It was an absolutely perfect late summer evening for an outdoor concert in Worcester for the final show on the Blame Canada Tour, the co-headlining tour featuring Simple Plan and Sum 41. Fans were lined up around the block waiting for the gates to open. This concert was originally scheduled for May 6 but was rescheduled due to a case of Covid-19 within one of the band’s camps. With the date change and high demand for the show also came a slight venue change from Palladium indoor to the Palladium outdoors. This was a great change as the weather was beautiful and it also brought with it a festival atmosphere. Set It Off remained the opener for this stop on the tour, as originally scheduled.
Set It Off is a pop-punk band originally formed in 2008, hailing from Tampa, FL. The first song was “Killer in the Mirror,” from their 2019 album Midnight. Set It Off had a ton of fans in the house. This was evident as the crowd was singing along with all their songs from the start! During the second song, “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” the lead singer, Cody Carson, made his way into the crowd.
The crowd lifted him into the air so that he was standing on their hands and from there he performed the song. This was such a fun moment for everyone in attendance. Throughout their performance, concert goers were singing and crowd-surfing. The last song that they performed was, “Why Worry.” At the end of their fun and high-energy set, they concluded by mentioning that this was the last show of the tour and said that they were going to miss the crew (Simple Plan/Sum41) and the fans. They really got the crowd pumped for the rest of the show! Now they are headed off on their own headlining tour, with both Canadian and US dates.
Next up was Sum 41, a Canadian rock band that has seen a ton of success over the past couple decades. As Sum 41 came out on stage, the crowd screamed and cheered with excitement for the high energy performance that they were finally getting to experience after a three-month delay. They started with their hit song, “Motivation,” off of their 2001 album, All Killer, No Filler. The crowd was singing along, jumping in the air, and crowd surfing. Lead singer, Deryck Whibley, mentioned that All Killer No Filler turned 21 this year. In honor of this, they sang a song “that we hardly ever play anymore,” and they sang the popular song, “Summer.”
During the song, “ANIC,” the crowd was wild and when it ended, Whibley said, “You like this fast shit!” They went on to sing two more of their fast songs, “Never Wake Up” and “T.H.T.” Sum 41 played an 18-song set that also included a cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” in the style of Sum 41. During the whole set, they were running around the stage keeping the audience’s full attention with their obvious excitement to be performing for their fans. They closed the set with one of their most popular hits, “Still Waiting.” Fans did not want them to leave the stage.
After the set change, red lights lit up the stage and the Star Wars theme song started playing. Simple Plan entered the stage to cheers and applause from the crowd to close out the show on this last stop of the Blame Canada Tour. They started their set with the hit, “I’d Do Anything.” The crowd was singing along, dancing, and jumping around, echoing the energy that they were receiving from the band. Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band that was formed in 1999. They have released six studio albums with the latest being in May of this year, Harder Than It Looks. They played two songs from the new album, “Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over) and “Iconic,” which were both loved by the crowd. Simple Plan played an 18-song set which included songs from each album released throughout their career. Some of the songs included, “Shut Up!,” “Addicted,” and “I’m Just a Kid.” During the song, “Jet Lag,” a young woman named Ariel came out on stage to take part in the duet.
She sang the part originally performed by Natasha Bedingfield. Throughout the set, fans were singing along and crowd surfing. They were loving every minute of this long-awaited show. No show is truly complete without a cover song or two and Simple Plan did not disappoint as they performed a compilation of “All Star” (Smashmouth), Sk8er Boi” (Avril Lavigne), and “Mr. Brightside” (The Killers). Simple Plan finished up the set (and the tour) with the song, “Perfect.” Pierre came out and had the crowd hold up their cell phone lights as he started the song with only his acoustic guitar. The crowd was singing along. After the first verse, the rest of the band joined in to finish the song. It was an amazing night at the Palladium for everyone in attendance. This show was worth the wait.
Simple Plan
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Sum 41
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