On Wednesday 26th June 2019 Sum 41 and Yours Truly took over O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester for a night of pop punk! Arriving at the venue it was obvious that this was going to be a great night as there was a line of people going all the way back to the main road.
Whilst waiting for Sum 41’s only support act of the evening Yours Truly to come on, the chatter among the fans was almost as loud as the PA playing music – the excitement in the room was brewing. This young band have already been to Download Festival this year and have headlined their own UK tour following the release of their album After Glow.
The band came on at 8pm to a huge roar of cheers from the packed crowd, kicking into the first song ‘I Can’t Feel’. This Aussie band is made up of Mikaila (vocals), Teddie (guitar), Lachlan (guitar) and Bradley (drums). What I find interesting, which gives this band a very unique sound is lack of a bass player but that is not a bad thing. Both Teddie and Lachlan are jumping in circles at the same time which is such a treat to watch, it adds to the great atmosphere of this band. During the set Mikaila tells the crowd that this is the first time they have played Manchester, which gets a huge response from the crowd. Their sound is very much in the early 00’s era of pop punk that I am so found off. To close their 30 minute set they played ‘High Hopes’ of their debut album. This young band has a great future ahead of them, definitely one to watch!
Now we have the headliner of the night pop punk royalty Sum 41. The band is set to come on at 9pm for a two hour set which is fantastic as they have an extensive back catalogue. There is a white curtain that falls to hide what is happening on stage, the PA stops and starts playing ‘Black Betty’, which the crowd sings back as the excitement in the room build up.
All of a sudden the curtain drops, Sum 41 hit the stage with ‘Motivation’ and the audience is going insane. The band has not missed a step at all. Next song up was a personal favourite ‘The Hell Song’ from the 2002 album Does This Look Infected, the confetti cannons fire and the crowd is covered!
Lead singer Deryck says tells the audience “It feels good to be back in Manchester, we have high expectations of you all, we need two people to come up on stage, just two”. Two lucky fans are picked from the audience and get to stand for side stage the rest of the show. The set showcases all of their most popular songs, including ‘Walking Disaster’, ‘Underclass Hero’ and ‘Out for Blood’. Seeing these songs live combined with the fantastic light show puts this gig straight to on my top 10 live gigs list. As the set continues the light show is incredible and the atmosphere is one of the best I have been to in recent years.
Drummer Frank Zummo has an incredible drum solo mid way through their epic set, this is so well received by the crowd it gains more cheers and roars as it continues. Next songs up are classics again ‘Fake My Own Death’, ‘Over My Head’, ‘No Reason‘. Next up they play ‘With Me’, this song changed the entire atmosphere in Victoria Warehouse to a more reserved one but still a great reception from the crowd.
With Sum 41 shows you cannot tell what is coming next and we were not expecting a faster paced version of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’. Now I am not normally a fan of bands doing this to such a classic song but it really works! Truly a great version! Onto the last two songs of the night, and may I say two of the most popular songs Sum 41 have ever released ‘In Too Deep’ and ‘Still Waiting’ these both get a huge response from the crowd and crowd surfers in every direction I look.
The band comes back on for an encore, and they kick off with ‘Machine Gun’, the light show is truly a thing is beauty, yellow lights filling the warehouse and the band doing what they do best and owning that stage. Next up they play a never before played track of their new album Order In Decline called ‘Never There’ which I had not heard before tonight and it is a great track, set to be a classic in the coming years. The closing song of this incredible set is the only song they could have picked to end, of course it’s ‘Fat Lip’. The cheer from the crowd is deafening! A great end to the show.
