SimplePlan.cz REVIEW: Europe’s first taste of the NPNHJB tour – SP performed in Berlin & Hamburg

Simple Plan kicked off their European part of the 15th anniversary No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls tour in Germany: first in Berlin on Sunday, followed by a sold-out show in Hamburg on Monday.

Are you about to attend the NPNHJB tour? Then be prepared for lots of sweat, nostalgia, classic sing-alongs, arm-waving, crowd-surfing – and as the Hamburg show showed – even some serious moshing.

The hot weather in Germany has been building up for a few days and on the day of the Simple Plan show in Berlin, the fans had to endure waiting outside in over 33°C heat. The first fans that were let inside the venue during the afternoon were the attendees of the soundcheck, who got to witness quite a long performance by the band, as it was their first show in a while and they had to practice a little more than normally. Check out this cute moment that happened when Jeff invited a little girl on stage:

Around 7pm, everyone was finally allowed to enter the venue to take their place and wait for the first opening act to start. And after The Bottom Line’s and Mallory Knox’s shows were over around 9:30pm, it was time to sing along to the pre-show playlist and eagerly await the arrival of Jeff, Pierre, Sebastien and Chuck on stage.

If there is one thing you can say about the NPNHJB tour, it’s that there isn’t be a single dull moment at the show, which only shows how capable of standing the test of time the band’s first album really is and it still feels as relevant as ever today. The order of the songs on the album’s tracklist still works perfectly even in the environment of a live show. No blank spaces and no embarrassing fillers are also what defines this show, as every in-between-song moment is filled with funny gags, just like we’re used to with SP. The band also cleverly incorporated the bonus song Grow Up to the No Pads setlist, during which just like on the U.S. part of the tour, Chuck and Pierre switch their jobs and Chuck becomes the singer (and stagediver) and Pierre turns into the drummer. The additional encore is the cherry on top of the cake that is the No Pads tour: a well-chosen mix of mostly energetic hits from the band’s other albums. That also means that for the first time in a while on their tour, the band is not ending their set with Perfect, but instead with Welcome To My Life.

Check out our video of Chuck’s stage dive into the crowd in Berlin:

Unlike the U.S. tour, Simple Plan have to manage these European shows without one important element: David [see his announcement here]. Just like on the South American tour, the band’s photographer Chady Awad stepped in to help provide some backing vocals and play bass. There is no reason to panic though – David is still very much part of the band. At both shows, Pierre made it very clear that despite David not being there, the band is still composed of its five original members and they can’t wait for David to be back.

During the show, Pierre also always takes the time to introduce the whole band. Check out our following video, which captures this moment right after SP helped save one of the many fans that almost fainted during the very hot show:

Compared to the TOFTT shows, even despite focusing mostly on just one album, the NPNHJB shows offer so much more than that. If the TOFTT tour was 100%, NPNHJB is easily at least 120%. It’s quite impressive that the band manages to keep up with such an energy-demanding set and still do it every night, especially when the shows get hotter and hotter.

So in summary: if you have the chance to attend any of the upcoming NPNHJB shows – and be aware that this opportunity to see the 15th anniversary No Pads tour will not be present itself ever again – go. Just go. You won’t regret it, I promise you that.

And if you’re still in doubts, check out the full setlist of the shows in Berlin and Hamburg below:

And finally – here’s some pictures from the first two shows of the European NPNHJB anniversary tour – Berlin and Hamburg: