Epicness in Zurich
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 11:13 pm
Click to view the fullsize image.http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e399/ ... ich045.jpg[/imgwidth]
I don't even know if you want to hear these stories anymore, so I'll try to keep this short.
So yes, this all happened so fast! I managed to get a ticket to the show in Zurich just a day before the show. Quickly I booked flights and accommodation just 5 hours before the departure. Probably my craziest and most spontanious decision ever!
After arriving in the morning and wondering around the city, I decided to take look at the venue so I'd find there easily before the show. Glad I did that, since it took me more than an hour to get there! That city is not easy to navigate in, even with a map in your hand all the time. After finding the venue, which was on the other side of the city, I wanted to go to eat before the doors open. I had to walk all the way to the city center to find a place to eat that would be open! How the fuck can the restaurants not be open from 2 to 6 pm? I was dead hungry! Luckily one Vietnamese restaurant saved my life when it opened its doors just for me.
Anyways, let's cut the crap. I headed back to the venue, and found out there were already quite many fans lining up. I took my place in the line, and shortly after I started to hear familiar tunes inside. Very familiar instrumantal of a song I didn't recall at first, but then it hit me - All Messed Up! Wow! Wasn't expecting that! Following that, another instrumental was played. I couldn't believe it at first, but when they decided to do the vocals aswell, I was shocked! BILLY fucking SPLEEN! This was the first time they played it since recording the song 10 years ago. Awesome!
I was told that I would get my ticket at the door. So when the doors opened, I asked if they had my ticket, and the answer wasn't what I expected. They had no idea what I was talking about, and I was getting a bit stressed about the situation. After negotiating for a while they luckily let me in though. Phew!
When I entered the venue, I was shocked again. The venue was so small! And not only the venue, but the size of the stage! I figured it would probably be the smallest stage they've ever played, I wasn't expecting them to be able to move at all.
The supporting band came and went, didn't really pay attention to them while I was working my way to the front. When it was time to shut down the lights and start playing TNT, I was getting excited! Even after so many shows I've been to, it's funny how I always get so excited! And that's why I love it! I was expecting to hear the album noises from SBM, but instead the band just came and started with Mr. Amsterdam (which they ended the same way as in the album, haven't heard them play it like that before!). Immediately the crowd started moving, and since it was a small place it got very hot very fast! At the end of the show I couldn't find a dry spot from my clothes.
My favorite song from AKNF, I wasn't expecting to hear it live ever, but after reading the comments here I was hoping for them to play it. And I wasn't disappointed, Rhythms was so great live! Damn I felt nostalgic!
Even though I've seen them a couple of times already, I've never had the chance to hear either No Brains or No Reason. Tonight I was being spoiled, since they played them both! Really loved the new bridge in No Brains. They also played Makes No Difference, and for the first time since 2008, Deryck brought a fan to play guitar on stage. He sucked though.
Then the biggest surprise. And it goes on and on and I just can't help it! HYPER-INSOMNIA-FUCKING-PARA-CONDRIOID! Damn! Just how I loved it on Sake Bombs! Nice! And it didn't stop there, immediately after the guitar riff of Holy Image Of Lies kicked in! I was so excited! Unfortunately they didn't play Happiness Machine, but it didn't surprise me after Mitchell told they weren't so fond of that.
After they played a couple of hits in a row, I knew the show was heading to its ending, and it was getting even hotter. People were screaming "Water!", but the security guys didn't react. And it sure was hot on the stage too, so Deryck decided to cut few songs from the setlist. And just like my last show in Croatia year ago, the songs that were cut off were Back Where I Belong and Exit Song. Bummer!
The encore started with the We Will Rock You cover, which was awesome to hear live! Following that, I would've expected a better choice, but oh well, My Direction. But as a huge surprise, first time in 10 years, they finished the song by playing a short clip from What We're All About! Nice little addition!
During the show, Cone fist bumped me at one point, and even though I hadn't had eye contact with Stevo at all, he pointed at me before P4P when saying "this song goes out to you!" 
The setlist
(videos will be uploaded to my YouTube account)
1. Mr. Amsterdam
2. Motivation + Slayer ending
3. We're All To Blame
4. In Too Deep
5. Walking Disaster
6. Rhythms
7. Screaming Bloody Murder
8. Skumfuk
9. No Reason
10. Makes No Difference
11. Hyper-Insomnia-Para-Condrioid
12. Holy Image Of Lies
13. Sick Of Everyone
14. No Brains
15. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
16. The Hell Song
17. Still Waiting
18. Fat Lip
--Encore--
19. We Will Rock You
20. My Direction + What We're All About -clip
21. Pain For Pleasure
Wow! A 21-song setlist (could've been 23)!
So, the aftermath. After waiting an hour or so after the show, I was taken downstairs. I was told to wait outside the backstage door along with couple of girls. After 20 minutes or so, their security guy came and pointed at me saying "Tomi, you can come". The girls jumped up aswell, but "only Tomi" was the call.
Poor girls didn't get in, since the band didn't feel like partying.So there I was, chilling out with Tom, Deryck and Cone. Just the four of us, no crew guys or anyone else, Stevo joined shortly after. I told them how I loved the show, especially Rhythms and Hyper. I was there about an hour, I can't even remember the most things we talked about. Deryck told that it was the first time they played Billy Spleen since the recordings, and they are planning to play it on this tour along with All Messed Up. He also said they played Crash during the soundcheck (I wasn't there yet then), and said they will probably play it, but they haven't figured out a good spot for it in the setlist, since Stevo doesn't play in that song.
About their current setlist, Cone told me that they've noticed that majority of the fans doesn't really like Underclass Hero the album that much, so they try to keep the songs from that album in minimum (Walking Disaster was the only one this time). Although Cone said UH the song is probably one of the best sum-songs written in his opinion. I asked Deryck that is there a reason that, for example, Open Your Eyes has never been played live. He said that and I'm Not The One have so complicated vocals that they wouldn't work live. About the new songs, they've talked that they would start playing Time For You To Go at some point. I asked about Jessica Kill, where they said "There are so many songs, we can't play them all". They also figured that Blood In My Eyes doesn't work great as a live song, so they have stopped playing it. Cone said that only hardcore fans sing along to it, but the rest of the crowd can't really relate to its start-and-stop tempo. They have talked about bringing it back as an acoustic version on the next tour though.
About unreleased B-sides, Deryck said that We're The Same was the only song that didn't make the album. The rest weren't just finished, just like the "Ignorance No More" Heather asked him about. Skumfuk intro was a great example, but they decided to add it as a transition track. So, the intro isn't really part of the song, it's just a transition between SBM and Skumfuk, hence not playing it live. Although there's one unreleased SBM b-side, the acoustic version of Blood In My Eyes. Cone was thinking they could release it as a b-side on their next release.
Of course I had to ask if they had any unreleased b-sides or demos they could play for me, but they didn't. Instead, Cone asked if I wanted to see the Blood In My Eyes video. Hell yeah! I won't ruin your experience by describing it to you, but I can say it's definitely worth waiting for. That wasn't anything Sum 41 -style, more like a horror splatter movie by Quentin Tarantino.
And like I said in the video thread, it's not up to them when to release it. Since the government of Canada has funded it partly, they have to get an approval before releasing it. And slightly related, Deryck confirmed that they've left Island Records. No future plans yet, they'll wait and see.I also told them that they should record a live DVD soon. Their reaction was "Does anyone still make those?". They said that these days it's not worth it, every show is filmed and posted on YouTube anyways. And even if they made one, the DVD would be ripped and posted on YouTube aswell, so no one would actually buy it. For example, Sake Bombs cost them about 200,000 dollars to make, so there's no way they would earn that money back if they made one today. Same thing about music videos, except that they cost even more, even the simple ones.
I also asked the trivia question that who sings the shouting parts in Mr. Amsterdam on the record. The answer was, Stevo, Dave and Deryck did them together. In We're All To Blame, they were shouted by Stevo and Dave.
Oh and Cone has again designed two of the new shirts they're selling. The "Blood In My Eyes" one with the eye, and the "Everybody Has A Secret" one.
That's about it for the info part. After chilling out and listening to Stevo singing Simple Plan with a Kermit the Frog imitation, we headed back upstairs, where the employees of the venue and Sum 41 crew guys had a party going on. Beer and shots, and Stevo doing a dance session, then back downstairs for another hour.
Needless to say, words can't describe this night. I don't think I can ever realize how awesome this was.
Click to view the fullsize image.http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e399/ ... ich065.jpg[/imgwidth]
