Simple Plan return to China: first show in Beijing was all about celebrations

On Sunday, Simple Plan kicked off another part of their Taking One For The Team tour – this time in China, where the band is scheduled to perform at three shows in total: one in Beijing and two in Shanghai.

The band had arrived to Beijing a day ahead and had some time to do some tourist stuff before they finally hit the LeSports Centre, where they performed for the local crowd. According to Dakota, a local fan, who’s talked to us about the show, the theme of the concert was “birthdays”. With Jeff’s birthday taking place just a couple days before and David’s birthday coming up the day after the show, Pierre had the crowd sing happy birthday three times in a row: for Jeff, for David… and also for Chuck, who’s birthday is still a couple weeks away. Eventually Jeff had to stop Pierre from all these celebrations and continue with the concert. Pierre’s reaction? “Oh, sorry, I forgot we’re a band and we’re playing a show..”

The setlist didn’t bring in any big surprises – the band played the same songs as in Vancouver:

1. Opinion Overload
2. Jet Lag
3. Jump (‚I Gotta Feeling‘ snippet)
4. I’d Do Anything
5. Boom
6. Welcome to My Life
7. Kiss Me Like Nobody’s Watching
8. Your Love Is a Lie
9. Singing In The Rain
10. Party medley – Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars cover) & Can’t Feel My Face (The Weeknd cover)
11. Can’t Keep My Hands Off You
12. Farewell
13. Summer Paradise
14. Crazy
15. I’m Just a Kid

Encore:
16. Shut Up!
17 Perfect World
18. This Song Saved My Life (acoustic)
19. Perfect

And again, thanks to Dakota, you can now have a look at a number of great pictures taken during the show by her and also other fans and various Chinese media in Beijing last night. Check them out: