Simple Plan’s Get Your Heart On! Tour. Melbourne, 2nd June 2012

Part One - Soundcheck

Before I start, just a disclaimer: This is from my perspective and may not be exactly how it happened, but it is what I remember as much as possible.

I’m not really sure where to start, so perhaps I will start with the fact that my friend and I flew from Perth to Melbourne on the red-eye flight, hence sacrificing our sleep patterns for an exciting, enjoyable weekend. For me it was almost déjà vu as I had to fly from Townsville to Brisbane to see Simple Plan in 2005.

I could start where I joined my friend up with the SP Crew so she wouldn’t miss out on the experience of possibly meeting the band. She’s not as big a fan as me, but she’s my best friend and I wanted her to come with me to meet the band and be at the concert.

I could start with the nervousness that I felt in waiting to see whether our names got on the list or not, and when it did…I was all about…excited, shaky…amazed, and my brain buzzing with the possible things that could go wrong. But, the anxious waiting and worrying paid off in the end…if at all that sort of thing can pay off.

The day came. We were both tired having only slept for an hour and a half on the plane and got into the hotel at 10 am. We tried to sleep but the light kept us awake and I at least was nervous/excited.

Getting to the venue, Festival Hall, at around 2.30pm we planned to try and find a girl that I knew on Twitter, who also flew over from Perth [we had met prior at the airport for the first time]. We found her and started talking about how nervous we were becoming. She had some gifts she was planning to give the guys. I hadn’t thought of gifts but I’d thought about what I wanted to say to the guys. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anyway we waited for what seemed like a long time, every now and again we heard what sounded like a band soundchecking…but it still wasn’t time. I don’t think we were let into soundcheck until almost 3.30pm. There were 168 of us, the largest soundcheck in the world.

Anyway, my friend, Katie and I managed to get toward the stage three deep, in front of Pierre and…I just…I can’t remember how I felt but I wasn’t so shaky or anything that I wasn’t able to take photos and take in what was being said.

Pierre and David talked the most with Seb interjecting several times. At one stage he yelled out, “Hey stop it, there’s a fucking baby in the room!” That made me laugh. I think everybody laughed, probably due to what caused him to yell that. Pierre and David were making sexual inuendos out of everything they said. Abot it being the ‘biggest’ sound check ever, [Pierre: ‘That’s what she said’].

Pierre also said, “We have rules…the first rule of soundcheck is…we don’t talk about sound check.” David said, “The second rule of sound check is we don’t talk about soundcheck.”

Incidentally, Pierre broke that rule during the concert by mentioning the soundcheck…

Since there were 168 of us Pierre said they would only be able to do one song so they would the have time to meet all of us. That’s right…all of us. And they made it work. They attempted to play Grow Up, though it felt like they didn’t really practise that one all that much because it was just like they were jamming, while singing it half-heartedly. Some body threw a astronaut helmet up on the stage and Pierre stuck it on his head and said “Can I wear this to the concert?” But then changed his view saying that it would defeat the purpose of the song, because Astronaut is a serious song.

So, they played Promise before instructing us to get in an oval [because we couldn’t stand in a circle because the venue is longer than it is wide]. Then came the waiting.

Seb was the first one that came up to Katie and I, I had my SNGA booklet for the guys to sign and Seb signed it while looking at my scarf and beanie [Collingwood members scarf and Magpies beanie]. Seb said to me with dawning recognition, “I have the same scarf…well the one that goes with your hat [sic].” That totally made my day right there. His accent was so sweet. He was so sweet. We both had photos with him.

Next was Pierre. Pierre. Surprisingly I was only a little…y’know? Well, if you know me, you know what I think of Mr Pierre Bouvier. I’m drawn to him the most in the band and that’s all you need to know. Those who know, know. Anyway, he teased Katie and me for being rugged up in scarves and beanies. That was after he shook our hands. He has a real man’s handshake. No limp wristed floppy shakes from Mr Bouvier, thank you very much.

Anyway, the cold thing… “It’s not cold here [Australia]….come to Canada…” He paused there then laughed and said, “No, don’t come to Canada, it’s too cold.” He signed my booklet and had a photo with both of us. I mentioned the fact that they were going to Townsville and how I used to live there. :D. My friend said we were rugged up because we came from Perth so weren’t used to Melbourne weather. Then Katie said to Pierre, “She loves you!” About me. Haha, so embarrassing, but at the same time I didn’t really feel embarrassed.

He smiled and moved on while we waited for Jeff who was the next closest to us. Jeff didn’t say much when he came up to us. He was very cool and grateful though smiling and signing my booklet and having a photo, saying thank you and have a good show.

