It’s been a hot minute since the last time Simple Plan has rolled through Toronto with one of their headlining shows- 5 years to be exact. With their new album Taking One For The Team in hand, the band triumphantly returned to the Air Canada Centre and proved that after all of these years, they’ve still got it.
They kicked off the show with their highly energetic opening track ‘Opinion Overload’, before taking it back a bit to perform some of their fan favourites such as ‘Jet Lag’, ‘Jump’, and ‘I’d Do Anything’. As bands begin to grow their discography, a lot of them begin phasing out older songs from the set list in order to make way for the new ones. Luckily, that isn’t a problem for Simple Plan fans, as the band made sure to curate a set list consisting of songs that would please everyone, no matter what their favourite album was.
Most of the time, the feeling of being close to the artist you love gets lost in a venue as large as the ACC, but that wasn’t the case this time around. Front man, Pierre Bouvier, was constantly interacting with the crowd and even surprised fans as he ran through the general admission floors to sing to the back of the venue. He really knows how to captivate the crowds, even when you’re sitting far away from the band, he still finds a way to make you feel close. When he wasn’t reaching out to the fans, he was found jumping around the stage with his band mates – none of them skipping a beat as they performed.
As the night came to a close, the band really got nostalgic with us as they ended the night with their 2002 hit, ‘Perfect’.
