The Antidote
Beach balls and a crowdsurf attack,
Crowd singing to classics,
Simply rocking their throwback,
Perfect with some acoustics!
Simple Plan finally returned to Singapore with a rocking new tour – The Harder Than It Looks Tour 2023, on 7 March at The Coliseum™, Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, Resorts World™ Sentosa.
The show kept us waiting for at least 15 minutes from the promised time of 8pm. The opening act was AIR YEL, who was on tour with Simple Plan. She sang her original songs like Hellgirl and Wondering – which came with a catchy chorus and beats that made you nod along. She also hyped the crowd with well-loved songs from Paramore and Coldplay, and made a special appearance as ‘Natasha Bedingfield’ during Simple Plan’s Jet Lag.
AIR YEL was also really sweet to hang around after the Simple Plan concert to take photos with fans.
You know who else was hanging around the crowd that night? Simple Plan’s drummer Chuck Comeau who crowdsurfed for a few good minutes towards the end of the concert.
Simple Plan absolutely knew what the fans wanted – being able to sing along and mosh to their hit songs. The band started with I’d Do Anything, with Pierre belting out that he’d do anything for Singapore, and Jeff strumming that first guitar riff to start the set.
The band continued the party and performed to chart-topping hits like Shut Up!, Jump, Your Love is a Lie, and Addicted. The audience clearly knew every single song!
I loved how they played an interlude to Welcome To My Life, from the album ‘Still Not Getting Any’, and it was instantly recognisable. He welcomed some thoughts out loud as he made a promise to come back to Sungapore a lot more often. Pierre also hoped he could perform at Formula 1 here in Singapore one day!
As this was the Harder Than It Looks Tour, Simple Plan also performed their new songs, including my personal favourite, Iconic. A pity that the cheers were not as loud as when they performed to older hits, but the set was truly, iconic.
Other notable moments were when dozens of huge Simple Plan beach balls were thrown to the audience as Summer Paradise played. Another concert favourite was All Star/ Sk8er Boi/ Mr Brightside.
The second half was a more calm set with songs like their new single The Antidote, Congratulations, Crazy, Wake Me Up (When This Nightmare’s Over), Where I Belong, Perfect World and What’s New Sccoby Doo.
The show ended with an intimate acoustic version of Untitled and Perfect. Amazing how Pierre’s live vocals sounds so consistently good throughout.
Overall, the Harder Than It Looks tour had a simple stage set-up, but it worked out because the experienced band members really brought out their personalities, colour, and riffs on stage. The concert crowd singing was lit. It was three hours of being cured by the antidote called Simple Plan!
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