Sum 41 (and Avril Lavigne) Pop-Punk Party in Milan

It’s been a while since the video for “Fat lip” was in heavy rotation on MTV and Sum 41 were little more than teenagers. Deryck and his friends are no longer the twenty-year-olds they were back then, in their baggy pants and skater shoes, for some time now. Passion and frenzy still dictate the sound and image of the band, but on the stage of I-Days in Milan On the evening of July 9, the Sum 41 they don’t leverage nostalgiabut they find strength in experience, skill and in a new awareness Perhaps precisely to avoid the risk of arousing melancholy in the public, the Canadian formation decided to end its run before completely exhausting its ammunition.

After a career spanning almost thirty years, filled with successes, ups and downs, lineup changes, reunions and personal problems, last year the band announced their .dissolutionbefore releasing a final double album and embarking on a Farewell Tour. The date at the I-Days, hosted by the Snai San Siro Hippodrome, is therefore expected to be the last appointment in Milan of Sum 41, who will return to Italy for just two more dates in November in Bologna and Rome.

The concert by Deryck and his friends will be framed by a penultimate day of the festival dedicated to Canadian pop punk, which also includes the following in its line-up: Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne. While with Sum 41 the concert is an example of the live genre for the mainstream, also turning into a party, the sets of the previous artists – especially thanks to the recent revival of pop punk – totally leverage on nostalgia This element is however sufficient to bring the event to a sold out, attracting a number of people much higher than the previous dates at the Snai San Siro Hippodrome (a press release states over 34 thousand spectators).

Not without inconvenience at the entrances and queues, the area is animated by a public that gathers many.ex-teenagers And some younger person. The pit and the area gather fans and nostalgics, who then transform Avril Lavigne’s set into a big karaoke. The “sk8er girl” of the 2000s keeps intact the same recognizable style, with long pink hair extensions like in the era of “The best damn thing” (the album of the single “Girlfriend”). For her part, the Canadian singer-songwriter has songs that will make everyone sing at the top of their lungsfrom “Sk8er boi” and “Complicated” to “My happy handing” up to the most recent “Bite me” from the latest album. Avril Lavigne seems aware of this, and perhaps also of never having been a brilliant interpreter, and often turns the microphone to the crowd under the stage. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the evening There’s no surprise Avril duet with Deryck Whibleyas well as her ex-husband, as happened last June in Los Angeles where the two participated in the same festival. Completely another story, however, the concert of Sum 41.

Deryck and his associates exploded twenty years ago by embracing the spirit and imagery of pop punk in the early 2000sinspired by the fast-paced, sycophantic sounds that bands like Green Day had already made known outside the underground before them. Originally from Canada and raised far from the Californian sun and atmosphere, Sum 41 have always added a certain metal-influenced aggressionshaping the attitude that still today ties them to a large group of fans. The band has come to the decision to end their adventure once they have finished their new studio work, “Heaven :x: Hell” (here is our review and here is the interview), released last March as a tribute to the two souls that make up their music. Even on the I-Days stage, Deryck Whibley, Dave Baksh and Jason McCaslin, now together with Tom Thacker and Frank Zummo, decide to honor their history by retracing both the pop punk roots of the group and that the trends heavier. “Motivation” from the debut album “All killer no filler” opens the Milan concert of Sum 41 at 9.45pm after the recorded intro of “TNT” by AC/DC.

Deryck and his companions on stage they push the accelerator to the maximumand they don’t spare themselves, while on the Hippodrome lawn clouds of dust rise from the crowd’s pogos. The band has desire to have fun and entertainand as in past occasions, he always gives his best. The frontman manages to entertain the fans enough (“ladies and gentlemen”), without overshadowing his bandmates, who build the sound environment precisely The scenography is non-existent, the centre of the stage extends for a short catwalk and behind the musicians a simple yellow background on which the images of the various albums are placed side by side.

From different periods of their career, Sum 41 decide to draw the .songs from the setlist. It goes from the less recent “Underclass hero”, to the singles of the latest album like “Landmines”. With “Rise up” from “Heaven :x: Hell” the scene also changes and a giant inflatable devil-shaped appears. On stage Deryck and friends find their own natural dimension, playing with the audience or improvising the riffs of “Smoke on the Water” and “Seven Nation Army”. There is also a cover of “We will rock you”, before concluding with the warhorses, “In too deep”, “Fat lip” and “Still waiting”. To properly say goodbye to the Milanese audience in just over an hour and a half of concert, Sum 41 bring on stage a show that meets expectations”. Before finally saying goodbye, while some were already starting to leave the area, the band even gives another live song, “Summer”.

Here’s the lineup:

TNT (recorded)

Motivation
The Hell Song
Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
No Reason
Underclass Hero
Some Say
Landmines
Dopamine
We’re All to Blame
Walking Disaster

With Me
Makes No Difference
My Direction / No Brains / All Messed Up
(Drum solo)
Get ready to climb
Rise Up
(Riff from Smoke on the Water / Seven Nation Army)
Pieces
In Too Deep
Fat Lip
Still Waiting

Summer