Now, before I go on, I must point out that all the guys so far have signed on their picture on the SNGA booklet. Now, along comes David. First off he grabs me into a hug, it happened so fast I don’t even remember if it really happened. I had to ask Katie after if it actually happened. But, yes, it did. Anyway he then took the booklet from me and proceeded to sign over Chuck’s face. I practically squealed at him.

“No, you signed on Chuck’s face!” He blinked at me then laughed as I said, “I’ll tell him.”

David said, “Please don’t.” With a puppy dog look then had a photo with both of us.

He moved on and Chuck was the last to come sign. There were periods of lull between each of the guys coming to us, as they had a lot of fans to get through, and when Chuck got to us, we were almost the last ones he spoke too. He was really sweet and when I told him David had signed on his face he went, “That’s okay…I’ll be nice and sign here…” signing in a spare space between the pictures.

He took photos with us, we thanked him then left to go have dinner before the show.

Extra note: At one stage the guys from We The Kings tried to come do their levels…SP’s manager told them that it wasn’t their time yet because the guys were still meeting with the fans.

And so that is the end of part one about the Soundcheck. Part Two will come later. Off to watch The Voice

I almost forgot to mention, I gave hellos from a Perth boy I follow on Twitter to Chuck, and Chuck was so sweet, he said "Where is he?" recognising the name of the guy I said was saying hi. :D

Part Two - The Concert

Simple Plan’s Get Your Heart On! Tour. Melbourne, 2nd June 2012
Part Two - THE CONCERT

So, Katie and I got back to Festival Hall just before seven. We went to the merch stand to buy some merch [funny that]. I had a bit of a sad thought about how Pat no longer tours with the guys while I bought a poster and a new tour t-shirt, which I put on over the top of my other t-shirt. Then we lined up at Gate 3 to get in. The security made Katie throw out her water bottle…but that was the only negative of the night, I think. The security guy saw my Magpies scarf and said to me, “Go Pies!” I had a chat about the game on Sunday and how it would be my first time at the MCG then Katie and I went and found out seats. We had a great view of the stage from where we were sitting.

I’m not sure what time the first band came on, but there were already a lot of people on the floor when they came on and people clapped and screamed for them. The Never Ever are a Sydney band, I believe. They played about 3 songs, I thought the music was good; the singer was a bit ordinary, though. But, you couldn’t fault them for their enthusiasm. And with some vocal coaching the singer could be really good. Catchy tunes and a good way to start the concert. Kudos to them, I hope they do well.

Then when the stage crew set up the stuff for the next act, more people had filled up the floor area in front of the stage. When they came on there was more screaming. Obviously, there were a lot of We The Kings fans in the crowd. And who can blame them? They were really really good! They sang about 7 or 8 songs, some that I actually recognised [partly due to looking them up prior to the concert and partly due to their music being played on the radio]. The highlight of their set was when they played Jimmy Eat World’s The Middle. Though at the time I couldn’t remember that it was a JEW song. All I could think was that it wasn’t a WTK tune…lol.

The way Travis Clark, the lead vocalist, interacted with the crowd gave me a taste of what the band was like and I gotta say I hope they headline in Australia one day. They deserve to. Anyway, that was We The Kings. They left the stage after saying they wish they could play forever…Travis made some joke about them being the best band on the bill. Can’t remember exactly what, but seriously, they were pretty darn great. [Oh…Travis introduced the others as well, Charlie and Danny…and, I can’t remember…]

But, of course…nothing could beat the main act of the night. No…before Simple Plan came on the chanting for them was amazing… SIMPLE PLAN…SIMPLE PLAN…SIMPLE PLAN…

I can’t even…really. Words would not do justice to what happened this night. But, I will try.

They started with Shut Up, which they’ve done since I last saw them live in 2005. Then they ran through an impressive list of songs, mostly from Get Your Heart On and Still Not Getting Any. They did sing When I’m Gone and Your Love Is a Lie from their self-titled album; however, I was kind of glad that they didn’t sing any of the others from that CD. So in hindsight it was a good thing I didn’t see them in 2008, made the waiting all the more better for it.

Anyway, this is where it gets hard to decide what to say so I’ll just give some anecdotes and my response to them. I’ll try and keep them in order so I’ll start by posting the complete set-list as a guide to my thoughts.

1. Shut Up
2. Can’t Keep My Hands Off You
3. Jump feat. Got a Feelin’
4. When I’m Gone
5. Addicted
6. You Suck At Love
7. Thank You
8. Your Love Is A Lie
9. Astronaut
10. party medley: Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5) / Dynamite (Taio Cruz) / Sexy And I Know It (LMFAO)
11. Jet Lag
12. No Pads medley: The Worst Day Ever, When I’m With You, My Alien, You Don’t Mean Anything, God Must Hate Me
13. Summer Paradise
14. This Song Saved My Life
15. Welcome To My Life
16. I’d Do Anything

Encore:

17. Loser Of The Year
18. I’m Just A Kid
19. Crazy (acoustic version)
20. Perfect

When they sang Jump at the part where the instrumental kicks in David and Pierre started asking each other how they were doing in really bad Aussie accents then they sang a phrase of Black Eyed Peas’ Got a Feelin’. I got video of that.

