Performing: SUM 41 (support: Lizi and the kids)
Date: Saturday, 10. 6. 2023
Location: Jesolo / Palazzo Del Turismo / Italy
SUM 41 is one of those bands that introduced the millennial generation — especially those who didn’t have older brothers or sisters — to the idea that there was music beyond the endless rotation of Britney Spears and the rest of the ‘Disney troublemakers’ who ruled the airwaves back then.
For the slightly older crowd who already had the privilege of fully soaking up the punk-rock scene of that era, SUM 41’s arrival reminded them of something they’d almost forgotten. That something can be summed up in one word: talent. Not in the sense of virtuosity, which is perhaps what that label implies. At the time SUM 41 were breaking through, the punk-rock world was largely ruled by Blink-182, who never even tried to hide how little Tom knew about playing guitar. They even made a short documentary about his guitar incompetence, which dropped alongside the release of their best-selling album »Enema Of The State«. In that sense, a SUM 41 concert is more than just a nostalgia trip. Their more recent releases have also won over younger fans who weren’t even around during punk-rock’s golden age — around 2000, when it all kicked off — and you can absolutely see that in the mix of generations at their shows.
The metal edge in their punk-rock (and their very public disdain for having that genre labeled as pop-punk) was something uniquely SUM 41’s own — they even talk about it openly in what is probably their most famous track, »Fat Lip«, which, to quote:
“But what would you expect with a conscience so small?
Heavy metal and mullets, it’s how we were raised
Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised“
When asked whether “conscience” in those lyrics also means something specific, vocalist and bandleader Deryck Whibley answered simply: “Yes!” Punk-rock was more or less chosen because “there was no money in metal unless you were a giant.” Those metal roots never really let them rest, though. So back in 2000, on the release of their debut album »Half Hour Of Power«, they arranged the opening track — with the rather memorable title Grab the Devil by the Horns and Fuck Him Up the Ass — in a decidedly more metal direction.
Unlike most bands of that era whose names featured forgettable numbers, SUM 41 actually has a real meaning behind it. The band simply came together on the 41st day of summer. Since a number appears at the end, the guys played around with the word “SUMMER” and kept just “SUM” — something every die-hard Excel user instantly fell in love with, since it means “sum” in the spreadsheet sense too.
The evening at Jesolo, near Venice, was opened by local punk-rock hopefuls Lizi and the kids. They hit the stage at 9:15 PM. Outside their home turf a fairly unknown name, featuring singer LIZI (Elisa Gionangeli) and The Kids (Alessandro Galeti, Luca Chianella), they threw the crowd straight into a genuine 2000s vibe. Musically not unlike the well-known Zebrahead, the band quickly won over the audience in the practically sold-out »Palazzo del Turismo«. You could tell it was a local phenomenon — everyone knew the words to their songs — and the group pulled off a not-so-small surprise by writing their lyrics entirely in English, which isn’t exactly the norm on the Italian music market. After just a 30-minute set, Lizi and her kids said their goodbyes and preparations for SUM 41 got underway.
At 10:15 PM, SUM 41 chose a recorded T.N.T. intro from the legendary AC/DC as their opener, then hit the stage with their own Motivation, which delivered a wall of fire and smoke right from the very first moment. That was followed by the darker The Hell Song, about a close friend of the band who was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. After Over My Head (Better Off Dead), there was a brief MC that only confirmed what we already knew — this setlist would be dedicated to the band’s old-school fans and would contain no newer material. Those tracks are being saved by SUM 41 for their farewell tour, expected to sweep through Europe in February next year.
In the middle of all the euphoric jumping and the crowd energy that frontman Deryck generates, a newer fan or casual admirer might easily forget that he has had his spine injured no fewer than fourteen times and has been living with chronic pain since 2007, when he first fractured a vertebra at a show and had to be carried off in a wheelchair.
The band’s breakneck, bouncing energy — which with its bold, aggressive drive played like a hypersensitive ping-pong ball pumped way past its limit on steroids — ricocheted uncontrollably around the stage through all 19 songs of the evening, and would have had no trouble disarming and sweeping up even a brand-new music fan, yanking them from a static state straight into a zone of full freestyle kinetic motion.
The crowd could barely wait for the band to announce the »All Killer No Filler« album — the moment those words landed, everyone knew exactly what was coming. In Too Deep. The crowd went absolutely wild, beer was flying through the air, the security barriers gave way. Security guards were barely holding the crowd back from storming the stage. More than ten guards were propping each other up, scrambling to get the barrier roughly back in place and holding it there for the rest of the show.
The security guards hadn’t even fully recovered from the last three minutes when SUM 41 put their stamina to the test all over again — as if to confirm their paychecks were well earned — racing ahead on the wings of the classic Makes No Difference, the track that actually landed the band their first record deal. And it all fell apart again. The barrier collapsed and the guards started questioning whether going into this line of work had really been necessary and how on earth this was going to end. The crowd finally eased off a little when the band steered into calmer waters with Pieces.
SUM 41 kept the mood high and the energy crackling throughout the evening by weaving in covers of well-known classics (Queen, Rage Against the Machine), and closed out the night with their beloved anthem Still Waiting, which in its message asks why we’re still waiting for an end to mutual hatred. In that track, SUM 41 also put their thrash metal influences on full display in the chorus.
The crowd, of course, wasn’t having it! Obviously — they still hadn’t heard the song of the night! That was, naturally, Fat Lip. But they had to wait just a little longer for it. The band opened the encore with Machine Gun. At Fat Lip, the concert spectacle ignited to a peak of full-blown euphoria all over again — as you’d expect from a track of that caliber. A song of the All The Small Things variety, belonging to rivals Blink-182, saw more beer flying that night than David Hasselhoff on the day of the infamous cheeseburger incident, and more jumping around than you’d see across all the Olympic Games combined. The screaming in the venue was perhaps only comparable to Ace Ventura’s shriek upon finding the albino bat. At the close, the stage was engulfed in volleys of fire and smoke — something even a firefighter on a call might have envied — followed by a generous round of thanks from the band to their fans.
Authors: Helena Medved & Denis Paradiž
Photos: Denis Paradiž
SUM 41 setlist:
1. Motivation (+88 outro)
2. The Hell Song
4. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
3. We’re All to Blame
4. Out for Blood
5. War
6. Summer
7. Sleep Now in the Fire (orig. Rage Against the Machine)
8. Underclass Hero
9. Walking Disaster
10. With Me
11. In Too Deep
12. Makes No Difference
13. Pieces
14. No Reason
15. We Will Rock You (orig. Queen)
16. Still Waiting
—encore—
17. Machine Gun
18. Fat Lip
Lizi and the Kids
SUM 41
