I went kinda nuts on this tour, doing 7 shows out of 17.
My bank account was crying the whole time, and probably will for some time, but it was totally WORTH IT! Felt like being on a Summer camp with all my best friends.
SHOW #1: PARIS, FRANCE
I started from a familiar location, attending my 6th show in Paris. I met with the guys from Sum 41 France and had a great time with them.
The show started with Zebrahead opening. I got familiar with their catalogue before the tour, I think they are in my top 10 bands now. Their show was super energetic, I really enjoyed them. The downside was, they didn't play any of my favorites (some of them being very popular singles), so I was a bit surprised. But they were still very fun to watch!
The main act. Damn it was good to be back! The Sums started with Turning Away, which sounded great live. Well, all their new songs sounded great, especially The New Sensation. I also can't get enough of the extended Hell Song, one of my favorite songs live.
I was positively suprised by the vocal effects they have added to the verses of Fake My Own Death and the bridge of New Sensation, sounded cool and brought some depth to the songs. The audio quality of the show was perfect, and I was VERY impressed by the lights throughout the show, especially during Fake My Own Death.
The ending of the show was a pleasant suprise. Fat Lip wasn't even the last song before the encore, they played Still Waiting before going hiding behind the curtains, then came back with Rock You, In Too Deep and finally the piano version of Never There. Such a great show!
One of the highlights of the tour happened after the show. A group of French fans and me went to continue our night at a bar nearby. Boy, was it fun talking Sum 41 related things with fellow fans! There was a piano in the corner, so at one point one of us went to play Crash and everyone sang along! So cool!
The Setlist - Paris
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
The next day was supposed to be the No Personal Space special show. I arrived at the scene about 10 minutes after all the happenings, so I wasn't there to witness anything. But I met the fans who were there (and later on tour talked with their tour manager), and they told me that the situation seemed pretty bad, despite what all the internet commenters were saying. I fully support the band's decision to cancel the show, although it was very unfortunate.
SHOW #2: LONDON, UK
Took a train to London, spent my day off just walking around and enjoying the British hospitality. On show day I briefly met with a fellow TNSer MetalMilitant aka ThanksForMuffins before the show, while spending the rest of the night sweating on eachother while looking out for crowdsurfers.
The show was intense! but the highlight was the setlist! They played a DTLI anniversary set, playing all the songs from that album along with some hits. Man, was it great to hear Hooch and All Messed Up live for the first time! And No Brains with its extended bridge is always a pleasure for my ears! This was also (as far as I know) the very first time that Deryck sang the chorus of Hyper-Insomnia the way it was recorded on the album, "On and on, and I just feel helpless" instead of "I just can't help it" he's been singing before. After the show I told him about it, and he said for some reason he's been singing the demo version of the chorus, but now he re-learned the lyrics for this show. He said it's not easy to sing it correctly, he has to focus on it, otherwise he keeps singing the demo version.
The Setlist - London
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
Another train ride, met with Mitchell as well as the guys from Sum 41 France. It was just overally such a great time hanging out with my friends, not too much to write about even though I had so much fun. The setlist of the show was identical to the show in Paris, but this time I could concentrate more on all the cool details of the show. This was the only show of my tour that featured both Lucifer and Bonesy as the stage mascots (or however you call the giant balloon behind the drum kit )
After the show I talked briefly with Deryck. He showed me the setlist of the cancelled Paris show, and I got soooo excited and sad at the same time. Deryck told me that they are planning to do a few more special shows on this tour, so the setlist will probably be the same in those. The first of the two planned special show didn't end up happening, but since I had already started to plan on attending...
The Setlist - Amsterdam
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
I went home after Amsterdam, and was planning to attend some Nordic shows later in the tour. But since Deryck hinted about another special show, along with the fact that the band had started playing 45 and Catching Fire, I decided to go to Milan as well.
And I can't stress enough that it was a fucking good decision. Thanks to my friends in Sum 41 Italia, I was able to attend the soundcheck before the show. Soundcheck? More like a special pre-show for fans! There were like 100 people, the most VIPs in any show on this tour. And people were not just standing and watching, they were singing along to all the songs, instrumental or not. The highlight was when the band played Rhythms, they were playing it like it was the show already. Deryck pointed the mic at the crowd to sing along with the chorus, so much fun!
The show itself was so special! This was the first time since 13 Voices tour that I saw them with B-stage performance. Although this time it was a bummer, I couldn't see anything back there from the front row, since there were a lot of people sitting on eachother's shoulders, blocking the view for the rest. But still, I was super surprised to hear them start playing Catching Fire as a B-stage song, instead it being a closer of the show as it was played before this show.
I thought this was the higlight, but boy was I wrong. Probably the most breathtaking moment I've felt at a show (so far) was when Deryck told the crowd to show their 41-salute before Fat Lip. I'm so happy Blake captured the moment on video, it was such a great gesture! If you look closely, you might see that even the confetti was in LA Lakers' colours!
But the real highlight? They closed the show with Never There. The lights went on, the crew started to pack things up, and the crowd started to leave. A few minutes later, all of a sudden, the lights went back off. Deryck came back on stage with his acoustic guitar, and started to play BEST OF ME! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I was probably bawling the whole time, it was such an incredible feeling to witness this beautiful song being played live for the first time ever. And the whole crowd was singing along starting from the first note throughout the song!
