The late 90s and early 00s were the catalysts for what today’s Pop-Punk came to be. From bands like Sum 41, Blink-182, Brand New, Simple Plan, Taking Back Sunday, and many more paved the way for future rockers to expand on their sounds. Today, there are so many great new age Pop-Punk bands that I can’t keep up. New music is coming out of the woodwork and it is all fantastic. The transition and exploration from the Nirvana grunge rock bands to the age of punk music was sort of iconic. With the rise of Warped Tour bands hitting the scene, there was a lot more to explore when it came to the rock genre. New avenues such as Punk were created and then later created Pop-Punk.
When Sum 41 hit the scene in 1996, I don’t think many knew how iconic they would become. In 2018 they are still rockin’ and rollin’ like it’s nobody’s business. On Friday, May 4th, Sum 41 brought their tour to the Southside Ballroom in Dallas, Texas to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their album, Does This Look Infected? They brought a few special guests as well, Super Whatevr and Seaway, who also embody the Punk aspect of the rock genre.
Super Whatevr opened up the show and I had actually saw them for the first time a few weeks back. They are a very unique sounding band and If I had to tie a genre to them, I would go with “Sleepy Punk”. They were very straightforward with their songs and most of the time, you just found your head bobbing slowly to their songs. I really enjoyed the way they carried their set because when you thought they were going to speed up, they broke it down. And then there were times in the set where they went very upbeat to wake you up a bit.
Their vocalist, Skyler Mckee, has a unique voice that adds so much to the sound of their music. The variation between the instruments and his vocals are mixed so well that when you’re watching them, you wonder how they all stay on time. The melodic upbeat band put on a great show and no doubt, I would see them perform again.
Seaway went on to play after Super Whatevr and they are a great mix of that Good Charlotte/State Champs old and new sound. I had never seen Seaway prior to this show but I have been listening to their music since early 2016. They brought a great transition of sound and hype following Super Whatevr. Because their energy was so great, it was hard to take photos of them, but it was super fun to watch. They would be very upbeat and then break it down for the crowd to bring them back up again. They gave it their all for sure. They played a lot of songs from their new album, Vacation. The one song everyone knew was “Something Wonderful” and they really got the crowd jumping with it. I really enjoyed the really fast paced intros and outros to each song, such as “Lula on the Beach”. I had been looking forward to seeing them live and they did not disappoint.
It was about that time for Sum 41 to come out as we watched the stage crew get things set up. A white sheet covered the entire stage, so the audience could not see what was going on. The anticipation could be felt all across the room and after 30 minutes of stage set up the white sheet dropped and Sum 41 hit it off with a fan favorite, “The Hell Song”.
Throughout the entire set, they played hit after hit and it was a truly remarkable live set. They played some of my favorites, “Still Waiting”, “Thanks For Nothing”, and “Fat Lip”. For an hour or so, the crowd yelled almost every lyric to each song Deryck Whibley sang. I of course was snapping shots and singing every song as well.
The set continued, and the fans continued to jam as well to each and every song. Deryck made a comment in between about how crazy it was that 15 years later, he is still singing the songs from Does This Look Infected? He told the crowd it was because of them that they get to continue rocking out on stage and he couldn’t thank them enough. (He actually said thank you multiple times throughout the set).
There was a part of the show where Frank Zummo did a drum solo tribute to Linkin Park and played over a few of their songs. It was a truly powering break in the show and I think that shows a lot of why we all like Sum 41. They don’t take anything for granted and they really showed/expressed that in their performance.
During the solo, a huge inflatable skeleton appeared behind Frank and stayed there for the remainder of the show. It was definitely a good touch to the production value. Sum 41 ended the show with an encore playing “No Reason”, “Walking Disaster”, and “Fat Lip”. I would say it is in the top 5 performances I have ever seen. I was very much impressed, and I can’t wait to see them at Warped Tour this summer.
Rock on my friends!
Setlist:
Encore:
Photojournalist - Dallas
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