When I’m Gone Pierre introduced this song by saying that they had a special guest, “DJ Funky C”. Haha… that was Chuck’s cue to pretend to be all DJ on his drums. Chuck was amazing all night; drummers are the heartbeat of a band [incidentally Chuck agrees with me, there.]

Addicted – I’ve come to the conclusion that, live, this song is my favourite Simple Plan song. And them singing it live in Melbourne? Beats the Live in Anaheim recording. David getting us to sing his part was fun :D. Oh, and Pierre going, “Let’s kick it old school!” Loved it.

You Suck at Love – The first new song that we heard off GYHO. Funny that I didn’t like it the very first time I heard it. Loved hearing it live. I can’t find a recording of it from the Melbourne show, though. Which makes me sad.

Same for Thank You. I’ve finally found one but it’s not the whole song. But, I loved when Pierre got us singing with him. That man could get anyone to do anything as far as I’m concerned. [I shook his hand at soundcheck…] They tried to get the floor crowd to make a circle pit after saying that they were filming for their new DVD…Pierre was all, “Make it a gentle circle pit…”.

Then they did Your Love is a Lie, which is my favourite track off their self-titled album. Glad they played it.

Astronaut. Well…David asked how Aussies could be so sexy because we ate Vegemite…Pierre said he liked it until David said he would spread it all over his body. On a side note…David was horny all night. Or at least he kept saying he was and he and Pierre and Seb were making sexual innuendos all night… “That’s what she said!”

Anyway, after that banter, Pierre asked us all to get our mobile phones or anything with a light like stars as he introduced Astronaut. And wow…that was a beautiful sight. [This song is Katie’s favourite].

Then the party medley…oh…wow….Austranadians and Pierre thrusting to Sexy and I Know It? Yeah, let’s get on that! [Pierre: That’s what she said!] Oh, and Seb dancing was too cute…

Jet Lag they had a 16 year old called Christina Parie who was on the Aussie X Factor come on and sing. She was actually really good. Pierre got us to give her some love. That’s what I really love, they’re so kind and grateful to the people they work with.

Then Pierre talked about the fact that it had been ten years since their first album came out. Funny banter occurred here too.

Pierre: It’s been ten years since No Pads came out.

David: That’s almost a decade!

Pierre: That’s exactly a decade…

David: Right. Okay. That’s almost a decade!

This lead into a medley of No Pads songs, I sang along to all of them, knew every word. The kid sitting next to me had no idea…new Simple Plan fan? Though she seemed to enjoy it.

Then Summer Paradise, Pierre started talking about how it’s winter here in Australia then asked whether we wanted to go back…everyone screamed then he added, ‘to Summer Paradise’. David whistled at the start and they had all these large red and white blow up balls bouncing around the floor and even up into the seats

This Song Saved My Life and Welcome to My Life are two songs that I consider specifically for the fans. Great sing-a-longs too. With TSSML that song is just pure emotion, and for me it makes me think of all the songs that really touch me, and not necessarily Simple Plan songs. WTML was the single that started it all for me as a Simple Plan fan… Pierre got the crowd singing a lot in both these songs. The joy on his face…hard to miss. They gotta be so stoked to see us singing back to them.

And then they did I’d Do Anything as the final song of the main set. [David: I wanna smell you…I wanna touch you… he dived into the crowd here…lol]

The lights went down as they went off and the chanting for the band started up again until they came back on to do the encore. Loser of the Year was followed by I’m Just a Kid [David sang a really high note…stuck his hand down his pants then wanted to high five everyone…Pierre pretended to gag…] and then Pierre played Crazy by himself on acoustic. That was so beautiful. The way he sang it was just gorgeous. Sounded like he hadn’t sung it for ages, and so vulnerable because it was just him and us. Proof positive that he has a great voice, by the way.

Then he started Perfect, the song they always do last. That was just…amazing…the crowd singing screaming…I was still on my feet, had been through the whole Simple Plan set/s… When the rest of the band came on for the second verse, Pierre threw his acoustic to the stage tech to the side. Hah. Good throw too.

And so it ended…the guys threw picks and towels into the crowd, Pierre made a great show of wiping his sweat from his face then wringing the towel out before throwing into the crowd. Then Chuck came out last from behind his drums and threw his sticks into the crowd then bowed with his hands together [Japanese style].

Amazing…just amazing.

I have no more words.

Best concert EVER!