Sum 41 at the Hammerstein Ballroom

In 1995 in Ajax in Ontario, Canada, a few high school friends formed a NOFX cover band called Kaspir. Vocalist/guitarist Deryck Whibley was 15 years old at the time. !n 1996, on the 41st day of their summer vacation, the musicians changed the band name to Sum 41. In 2001, Sum 41's debut album went platinum in the United States and triple platinum in Canada. In 2003, Sum 41 won Canada's Juno Award for Group of the Year, and in 2005, the album Chuck won the Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year. Following several personnel changes, Whibley remains the band's sole original member. Sum 41 currently consists of Whibley, guitarist Dave Baksh, guitarist/keyboardist Tom Thacker, bassist Jason "Cone" McCaslin, and drummer Frank Zummo. The band's seventh studio album, Order in Decline, was released on July 19, 2019.

While websites had speculated that the Sum 41 tour would celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Chuck album and/or the release of the most recent album, the band played neither album in full tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Instead, the set consisted of 22 songs spanning six albums. Like many later-day punk bands, the songs largely pivoted on power pop vocal melodies and fast, bombastic wall-of-sound backing. Whibley's powerful, urgent vocals were the key, and they held strong despite a considerable amount of shouting. Whibley was also very present to the fans, constantly pacing the edge of the stage and eliciting responses from the approving audience. During the song "Pieces," he sang while walking through the audience all the way to the back of the room. As often happens at Sum 41 concerts, the band concluded its performance by returning to the stage as its alter ego, Pain for Pleasure. The band played a speed-metal jam in three takes, each more energetic than the preceding take. While power-pop punk bands proliferated in the 1990s and 2000s and typically sounded similar, Sum 41 added an element of audience-pleasing spectacle to make the performances memorable.

Setlist:

1. Turning Away
2. The Hell Song (2.0)
3. Motivation (The Bitter End outro)
4. Over My Head (Better Off Dead)
5. Fake My Own Death
6. We're All to Blame
7. Some Say
8. Out for Blood
9. The New Sensation
10. Walking Disaster
11. No Reason
12. Underclass Hero
13. Pieces
14. Welcome to Hell
15. In Too Deep
16. Still Waiting
17. 88

Encore:

1. Never There
2. Fat Lip

Encore 2:

1. Pain for Pleasure
2. Pain for Pleasure (Take #2)
3. Pain for Pleasure (Take #3)