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As some of you may know I went to my first Sum 41 shows this week. I finally popped that cherry in my life. The experience was pretty much everything I expected it to be with some exceptions.

This was the set list from Edmonton, I'm assuming it was the same for Red Deer.

The Hell Song
Motivation (88 solo)
We're All to Blame
In Too Deep
Walking Disaster
Over My Head
We Will Rock You (Cover)
Still Waiting
Fat Lip

They haven't toured Canada in almost 6 years so understandably they would play the hits.

In Red Deer I met Deryck jogging near the entrance to the venue. I stopped the car to go chat with him and it was an awkward, star-struck moment for me because I've read all these meet and greet stories and I've waited to see Sum 41 for so long and right there in plain sight is Deryck just jogging along. He recognized me from my videos, shook my hand and told me it was nice to finally meet. I took off because my brother had to move his car from where he stopped it so I could talk to Deryck. That being said, I never got a photo of us or anything.

I got too drunk in Red Deer, but seemingly coherent enough to "feel" like the band didn't play any songs from Screaming Bloody Murder.

In Edmonton I had three after show passes to meet with Sum 41. This is why I felt it wasn't necessary to bother Deryck with a photo when I saw him in Red Deer. Since it was my first time doing this, the first person I talk to is Sum's merch guy, Nick. He redirects me to Will Call for my passes but I was stuck in an area where if I left, I wouldn't be allowed back in unless I bought another ticket. I talked to security and they couldn't help. I called my girlfriend, who was still at work at the time, to pick up the passes before coming too far into the venue. I ended up having to call and give the venue permission to hand the tickets to my girlfriend, which worked, so I gave her a big hug and kiss. I was so happy I dropped $60 and got a signed drum skin by the band (the last one too). I watched all of Sum 41 from a distance and just soaked up the moment. My brother got right up to the front and soaked up other people's sweat and body odour. I should note I was way more sober in Edmonton than in Red Deer.

So I go and talk to Nick and he says if I want to meet the band I should go before/during Billy Talent because Sum 41 wasn't sticking around for very long. Already I had this terrible feeling. I go to the designated area, but security doesn't let us in because our passes are for after the show. I tried explaining that Nick told us to come after Sum 41's set. I was eventually told that Nick is "retarded" by these guys and so I didn't push the issue any more. I went to the beer gardens and downed three drinks. On my way to the gardens I noticed the Sum 41 merch booth was already empty. I waited after Billy Talent's set and we were finally let backstage. I high-fived Jonathan (bass for Billy Talent) after the show. Then the workers backstage asked who we were looking for. When we told them Sum 41 they told us they were in their trailers already and to wait a bit and "play dumb". After 10 minutes someone comes up to us and tells us Sum 41 already took off for Fort McMurray.

I don't think I've had a more disappointing moment in my life. I luck out a lot, but not that night. The security told me to go complain etc. when it was him who didn't let me through in the first place. I felt there was no use in complaining because the passes were free and requested by Sum 41. There isn't much else to say, but maybe I just didn't try hard enough. Maybe I should've been more pushy. Either way, it's in the past and I can only hope to see another Sum 41 show.

Remember how that one security guy called Nick "retarded"? Well here's one of the saddest twitter conversations you'll end up reading this week.

Ah, that really sucks, Jer. I was expecting much more from your first Sum 41 experience. But, I mean, at least you got to speak with Deryck for a minute before the show, and got the signed drum skin. Still another good side to the negatives.

When Sum 41 had their hometown show in November, the band was going to Soundcheck (I assume), and Tom walked by the lineup, and he turned back to look at me for a moment, and then he kept walking on. And for some reason, in that moment, I didn't even process that it was Tom, until a second later, but I was too late. It's a shame, no one else even noticed him. So, I feel ya!

Yeah, you may be right.

Maybe it's karma. I was supposed to help a friend of a friend move a table and mattress that day, but I bailed on him to meet my brother at his hotel so we could have a few beers and dinner before the concert, haha. If that's the case, then maybe I deserved it, haha.

Sorry to hear the security guys wouldn't let you through. I've had run ins with those kinds of guys too, some seem to ignore passes others can't help you enough, just depends.

Glad you at least go to speak to D for a few minutes and had fun at the shows!

It makes me sad to read this. You would've deserved a better treatment. But like everyone said, luckily you ran into Deryck the other day. And he even recognized you!

Wow. Just wow.
That really sucks, usually the guys stay in the bus or around the venue for a while, but I guess since they weren't the main act that's why they wanted to move quickly. I got the drum head too, it's pretty sweet! You should get it framed, that's what I'm in the process of doing.
How early did you go to the venue? If you were there 9 hours early you should've seen them :P
Hopefully next time you see them it'll be soooo much better. I wish I could give you one of the three times I saw the band so you can experience a great time meeting them!

What would be the best course of action I would have to take to get to meet the band after the show in Moose Jaw tomorrow? Just for a quick 5 minute photo and autograph?

TomiT14 wrote:It makes me sad to read this. You would've deserved a better treatment. But like everyone said, luckily you ran into Deryck the other day. And he even recognized you!

Yeah, I'm glad I ran into him. At least I'll have that!

Sum41Ant27 wrote:Wow. Just wow.
That really sucks, usually the guys stay in the bus or around the venue for a while, but I guess since they weren't the main act that's why they wanted to move quickly. I got the drum head too, it's pretty sweet! You should get it framed, that's what I'm in the process of doing.
How early did you go to the venue? If you were there 9 hours early you should've seen them :P
Hopefully next time you see them it'll be soooo much better. I wish I could give you one of the three times I saw the band so you can experience a great time meeting them!

When I got to the venue Hollerado was almost done playing. I stopped for dinner before meeting my brother and that kind of took a while.

To be honest, the whole situation was kind of set up to fail; too many factors in play that made the meeting difficult to happen. The main thing being that Sum 41 was only an opening band. The other thing was that my passes said "Aftershow" on them, which to security, literally meant "after the show" and I'm sure that's what they're actually used for. The fact that it had "Sum" written on it leads me to believe that it was meant for after Sum 41's set. Ugh, oh well, this is going to bug me from time to time, but I hope to get over it eventually.

Jeremy Kill wrote:

TomiT14 wrote:It makes me sad to read this. You would've deserved a better treatment. But like everyone said, luckily you ran into Deryck the other day. And he even recognized you!

Yeah, I'm glad I ran into him. At least I'll have that!

Sum41Ant27 wrote:Wow. Just wow.
That really sucks, usually the guys stay in the bus or around the venue for a while, but I guess since they weren't the main act that's why they wanted to move quickly. I got the drum head too, it's pretty sweet! You should get it framed, that's what I'm in the process of doing.
How early did you go to the venue? If you were there 9 hours early you should've seen them :P
Hopefully next time you see them it'll be soooo much better. I wish I could give you one of the three times I saw the band so you can experience a great time meeting them!

When I got to the venue Hollerado was almost done playing. I stopped for dinner before meeting my brother and that kind of took a while.

To be honest, the whole situation was kind of set up to fail; too many factors in play that made the meeting difficult to happen. The main thing being that Sum 41 was only an opening band. The other thing was that my passes said "Aftershow" on them, which to security, literally meant "after the show" and I'm sure that's what they're actually used for. The fact that it had "Sum" written on it leads me to believe that it was meant for after Sum 41's set. Ugh, oh well, this is going to bug me from time to time, but I hope to get over it eventually.

Well at least you were able to go see them, before they dropped out because of Deryck's back. If you were going to one of the last shows, I would say it was destined for you not to ever see Sum 41 lol

Sum41Ant27 wrote:Well at least you were able to go see them, before they dropped out because of Deryck's back. If you were going to one of the last shows, I would say it was destined for you not to ever see Sum 41 lol

Haha, I thought of this as well!

Haha yeah, I managed to break the curse this time, but for those who are going to miss out on the band for those last few shows, I feel their pain.

EDIT: Forgot to mention this too. A friend and coworker of mine went to the Red Deer show and after her and her friends went to a strip club. It was the only bar/club open on a Tuesday night. Guess who walks in? Billy Talent (sans Ben), their manager and Sum 41 (sans Deryck). They all sat together and had drinks. My heart was crying tears of envy as I listened to this story. No pictures could be taken because it was a strip club. After last call my friend got into a cab to go to her friend's house. Ian D'sa was like "where are you going? We'll come with you!" And Billy Talent's manager was like "No, you're going back on the bus!" Anyway, sounded like an incredible night and I wish I would've had the idea to go out with them.

So there you have it folks, if you want a chance to meet Sum 41 even after the show, find a strip club and hope for the best!

Heather wrote:Sorry to hear the security guys wouldn't let you through. I've had run ins with those kinds of guys too, some seem to ignore passes others can't help you enough, just depends.

Glad you at least go to speak to D for a few minutes and had fun at the shows!

Yeah, in Prague, they wouldn't let us in either.

Also, sorry to hear that Jeremy, I wanted you to have a great experience meeting Sum 41. Too bad it didn't happen. Hopefuly another time!