Sum 41 @ O2 Academy, Glasgow (25th June 2019)

with Yours Truly

WORDS: Joanne Gray

Ahead of the Ontario pop-punk legends releasing their seventh album next month, Sum 41 decided to do a short UK tour with Glasgow as one of their dates. Having been a fan of theirs for as long as I've been into rock music and not seeing them since 2017, I was well up for seeing them play again (even if it was in the notoriously soulless O2 Academy). 

Waiting around for about an hour with the venue filling up fast, the place was heating up even before the first band came on. This would only increase as the show went on. But more on that later.

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Marking their first set of dates in the UK (including an appearance at Download Festival a few weeks ago), the support band of the night was the Sydney pop-punk band, Yours Truly. I had only gave this band a brief listen before the gig, so I didn't have much knowledge of them before seeing them. I was hoping that this could be a chance for a young up and coming band to gain a wider audience however. 

Being the only support band, Yours Truly came onstage at the late time of 8:15, to which the venue was pretty much full by this point. The four-piece, equipped with two guitarists instead of a bassist, immediately struggled to get a sound that could fill the room they were playing. The vocals during the first few songs, which seemed to evoke Paramore and Tonight Alive's pop-punk melodically driven sensibilities were extremely low in the mix, which lead a few of us in the crowd to take our ear plugs out for comparison. This issue seemed to work itself out a little several songs in, but it seemed to have rattled some of the confidence the band had when they walked onstage. 

This sense of nerves was also shown when there were a few technical issues onstage. At one point one of the guitarists had to retune mid-way through a song, and the singer was trying to adjust her sound pack while singing. Everything just felt that little bit awkward and uncomfortable and this really became evident when the unfamiliar audience only responded with what seemed to be restrained polite applause for the band. 

By the time the band finished their 6 or so song set, I couldn't help but feel like Yours Truly were out of their depth, and although they were really trying to get the audience on their side (god love them, they really were), I found this to be a bit of a trying experience for both the crowd and the band. Playing to such a large audience only seemed to exaggerate this, and it made me wonder why there wasn't another band on this bill. I really feel like they would have gotten on better if they had started earlier to a smaller crowd and there had been another band above them. 

A shame for Yours Truly really, who were clearly stoked to be opening for such a huge band. Unfortunately, poor decision making (from wherever that came from) lead to this being a strange set for the vast majority of the audience. Hopefully, this sort of exposure could get the band a few more smaller shows on this side of the Pacific though, so they can build on what they already have: some good songs which are sure to make those this fuzzy mid-to-late 2000s nostalgia sing along with enthusiasm. Silver linings, and all that. 

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Thankfully this sense of awkwardness would completely disappear by the time the main band were up. Greeted with the conventionally rock and metal pre-show tunes from the likes of AC/DC, System of a Down and Linkin Park, the crowd were singing along and pumped up for the band launching onstage into the absolute banger, 'Motivation'. Immediately, things went nuts. 

Making the mistake of standing pretty close to the front for this kind of show, the jumping and pitting that erupted around us meant that we pretty much instantly had to move back a bit. By the time the song had finished, this sense of movement had pretty much extended to most of the standing floor area of the O2. That's the nature of Sum 41's music at the best of times, but the band's choice of setlist and current musical form ramped this up to 11. 

Going straight into heavier tunes like 'Hell Song', 'We're All To Blame' and 'Goddamn I'm Dead Again', I got the sense that this was a band that was fully leaning into the metal influences that have always been present in their work that night. Guitarist Dave 'Brownsound' Baksh, who has now been back in the band for 4 years, was simply beaming as he thrashed away in his Anthrax vest throughout the show, displaying some of the best musicianship from any band let alone simply a 'pop punk' one. 

Forever an engaging frontman, I felt that Deryck Whibley outdone himself here as well; feeding off the energy of the rowdy Glasgow crowd to deliver the songs in the most aggressive snotty way I've seen from him yet. If the last few years have been tough on the now sober frontman, it certainly didn't show in his performance during this gig. Reminiscent of Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong at the peak of their stadium conquering days, Whibley would get the crowd to chant in between songs, bounce during punkier tunes and take part in good natured competitions. With any other person, such stage mannerisms could come across as naff and cheesy but the rowdy response from the crowd and the cheeky delivery here erased much of these accusations. His successful attempts to hype the audience resulted in some of the wildest pits I've seen at this venue in a while. It was only a few songs in, and you could practically feel the condensation dripping from that high theatre ceiling. 

