Canadian Juno Award-winning, pop punk superstars Sum 41 was in town on Thursday to play a show at Fort Canning Gate. Their latest full length effort which they are supporting on their current world tour, ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’, was released last year to critical acclaim and their song ‘Blood In My Eyes’ was even nominated for a Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance which they eventually lost to Foo Fighters. Singapore was to be their 2nd last stop in Asia before they head to KL this Saturday.
The show didn’t start off as planned in the eyes of the crowd as we had to wait for more than an hour (show started at 9.15pm instead of the slated 8.00pm) and there were no opening acts to entertain us. The worse part was the venue were repeating the same songs over and over again (ACDC’s Highway to Hell were played at least 3-5 times) to the dismay of the crowd. The promoters who brought in Sum 41, LinVan Productions could take into consideration for their future shows to play songs of the same genre of the bands that were slated to play for the impatient crowd or at the very least, NOT repeat the songs.
But as soon the show started, nothing else matters. The speakers blasted ACDC’s TNT and the crowd started singing along and finally the band walked into the stage to play their first song off their latest album, ‘Reason to Believe’. After that, it was an all-out punk rock affair. I was pleasantly surprised that Sum 41 decided to play more of their old hits than their new ones. Almost all of the crowd favourites such as We’re All to Blame, In Too Deep, Motivation, Hell Song and Still Waiting were played to the delight of the crowd. We were also treated to the trademark metal covers by the band including Judas Priest’s Breaking The Law and Metallica’s Master of Puppets. Lead guitarist Tom Thacker or ‘BrownTom’ as frontman Deryck Whibley affectionately called him showed that he could hold his own on the lead guitar. Dave ‘Brownsound’ Baksh, the wildly popular ex-lead guitarist who left in 2006 may considered a better lead guitar player by old fans, but Tom proved that he doesn’t pale in comparison and definitely a good fit for a band like Sum 41.
Sum 41 left the stage early after an hour but the crowd screamed for more for the traditional encore performance and the band came out with 2 more classics Fat Lip and Pain for Pleasure. All in all, Sum 41 played an immaculate set. The small and intimate crowd absolutely adore and lapped up everything that the band threw out to them. They jumped, moshed, sang-along and even created a circle pit which I’m sure the band appreciated. Deryck, Cone, Stevo and Tom were energetic from start to end, showcasing their quality as a veteran pop-punk act. To sum41 it all up (pardon the wordplay), it was a night to remember. I went home with a couple of souvenirs namely a bruised chest and cheek after getting caught in the circle pit and elbowed, dirty pants and shoes due to the mud, but it was all worth it. Thank you Sum 41 for a kickass show!