The Setlist - Milan
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
This time I went all in. I bought the VIP package, and damn was I lucky to choose Copenhagen as my VIP show. I was the only one with that package, so I got to hang out with Cone and Dave alone with a friend of mine I got to take with me. Cone laughed that since I've met them so many times already, they are using this Q&A session to ask stuff from me. Though basically it was just me and Dave talking about Star Wars.
Along came Frank with his stage tour. Since it was just me and my friend, Frank gave us a detailed tour of all the equipment on stage. And instead of just posing on the drum kit, Frank told me to play something. Too bad I haven't touched a drum kit in 15 years, and I wasn't any good even back then, so it was so weird to feel super excited and awkward at the same time. But definitely an experience to remember!
Showtime! Got to see the show on stage, cool! I asked if I could throw one balloon during Underclass Hero, another cool and awkward moment! I accidentally threw it to the roof above the stage, but eventually it found its way to the crowd.
The venue was quite small, so no B-stage this time. Even though Never There is such a beautiful song, especially as a closer, I was a bit sad they didn't play Catching Fire, which I had only seen as a B-stage song in Milan.
Again, I was totally blown away that the highlight of the day was still ahead of me. After finishing the set, the band came to say hi to me, and Deryck grabbed his acoustic guitar, saying
D: I don’t know if I should do it. What do you think?
T: Of course you should, why not?
D: I don’t know, I just don’t feel like it. I was thinking maybe I could play another song?
T: Which one do you have in mind?
D: Maybe Handle This?
T: DO THAT! Definitely that!
D: Haha
T: Of course I’d like that, but I think it’s better for this crowd too.
D: Ok then!
To be honest, I didn't care about the crowd, but HANDLE THIS ACOUSTIC LIVE!
The Setlist - Copenhagen
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
Another early morning train ride. Even though this was the show closest to my home, I didn't know anyone who would attend this show. Fast forward to after the show, and I had made so many friends that night. It all started when I met some fellow Finns lining up to the venue. I lost them pretty fast, but when I got to the front row, a fellow TNSer CALKing recognized me and we started to chat. People around us figured that I know the band quite well, so it turned into a Q&A session of sorts. But it was fun meeting fellow fans! I was surprised how many people said they've been fans since All Killer, but were attending a show for the first time. And needless to say they were all super excited and blown away by the show! The setlist was the same as the night before but without acoustic encore. Although they closed with Catching Fire instead of Never There, which was cool, since this time I could have a proper view for that song. A great ending for the last Order In Decline show of the tour.
The Setlist - Stockholm
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
This is it. The final night. I was super excited, not only because of the upcoming setlist, but there were A LOT of super-Skumfuks attending the show all around Europe. It was such a magical night spending time with all my Skumfuk friends on a night like this!
And the show did not disappoint at all. Live premiere of Heads Will Roll, Deryck coming to me after Open Your Eyes asking "You liked it? ", hearing Angels Dirty, What I Believe and Blood In My Eyes for the first time, and of course 88. It was also such a different vibe compared to other shows. The stage banter was more personal and genuine, it really felt like it was just friends playing for friends.
But oh man, of course the highlight needs a special paragraph. A DARK ROAD OUT OF HELL! Such a great song to hear live!
The Setlist - Cologne
- My Youtube videos
- Spotify playlist
- Spoiler: show
I got to meet the guys separately here and there, here is something that might interest you:
- Order In Decline was supposed to be an EP. The band had planned to release one EP that Summer and another maybe a year or two later. The label doesn't like the idea of EPs, saying they go under the radar and are forgotten easily. So the band put out an album, but they still have about 4-5 songs unreleased. Deryck said they were too good for just bonus tracks, so I guess we'll see if we ever hear those.
- On the last show, they were supposed to play Handle This after Thanks For Nothing. They accidentally skipped it, so after Walking Disaster Deryck asked the crowd if they want to hear a slow song or a fast song (meaning, if they should go back or just keep on going with the setlist). Of course the crowd voted for a fast song, so Handle This was forgotten.
- Handle This was originally written as an acoustic song, inspired by How's It Going To Be by Third Eye Blind.
- Cone had written a song for Sum 41, but it wasn't used. One time Cone started to follow Hank Von Hell, a former singer for Turbonegro (Norwegian "deathpunk" band) on Instagram. Hank wanted to meet Cone at his show in Toronto, and there he asked Cone if he would like to write a song for him. Cone remembered this unused Sum 41 song, asked Dave to write a solo for it, and now it's being released as a single for Hank's upcoming solo album.
- Dave wrote a solo for a song for an Italian band called Andead. You can see a quick clip of Dave recording the solo at a studio in Milan in their tour update.
- We can thank Tom for bringing With Me to the setlist since 2016. During the band's hiatus, Tom got into a TV show called Gossip Girl, and one episode's climax had With Me playing in the background. Tom felt it was such a powerful and emotional moment, so he kept bugging Deryck about including the song in the set until he caved in.
- I asked what are the most difficult songs to play live right now. The People Vs for Cone, Open Your Eyes for Deryck, Catching Fire for Dave (since he has to sing high notes at the same time ). Tom didn't have any difficulties. Although he said that What I Believe has many similarities to other songs, so there were risks of messing it up.
- Probably bunch of other things I've already forgotten.