The energy only dropped a bit after 2007's (arguably most mid-period Green Day inspired material) 'Walking Disaster' and 'Underclass Hero' when the band performed the markedly more serious Chuck track 'Pieces'. As pointed out by Whibley, this was the only real moment where things felt a bit less fun as the band played through the song which clearly still resonates deeply with them personally. Such an awesome song though.

The metal vibes were then brought back with aplomb when the thrashy new song 'Out For Blood' and one of the heaviest tracks in the band's catalogue, 'Jessica Kill' got the circle pits moving once more. Shout out to Baksh in particular for his wicked solo in the former song. Judging from this, and the other new song played this evening (the punkified Black Sabbath inspired offering of 'A Death In The Family'), the upcoming album is shaping up to be one of their heaviest releases to date. 

Thankfully Sum 41 know how to inject a sense of fun into proceedings to ever stop things ever feeling too heavy or serious though, and this was evident with the tacking on of that chanted section of Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall' to the back-end of 'Out For Blood'. Cue the typical Glasgow "Here we fucking go" chant in between these sections, and it became clear that the band were chuffed with the response they had were garnered. Next was a solo from Street Drum Corps drummer Frank Zummo over the soundtrack of Linkin Park songs. This all helped to make what is normally a bit of a drag for me in form of drum solos a lot more fun. Totally in awe at just how hard that man hits the drums as well. What a sound. 

Now over half-way through the set, it was practically a show of greatest hits for the rest of the time here. With songs as huge as Sum 41 have, you can't really go wrong with this either. Heavy punk classic 'Over My Head (Better Off Dead)' moved into the only acoustic song of the show, 'With Me' , which flawlessly brought one of the biggest singalongs to the table in the process. Furiously fast paced 'No Reason' then lead into Sum 41's rollicking version of Queen's 'We Will Rock You' which is always a blast to experience. One of the better punky cover versions of a classic song you will hear anywhere.

All of this built up perfectly to a stellar end to the main set with perhaps their most conventionally 'pop-punk' tune, 'In Too Deep'. The former had pretty much the entire crowd bouncing up and down while singing every word with every fibre of effort left possible in the sauna-like heat. Remarkably, there was still enough energy left to ramp the pits up again for one of Sum 41's most riotous songs, 'Still Waiting' to see the main setlist out .

Cue a short wait with chaotic out of time 'HWFG' chants, and the band came back onstage with comments about how mental Glasgow always is as an audience (well, duh!). Perhaps in honour of this, or just because the song had just been released a few days ago, the band made a live debut of 'Never There', a particularly more gentle affair than what had came before. Thankfully the energy was upped again when the heavily NOFX influenced 'Machine Gun' from their first album was brought out, showcasing just how vast and wonderful the scope of their material really has been over their 20+ years of being a band. 

Bringing things to an awesome end then was the obvious but ever life-affirming choice of 'Fat Lip'. By this point, it was hard to see anyone in the entire room not either jumping around like mad or spitting out those bratty yet utterly incredibly melodic lines. If it's wrong to feel like songs like these are some of the greatest and most fun rock songs ever written, I don't ever want to be right. And neither did anyone else here. 

By the end of things here, I was totally blown away by just how great Sum 41 still are at this point in their career. Even in comparison with 2017, I thought that the chemistry and energy within the band had improved even further, and the metal-focused set showed just how much fuel the band still have in their tank. This gig has got me pumped for the album next month, and I can't wait to see whether they'll end up on summer festival slots next year. Do us a favour Download, and book Sum 41 again next year. Truly a band that all metalheads, punks, hip hop and emo fans can all unite behind. If you don't like at least one Sum 41 tune, I really don't know what's wrong with you. 

What a fun time to be had, and you really need to watch this band live if you never have before. 

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