Sum 41 / Flashlight Brown / Billy Talent

live in Winnipeg (2003)

A punk show, a rock concert? A bit of both. Sum 41 are truly a cut above.

This was truly an awesome night out.
Show started at 8 sharp with the first band Billy Talent taking the stage.
The singer alternated between a high pitched scream and melodic vocals. They sounded good, but got repetitive after a while. The drumming was not that fast, their riffs were pretty metal, they had good harmonies and their singer looked possessed. He clearly shocked the little teeny boppers that congregated in front of the stage.

After a half hour set they left the stage with the guitarist slamming his axe into the drums.

Next up: Flashlight Brown. Now, I had seen these guys before with mad caddies and downway. I had bought their CD at that show and thought that they were pretty cool, mixing punk with rock and a kind of weezer attitude. Anyway, they sounded OK, playing much of their latest CD and a couple of older tracks. Their singer was drunk and it showed. He wasn't sloppy drunk but his vocals were off tune and their melodies failed. they still put on an OK set, but really nothing to call home about.
They swore quite a bit in between songs as did Billy Talent just to prove their tough punk side, I thought this was pointless and it just sounded stupid.

Last, but definitely not least came Sum 41.

Now before I start please understand I'm not a 13 year old teeny bopper that listens to avril lavigne and liveonrelease
I mostly listen to rise against, good riddance, propagandhi, strike anywhere, bigwig and belvedere. But I have to say I have a new respect for these guys, please don't be so quick to judge because these guys rule live.
They put on one of the best live shows I've ever seen.
I've seen many bands including greenday, foo fighters, nofx, bad religion, mad caddies, good riddance, satanic surfers, strung out, hatebreed, and the bosstones. But most of them just don't compare.

These guys are so hard working, they ploughed through close to twenty songs and played for over an hour. They played fast, hard and loud. They kicked off with Mr. Amsterdam, a favourite of mine, with great metal guitar riffs and screamed vocals. Then tore through 3 or 4 more off their latest CD, before playing their biggest hit Fat Lip, this was followed by more of the new stuff. They played 3 songs off their half hour of power EP, they played all their singles except for the crappy one off the spiderman soundtrack (still waiting, hell song, in too deep, motivation). They finished off the night with an encore which included 'thanks for nothing' and lastly 'pain for pleasure' with steve taking vocals and deryck hopping on the drums.

They even found time to play 'nothing else matters' by metallica. All in all it was an awesome show.

If sum 41 come to your town go. They are a great live band, they sound awesome, their playing is really tight and they know exactly what to do to please the crowd. Total showmen. 10/10. billy talent and flashlight are OK but in a different league to sum 41.