Simple Plan made a grand return to Edmonton in Alberta last night, where they played for the packed Union Hall venue. And to get a glimpse of what the show was like, you can now enjoy over 50 photos from the show and also some extra ones from the backstage and the subsequent pizza party in our gallery!
Check them out:
After Seattle, the guys from Simple Plan were supposed to kick off their Canadian tour two days later in Vancouver, however they almost didn’t make it there. As luck would have it, due to some issues at the U.S./Canadian border, which wouldn’t clear their tourbus to enter Canada for at least a few hours, Chuck and Jeff took a cab to Vancouver, while Pierre, Seb and Chady were aiming at an Uber.
Unfortunately, Uber doesn’t operate in Vancouver, so after not being able to find any around, Chady decided to save the situation by hitchhiking. And since the guys were already pretty much in Canada, its known hospitality proved itself just a moment later! A nice guy named Sean immediately stopped for the trio and gave them a ride all the way to Vancouver.
The guys then invited Sean to their show and he filmed the moment they spoke about him on stage. Check out the story from Pierre’s words below:
The guys also added one additional song to the setlist – Summer Paradise, and also kept Jet Lag from the previous night:
A couple of other more familiar faces also appeared at the Simple Plan show in Vancouver – Mike Ayley from Marianas Trench was seen in the crowd and so was also Bob Rock, who produced Simple Plan’s album ‘Still Not Getting Any’. Below, you can check out the links to some backstage shots of SP members with Bob Rock and also the first pictures from the Vancouver show:
As the start of the No Pads tour in the U.S. and Canada draws near, more and more shows are getting close having no more tickets available. And Simple Plan have now officially confirmed that the concerts in Portland, OR on September 1st and Hamilton, ON on September 15th are now sold out!
At this point the sold-out shows on this upcoming North American tour include 2 shows on the U.S. leg of the NPNHJB tour (Portland and Seattle – the second Seattle show still has some tickets left, though) and 3 shows in Canada (Vancouver, Hamilton and Toronto).
Make sure to guarantee your tickets for this tour and get them now! See all SP’s upcoming tourdates here.
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It has just been officially confirmed by the band that David Desrosiers will unfortunately not be joining them on the upcoming tours across the USA and Canada (August to September). Back in May, it has been revealed that David has been suffering from depression for quite a while and that this mental illness has forced him not be able to attend certain tours. The last time David performed with Simple Plan was in the USA in April earlier this year.
Read the official statement from David and also from the rest of the band below:
I tried my best, worked very hard and I really believed I could make it. There’s nothing that I wanted more than to be ready for our upcoming US and Canadian tour. Unfortunately, there are some things you just can’t control and I will regretfully have to miss our upcoming August and September shows.
Even if I’m starting to feel better, out of respect for you and my band, I don’t feel I should be on stage if I’m unable to give my best performance. I believe this is a temporary setback and that it’s only a matter of time until I’m able to join the guys and you at the shows and do what I I love the most, once again.
I would like to thank all our fans for their support and positive messages; it means a lot to me and I can’t wait to see you all again.”
Depression is a complex issue and there’s no “quick fix” or “magical solution” to overcome it; it takes time and hard work and David is doing everything in his power to do so. We fully support his decision to stay home and rest longer and have nothing but love and support for our friend and bandmate. We know how bad he wants to be back on stage playing with us, but his health is the number one priority for all of us and we all agreed together that this was the right decision for now.
We would like to thank all of you for the incredible amount of positive messages you sent David; it means a lot to him. We know some of you will be disappointed by the situation, and we apologize. We simply ask for your understanding, kindness and compassion in these difficult times for David.
With David’s blessing, all the August and September shows will go on as planned. We look forward to seeing all of you on tour and to welcoming back David on stage with us as soon as he’s ready.”
We hope that all fans will understand and respect David’s decision to stay at home and keep working on his mental health, as I’m sure we all want him to come back stronger and healthier than ever. And we applaud Pierre, Jeff, Seb and Chuck for sticking with their friend and respecting his decision.
As far as who replaces David on tour, if nothing’s changed then Chady should be stepping in for David during some parts of the show in more or less the background of the performance set, just like he did on the South American and European tours.
Even if you haven’t been to any of the European shows in the past year and half, if you’ve been following the news about Simple Plan, I’m pretty sure you’ve already heard of The Bottom Line. The four-piece British band from around London first opened for Simple Plan last year in Europe and after the first European TOFTT leg, they were the only opening band to be asked to join SP on the second leg as well, as the band members have developed close friendships and figured they just work very well on tour together [read SP.cz’s interview with TBL’s lead singer here]. It didn’t take long and on the next European tour, which took place this summer, Simple Plan once again had The Bottom Line open for them on selected dates and their lead singer Callum Amies even got the job as Simple Plan’s guitar technician for the course of the whole European tour.
So at this point, it wouldn’t really be a Simple Plan tour without The Bottom Line. And I assume that’s exactly what Simple Plan thought as well, cause to help their friends out and to expose them to new – North American – audiences, they decided to give them another go and have them open for them once again – this time on the NPNHJB tour in the U.S. and also Canada!
Due to their show in Prague, where they are opening for The Offspring, The Bottom Line will not be present at the first 5 shows of the U.S. tour and will officially join the Simple Plan tour in Houston, TX. In the U.S., The Bottom Line will be joining two other opening acts for Simple Plan: Set It Off and Patent Pending. In Canada, they will be another opening act alongside Courage My Love and Selfish Things.