So yeah, I went to Paris to see them twice. Both shows were sold out, but they were two totally different cases. The first show was at Maroquinerie, with a capacity of 200, while the other one was at Zenith, capacity of 8000. So you get the idea.
Day 1
I arrived at the venue about 50 minutes before the door opening. I met Amin, who was friendly enough to invite me to join his friends at the front of the line. The other fans weren't too happy about it, but what gives.
It was time for the door opening. Of course I had a bottle of Jack with me, so when I entered, the security guys took that away from me. I tried to explain that it's for the band, and I wouldn't need it until after the show, but they didn't listen. Then as a gift from heaven, Dan Moyse the ladies' choice walked by. I asked him to take the bottle, and he was glad to do so. Relief.
The venue was very small, so it was still easy to get to the front row, even though the words with the security guys took a while. Somehow I like to be in front of Tom at the shows, so that was my place again. I was the only one with a decent access to take picture of the setlist, so everyone asked me to take a picture of it with their cameras/phones. So if you've seen a picture from this setlist floating around the web, it's most likely taken by me.
I was quite surprised to see My Direction as an opening song, and also the lack of KOC and Welcome To Hell. But the cover song was a nice addition.The show was great. Full of energy from start to end. When they were about to play Skumfuk, Deryck pointed at me and the guy next to me and dedicated the song to us, since we were wearing the Resident Skumfuk shirt. Cool!
The next song was We're All To Blame, and when Deryck was seeking for a Sacrifice-singer, he pointed at me saying "I know you can sing", probably referring to the Helsinki show. He then chose Amin to scream, which was great.
Then it was time for the SBM premiere. I was really liking the chorus splitting between Deryck and Tom. The song was so great live!
The metal mayhem part wasn't like it's been at my previous shows. After Slayer, Deryck asked the crowd to name a song, but they kept yelling "Ma Poubelle", and then started to sing it. Then the band played Master Of Puppets as expected. After that, I thought the metal part was over, but I was surprised that they played Enter Sandman and For Whom The Bell Tolls. And since they were surprises for me, I accidentally stopped recording between the songs, so that's why my vids are split.
One time Deryck said "this is an old song", and you know what song they started to play? Underclass Hero! An old song?
The cover of American Girl was a nice addition, I liked it, even though I haven't heard the original before (I've only heard it from a Petty Cash video).The aftermath after Pain For Pleasure was quite funny. The main mic stopped working. Stevo grapped Tom's mic, and during his ending speech, he through the mic onto the floor. I guess he forgot throwing it, since he tried to grab it from the stand, which looked funny. And after they had already left, Ma Poubelle was played, and Steve came back for it (check the vid, hard to explain).
After the show I stayed at the venue, in hopes for seeing the band. I asked the merch guy Nick about the Operation MD album that was supposed to be sold at the shows, but he said Cone never gave him the CDs, but promised to get me one the next day (Didn't find him that day, though
). While waiting for the band, I chatted a little bit with the guitar techs Larry and Brian, and few words with tour manager Ivan, and also talked to the singer of The Starliners, the opening act for the next day's show. Cool guys. After a while Brown Tom came, but he had a hurry, so we high-fived quickly, and then he left. No signs of other members after a lot of waiting.I filmed the whole show, so here you go.
The Setlist
1. My Direction
2. Skumfuk
3. We're All To Blame
4. Walking Disaster
5. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
6. Screaming Bloody Murder
7. The Hell Song
8. Motivation + 88
9. Metal Mayhem (inc. Enter Sandman + For Whom The Bell Tolls)
10. Underclass Hero
11. Makes No Difference
12. American Girl
13. Still Waiting
14. In Too Deep
--Encore--
15. Pieces
16. Fat Lip
17. Pain For Pleasure (inc. Ma Poubelle (playback))
Day 2
Hanged out with Amin and his friends outside the venue all day. Matt had promised an interview for Amin around 1pm, so we waited for that. But we hadn't heard from Matt for a long time, so it seemed the interview wouldn't happen. After a while Matt sent a message, asking where we were. We ran behind the venue, since the tour bus was there. All of the Amin's friends followed us along with some random fans. Matt and Ranel (their security guy) came to pick us, and told that only me and Amin were allowed to enter. We already heard the Sums play No Reason when we were waiting outside, and when we entered the arena, they were playing Mr. Amsterdam. Matt took us to the seats, where we had a perfect view to see the soundcheck. Cone suggested they should play Raining Blood by Slayer at the end of the song, so they practiced it a couple of times. Then Cone said "Let's play one of the new ones. Blood In My Eyes". That moment I jizzed, and was so excited to hear it. It was a very good song (even though it was just an instrumental), with a familiar intro from the studio updates. After they finished playing it, Matt said it's his favorite off the new album. Then they played Hell Song with vocals (excluding the chorus) and Screaming Bloody Murder.
