Sum 41’s Radical Last Ride in ‘Tour Of The Setting Sum’
Sum 41 is leaving us, and I, for one, am depressed. Saturday, September 14, punks fought the parking battle between a Detroit Tigers Game and the opening night of Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s joint tour to pack into the Masonic Temple to see off the legendary Canadian punk band.
MANY EYES
Many Eyes frontman Keith Buckley (Ex-Every Time I Die, The Damned Things) proclaimed they were going to be your new favorite band at their set, and for the Metal lovers, they just might be. The super-ish group includes Charlie Bellmore (Corpsegrinder, Toxic Holocaust), and staffs Craig Vittorio on guitar and Sean Vallie on bass to fill in the touring outfit, and they were both melancholy, yet brutal.
Keith Buckley himself brings the showmanship of a seasoned veteran with his in-between talk and overall bravado, and was impressive, even prior to knowing his resume. Encountering them fo the first time, their 7 song set was captivating, and included songs like “The Rainbow,” “Speechless,” and “Revelation.” See the full setlist below.
THE INTERRUPTERS
While I’d never seen The Interrupters before, I had heard at least one song from them, “She’s Kerosine.” After binging tons of Rancid ever since their slot on Green Day’s tour, followed by The Suicide Machines, I was ready to keep this Ska Punk thing going, and The Interrupters were perfect for that!
Kevin Bivona (guitarist), the eldest brother of Jesse Bivona (drummer) and Justin Bivona (bassist) introduced the band in sassy fashion after kicking off the set, noting that the twin brothers still listen to his commands, and asked them to play Jazz style for a moment before shutting them down saying “nobody wants to hear that.” He then boasted his importance to the band as being the killer guitarist of the group, in the face of his wife and leader/vocalist Aimee Interrupter, who giggles at how silly and showy he’s being, prior to finally introducing her as a prizefighter on the vox.
They powered through their killer tracks like “Title Holder,” “Raised By Wolves” and “She Got Arrested,” with the last of that group being the convincing point that this writer and photographer was going to be hyperfocusing on this setlist playlist for weeks to come. Aimee Interrupter then climbed over the side of the balcony to reach young girls in the audience to sing along with her during “Take The Power Back,” before reaching me personally and sticking the mic to singing level, which you can watch here:
If I already wasn’t hooked, I certainly would be now. Aimee’s vocals remind you of Tim Armstrong but brings a feminine energy with less gravelly delivery than the fanbase-dubbed “female Tim Armstrong,” Miss Brody Dalle. With its high energy of Ska tones, the guitar from Kevin kept everyone completely engaged and shook the room so well that even the press was dancing (not just me, but also BetweenTwoBolts.com‘s Jacob Giampa – also pictured in the video above). Their catalog is impossibly catchy, it’s almost impossible to not skank to the tunes (“And of course, when I say skank, I’m talking about the ska dance. And nothing else.” – Reel Big Fish). See the setlist for yourself, including their radio hit and set-ender “She’s Kerosine” below.
SUM 41
An homage to the Steve Jocz intro of ‘All Killer No Filler’ echoed along the walls of The Masonic Temple prior to Sum 41 appearing from behind a black curtain. The band came out guns blazing as they tapped the first 3 songs of “Motivation,” “The Hell Song” and “Over My Head (Better Off Dead)” paired with pyro, cryo, lasers, and confetti. All stops were pulled to ensure that the music would be accompanied by a spectacle befitting a send-off for the Canadian heroes we encountered when “Fat Lip” rotated on MTV every few hours.
We started this article in our feels, because watching Deryck Whibley on stage doing what he does best, it’s apparent that he’s got to be one of the best frontmen in Punk Rock. Conversing with the crowd and dropping f-bombs but in an excitably-Canadian way, it almost brought a tear to my eye thinking that people won’t get to see this in future years.
You can tell it’s just as moving and nostalgic for him, as he even brought a few surprises in form of guitars that mean a lot to him. These included the Social Distortion guitar that he dubbed “White Gold,” which belonged to Mike Ness during the 1996 album ‘White Light.’ He also brought out the guitar that he used during the studio recording of ‘All Killer No Filler’ and the tour supporting that album, before retiring it until now. He also took a moment to talk about his book that’s coming out on October 8 called ‘Walking Disaster,’ a must-read to know what Whibley calls “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of his life.
Not to obsess over the Deryck of it all, we have to shoutout legacy members Jason “Cone” McCaslin (who is the only other member of Sum 41 that has been featured on all of their albums), and Dave Brownsound aka Dave Baksh, who is seared in our mind standing in the middle of a swimming pool playing guitar, killing the licks like only he can. We as ACRONYM ZINE also got to see Tom Thacker again (we caught him with Gob a few weeks ago at All Your Friends Fest). This time he was jamming in the background, clean-shaven, and contributing to the guitar and keys when applicable.
Despite this being a farewell, they played music that they recently released, namely the radio-hit “Landmines,” then dove back into their extensive catalog, before ending it on “Fat Lip” and “Still Waiting.” The finale had 2 encores, which included another huge hit off ‘All Killer No Filler,’ “In Too Deep.” The band will be hitting Chicago at Riot Fest this coming Friday, September 20, at 6:05 on the Cabaret Metro Stage, and if you’re there, we highly encourage you not to miss this set. If you have to miss it, relive our show by jamming to the setlist playlist below.