Simple Plan // Rob Rizza Photography

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First up we had Stateside. Originally from Brisbane, these guys played super well, performing their catchy tunes with confidence and clarity. Their stage presence was engaging, with the singer in particular incorporating some violent hair flicks into most of their songs. The crowd was a bit small, but they worked it well, and even gave a little speech about breaking the taboo surrounding suicide, so that was nice.

For the main support we had Newy locals Eat Your Heart Out. I had relatively high expectations for these guys, and by golly did they completely exceed them. Their wicked songs were absolutely tearing apart those dang speakers, encouraging a decent amount of the crowd to start crawling out of their shy, distant shells. The band were loving it too, so much so that I’m pretty sure a couple of them might need to invest in a neck brace. But overall, they were fricken fabulous.

Throwback bangers provided by Panic! At The Disco and Michael Jackson groomed the crowd between sets, until a siren accompanied by red flashing lights suddenly interrupted the dancefloor. Before I could even start making my way towards the nearest emergency exit, the strobe lights kicked in, making it virtually impossible for me to save myself as I was basically on the verge of an epileptic fit. Others around me looked like they were experiencing something similar, although I feel like it was more to do with the fact that Simple Plan had just ran on stage.

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Simple Plan // Chady Awad Photography

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The show started off incredibly strong with a fun fast-paced tune, encouraging hundreds of Simple Plan-stamped torsos to throw themselves around like a bunch of hungry monkeys. As the popular songs ensued, the crowd’s energy level grew even fiercer, and the taste of crusty teenage angst began to suffocate the room; pretty much just a nostalgic combination of body odour and devon sandwiches.

The music itself was really impressive, with the band smashing out the total classics, including ‘I’m Just a Kid’, ‘Addicted’ and ‘Perfect’. Each muso held their own incredibly well, especially the drummer, whose face consistently represented a mix between smelling bacon and stubbing a toe. Every song was honestly super tight though, with the individual instruments flowing together so perfectly that I was almost completely distracted from the fact that Pierre was wearing a denim hoodie-vest. Almost…

Their stage presence was equally enjoyable. A couple of their more popular moves were the microphone flip and the hectic punk-kick-leap thing, as well as a whole lot of synchronized jumping. Their mid-set banter was also pretty excellent, with a bunch of sexual innuendos copping some hearty laughs from the crowd. Although, I wasn’t too sure about them sharing their keen interest in Internet porn, especially when they used it to encourage all the ladies to give ‘em a scream. Some people seemed to really like it however, so maybe I’m just a feminist prick.

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Simple Plan // Rob Rizza Photography

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The fun times continued as the performance neared its close, with the entrance of Simple Plan logoed beach balls inspiring some added excitement (and more sexual jokes from the band). By this stage I was enjoying myself way too much, which became clear after I vigorously hit one of the blown up bad boys into some poor dude’s head. I’d apologise, but unfortunately that’s not really ‘rock n roll’, so to hell with it.

They concluded with the sterling crowd-pleaser, ‘Welcome to My Life’, and walked off the stage to an absolutely deafening applause, signalling the end of a glorious gig. Cheers for the music Simple Plan and friends!!

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Check out Rob Rizza’s gallery from their Gold Coast show here.

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AMNPLIFY – DB