After that, Matt went on stage to get Cone and Stevo to talk with us. It was only a short chat, so I didn't use that time to ask all the serious questions I had. They asked us how we liked BIME, and told that it's their favorite song for both of them. Matt said he also likes Jessica Kill very much, especially the concept of the lyrics. I told them I liked hearing them play No Reason and Mr. Amsterdam, since they haven't played them too often for a while. Cone said they are actually bringing those two back, along with 88 as a full. I was so excited to hear that, and told it's one of my favorites. I asked if they would play No Brains, where Cone said "oh yeah, we might play that one too sometime". Cool!
And I also told how I liked the split chorus on SBM. Stevo said the only reason they are doing so is because otherwise it would be a too long breath for Deryck, so it would be physically impossible to perform.
After the chat (took about 5 minutes), Matt escorted us out. During that walk, I asked Matt some questions. Here's what I remember:
-There will be Deluxe version of SBM for all over the world, but the Japanese version is different from others. Japanese will have an exclusive video Matt has been working on, while others will have a documentary about making of the album.
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-SBM the single is released only as a digital download. There has been talks of releasing a physical copy in Japan, but it's not confirmed.
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-Resident Skumfuk fanclub thing. When the band started to work on it, the label said "Sure you can do that, but we're not giving any money to you for it". So it was shut down before it even started.
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Summer plans? Most likely doing festivals in Europe. Not confirmed yet.
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-The band has an awesome idea for the SBM video, but its content would be so explicit that the label hasn't agreed with it. So no video as of now.
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-Matt was sad about the fact, that the label has abondoned them almost completely. They think rock scene is dead, so they don't want to make any efforts for the Sums, even though their shows keep being sold out and so.
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-Matt said he hadn't heard a song by Sum 41 before he joined them. He had to listen to the older albums, so he could choose songs for their video updates. But SBM is an album he listens to every day, it's one of his favorite ones along with a Smashing Pumpkins album (forgot which one).
Then it was show time. During The Starliners I fought my way to the front, and managed to get to the 2nd-3rd row in front of Tom. But it was quite a struggle. I had to fight for my spot all show, from the very first moment till the end of P4P. Got some bruises and sore back, along with a few bites from teenage girls. Ouch!
The show was great, as expected. The setlist was about the same, only American Girl was replaced by Mr. Amsterdam. Cool! But since this one was a big crowd show, these two shows in Paris were totally different. Mr. Amsterdam was played right after the metal mayhem, Deryck introducing it as "our metal song".
Soundcheck (all instrumental, except where noted)
1. No Reason
2. Mr. Amsterdam
3. Blood In My Eyes
4. The Hell Song (with vocals, excluding chorus)
5. Screaming Bloody Murder
The Setlist
1. My Direction
2. Skumfuk
3. We're All To Blame
4. Walking Disaster
5. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
6. Screaming Bloody Murder
7. Motivation + 88
8. The Hell Song
9. Metal Mayhem
10. Mr. Amsterdam
11. Underclass Hero
12. Makes No Difference
13. Still Waiting
14. In Too Deep
--Encore--
15. Pieces
16. Fat Lip
17. Pain For Pleasure
Soo, that's about it. Videos have finally been uploaded, you find them here eventually. Pics can be found here.
And sorry if I don't appear to be as excited as this needs to. Probably because of the fact that i'm still in shock for what happened, and haven't realized yet how lucky i've been.
things to wonder about??
