For the 9th time in a row, SimplePlan.cz is back with its annual recap of the year, in which we like to summarize everything important that has happened over the course of this year in the world of Simple Plan news [Interested in our past reviews? Check them out over here: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016].
2017 was once again another important year in Simple Plan’s career since it marked 15 years since the release of the band’s debut album ‘No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls’. SP decided to celebrate this very special anniversary with an anniversary tour, which eventually led them almost all over the world – somewhere even multiple times. Let’s have a look at this No Pads year then, shall we?
In January, Simple Plan started the year with a very special announcement of the first leg of the No Pads 15th anniversary tour – in the United States. Initially, this tour was supposed to take place in only a few cities in the U.S. and be very exclusive, however the demand for the tickets from all over the world has convinced the band to expand the tour internationally. More announcements then told the fans that SP were not only heading to the U.S. in the first half of the year, but also to Europe. The No Pads tour of course required for the band to rehearse some of their oldest songs, some of which they have not performed live in quite a long time. The rehearsals took place in Montreal in February.
Simple Plan’s first appearance of the year took place in March, when Pierre, Jeff, Chuck and Seb left for China to take part in the promo tour there for the release of the animated movie ‘Snowtime!’, for which they recorded the song ‘Heroes’. 
After China, Simple Plan kicked off the No Pads tour with a pre-show in NYC – finally as a five-piece band again, as David joined them on tour for the first time since the previous fall. There, for the first time, we found out about all the surprised the band had in store for their fans on this tour – including Chuck’s stagedive during ‘Grow Up’, Pierre’s drumming and so much more. After this one-off show, the band returned to Canada for the long-awaited Taking One For The Team arena tour and also dropped by Walt Disney World for some exclusive magical performances. This tour ended right before the official No Pads anniversary date, March 19th, which is when they returned to the U.S. to continue with the first leg of the U.S. No Pads tour. This tour continued throughout most of April with most of the concerts being sold-out for weeks ahead.
After the U.S. tour, the boys returned home for a while to regain strength. It wasn’t for long however – in May the band was supposed to return to Europe to continue with their No Pads tour over the pond. Just a few days before the tour kicked off however, David for the 
first time revealed his long-time struggles with depression and his determination to get better, for which he needed to stay home and not join his friends on tour. This was of course a very unfortunate situation for the band, who wanted to celebrate their anniversary as a whole band. Nevertheless, the boys decided to stand by their friend and with the help of their photographer Chady, who filled in on David on a few songs during each of the concerts, they made the tour an excellent experience for all of their fans. During this tour, SP also put in some festival experiences in June – most notably the Aerodrome Festival in Prague, which was their last event to take part in alongside Linkin Park and its late Chester Bennington, who sadly passed away just a month later. From Aerodrome, SimplePlan.cz also brought you a backstage interview with Chuck and Sebastien.
Once SP returned to Canada in late June, a very honorable occasion awaited them in Ottawa: SP were awarded with the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General of Canada for their long-standing charitable efforts with their Foundation. In the summer, SimplePlan.cz also gave you the first information about the upcoming red No Pads vinyl, including the first look at its design. Once again, Simple Plan were back in their homeland around Canada Day, which they celebrated with a special concert at the George Street Canada Day celebrations. After a bit of a time off, the band got back together – however still without David, who wouldn’t appear on tour for the rest of 2017 – and performed at a few more Canadian festivals, most notably one in Matane, David’s hometown.
In August, SimplePlan.cz got to celebrate 10 years online by organizing yet another annual fans’ meet-up in Prague, Czech Republic. In the same month, the band kicked off part two of their No Pads tour in the U.S. During this tour, the band had to overcome a bunch of obstacles, 
such as various bus troubles and most notably the cancelation of their Texas shows due to the oncoming hurricane Harvey. The U.S. tour then finally brought Simple Plan with this special anniversary tour to their homeland, Canada, where they toured throughout most of September. In early October, Simple Plan headed out to another destination with their No Pads tour, this time around to Japan, after which they made a pit-stop in Hawaii for a long-overdue show in Honolulu, which had been sold out for quite a while. For Halloween – and the days around it, Simple Plan were a part of the special Warped Rewind At Sea cruise – a 4-day event filled with tons of concerts, bands, fans and lots of fun on board of a beautiful cruise ship.
After Warped Rewind, Simple Plan got back to Mexico for a four-date No Pads tour in this country, after which they got a nice couple of weeks of rest before their final tour of the year. That took place in December, when Simple Plan returned to the United States for the third time in 2017, 
initially as make-up shows for the canceled gigs in Texas – which then expanded into a week-long tour in a couple more states of the U.S. After the end of this tour, Simple Plan Foundation announced the list of donations for 2017 – over 200 000 dollars will be divided in between 25 organizations, this year focusing on organizations focusing on mental health, an issue close to SP members’ hearts due to their bandmate’s David’s condition. And finally – Simple Plan will close the year on December 31st as the headliner of the big New Year’s celebrations at Niagara Falls.
As far as next year is concerned, there is already a couple of things we can predict without having any official confirmation or concrete details. From various sources, and the band’s hints on social media, Simple Plan will be expanding the No Pads tour to 2018, as they have last two places to take it to: South America and Australia, which they plan to visit around March. In March we also have another confirmed appearance – just like this year, SP are set to perform at the Walt Disney World in Florida.
But there’s one main project which will be the main focal point of 2018: Simple Plan’s 6th album. We already know that the band has some material already ready for this album, but as always, the boys will surely want to write some more songs and create some new melodies and perhaps even discuss which direction they would like to go for their sixth full-length release – and this could take a couple of months. There were reports that the band would like to start working on the album as soon as they are done with the March tours, so the rest of the year is likely to be fairly low on concert news. The members of Simple Plan have previously said multiple times that their aim is to release the new record as soon as possible and hopefully reach the recording studio in 2018. If that happens, we could be looking at a new Simple Plan album in our hands in the first half of 2019 – but that is truly only a guess as of right now.
The situation around David is of course another issue Simple Plan will likely be dealing with in the next year. Will he appear on the March tours? Will he be involved in the making of the next record? Will he tour on the next record cycle? Those questions will have to be answered eventually but as of right now, no information about his current health situation has been revealed to the public, so we’ll leave that for the whole band to decide on these questions in their own time.
2018 surely has a lot in store for us and surely will count as another milestone year for Simple Plan, just like 2017 was. And as always, SimplePlan.cz will be here to inform you about all their whereabouts, upcoming projects and all other sorts of news about Simple Plan. And we can’t wait!
Stay tuned!
