart warming to see bands enjoy themselves at their own concerts, instead of looking like they they’re doing it for the sake of it!
When it was finally time for the encore, Simple Plan played Loser of the Year and I’m Just A Kid to the likes of their crazy, screaming and jumping fans at Fort Gate. And when we knew it was the last song of the night, everyone, and I mean everyone, sang along to the very intimate Perfect, which Pierre played acoustically for the first verse and chorus before the rest of the band joined in and rocked it up.
By the time the show ended at a very family-friendly time of 9.40pm, you could see that the audience wanted more but we all knew we had to face the fact that sadly, the concert was over but for that hour and a half, it was Summer Paradise for us!