Friday, March 21 was not only a special day for us, but it was also a special day for Deryck. It was his birthday! I know what you're thinking right now. You're probably saying to yourself, "Why the hell do these people insist on seeing Deryck and Avril on their birthdays? They're such stalkers." You're kind of right though, to be brutally honest. It just works out that Sum 41 plays concerts in the Detroit area on significant days!
I live in Detroit, which is right near Windsor, so obviously I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go see The Sums. Sharifa, Justin and Chelsea all came over from Canada for this concert as well, since they would be attending The Best Damn Tour the following day. I brought my brother along with me, because he likes Sum 41 as well.
We met up with them at the concert. We were fifth row to begin with, and it was great. There were some assholes by us, but I must admit that I enjoyed it. We all ended up getting separated by the time they played their second song (The Hell Song) because of the intense moshing. I particularly didn't mind it, as long as the people weren't drunk off their asses. I'm more into jumping than moshing, but that's beside the point. By the end of the concert, we were a few rows back, but we were center stage which was great.
Their opening bands were Social Code, Die Mannequin, and another band that I missed and didn't even know that name of. The two bands I mentioned were really cool, and the chick from Die Mannequin was real down to earth and jumped into the crowd to rock out on guitar.
Finally, the guys came out. I was jumping up and down like a twelve-year-old girl at a Jonas Brother's concert, but I didn't really care, to be honest. They opened with Underclass Hero, one of my favorite songs off the new album. I was bouncing off the walls, while others were pretty chill. Throughout the concert, they played a lot of their hits including Walking Disaster, With Me, Makes No Difference, In Too Deep, My Direction, Over My Head, Fat Lip, We're All To Blame, Confusion and Frustration, King of Contradiction, Motivation, and Pain For Pleasure (no particular order - I know I'm missing a few). Their set list was perfectly chosen, and they chose songs from each of their albums.
One of my favorite parts of the concert was when they played "Attitude" a cover they've recorded originally by the Misfits. They don't usually put it on the setlist, so I knew it was a special night. Another memorable moment was when Deryck asked some kids to come up on stage and "try" to play guitar as good as him. They tried their best, but didn't come close to success. They also had a guy in the audience participate in a drinking contest with one of Sum 41's crew members. Sum 41 won as Deryck yelled, "Sum 41 3 - Canada 0!"
Also during the concert, the audience sang happy birthday to Deryck which was really awesome. Deryck referenced his birthday throughout the concert in his funny ways. The concert was amazing, and I was pissed off that it was over, but I looked forward to what was happening after the concert.
