14 April 2024 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane – words by Sara Rose – pictures by Bec Harbour
Night One of the tour with no name had a stacked lineup of Jax, We The Kings, Boys Like Girls and of course headliner Simple Plan. It was packed and busy, but the crowd was happy and absolutely enjoying themselves.
I grabbed a spot on the balcony at the Fortitude Music Hall and watched as the crowd started to grow. There was a range of ages, but I feel like the main age group was the 30 plus year old emo kids that have grown up but still love these bands (myself included). The vibe of the room was great, everyone was singing along to the music playing over the speakers.
Jax started the night off right on 6:30pm to a great sized crowd that cheered for her entrance. Opening with the song ‘90’s Kids’ was received so well by the room. Jax screamed out if there were any 90’s kids in the room which received an even louder cheer back.
Her second song ‘The Clap’ was sung acapella and has hilarious lyrics. It was basically an adult version of Happy and You Know, which had the crowd clapping along at the perfect moments. Funny lyrics include “…and you know Epstein didn’t kill himself” with guitarist (Noah) exclaiming in jest “You can’t say that!”.
Jax – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Bec Harbour
Jumping into a cover of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ but from Noelle’s perspective was a perfect halfway point of Jax’s set. The song maintained enough of the original Wheatus lyrics that the crowd was able to join in and enjoy the changed parts.
Following this was an upcoming new release called ‘The New Girl is a Snake’. Jax maintained her catchy lyrics and continued to dance around the stage moving her arms like a snake. The crowd loved this song as well and I am looking forward to he album!
After this, Jax spoke about moving to Hollywood and how she didn’t really fit in with people there; the clothes they wear, their attitudes etc and she explained that she wondered what Adam Sandler would do…so she wrote a song about it called ‘Adam Sandler’. This is a funny but kinda uplifting song. My favourite lyric was “What would Zohan do?” I couldn’t help laughing so much through this track.
If you don’t know, Jax has made her mark on TikTok and went super viral for her song ‘Victoria’s Secret’ (which is what she closed her set with) and her other fun tunes she writes with Chelsea, the girl she babysits. TikTok was all I knew of Jax, so I was honestly so thrilled to see more of her original music. Jax spoke about how ‘Victoria’s Secret’ came about and someone from the crowd yelled out and interrupted her speech, however she took it in great stride, poked her tongue out and started the song. This had the crowd singing along so loudly. The lyrics of this one really hit home. During this number Jax jumped down to the barricade to sing along with the fans up front, as well as going over to (I believe) the person that interrupted her speech to have that person join in singing the verse. This was out of my view since I was in the balcony area, but I could see everyone looking over in that direction.
Jax was hilarious, entertaining and sang really well. Her voice also had amazing clarity to it, because I could understand every word she sang. There was elements of Garfunkel and Oates in her music style, which I enjoyed. Overall, I think Jax was a great opener for this tour and she was so happy to be her in Australia. I look forward to hearing her new release as she is now back on my radar outside of TikTok.
The playlist between bands was fantastic, it was the perfect mix of mostly early 2000’s music, heavy on the fun emo kind of songs the crowd loved. Although, someone skipped ‘Black Parade’, which I imagined angered a few patrons.
Next, We The Kings took the stage and immediately from the first song, they had the crowd jumping and putting their hands in the air. The room was already looking at capacity at this stage, which is great to see earlier in the night. The bands interaction with the crowd throughout their entire set was incredible. You could tell they really enjoyed playing and being here in Australia.
We The Kings – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Bec Harbour
Frontman Travis Clark, during their second song ‘She Takes Me High’ had the crowd screaming “HIGH” each time it rolled around in the lyrics. He also told the room that they were filming for an upcoming music video and if they were loud enough and having a good time, they might get included. He said to get up on shoulders and crowd surf.
Running through songs their set, We The Kings kept the band in the palm of their hand. Travis jumped down into the crowd, not just the barricade but into the crowd where everyone joined in singing and having a boogie with him. When he returned to the stage, he actually thanked the Brisbane crowd of how nice they were, because at the previous show when he did that, his jeans got ripped, almost completely off.
Before starting the song ‘I Feel Alive’, Travis mentioned how his kids made up a dance to this song and he wanted everyone in the room to join in. He ran through the steps which were to “squat down” and then “jump up and do the whacky inflatable arm thingy violently”. You could tell the age of the crowd when being asked to squat down, as the room collectively groaned. Travis in response said “I know a lot of us are over 30 and our knees don’t work” but still wanted everyone to join in. The room did join in and it was one of those collective fun moments that makes you feel so included and special. It was done twice during the song and everyone joined in both times. I caught a video of the whacky inflatable arm dance, which looks so funny but brilliant.
After this, Travis spoke more and was building up to a special, beautiful song but ultimately busted out a cover of ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis. Again, the room joined in and sang along. We The Kings have a way of working the crowd to do whatever they ask, but it’s an inclusive way that makes everyone feel good. The room was lit up by torches on phones during ‘Sad Song’, which from where I was standing on the balcony was mesmerising to watch and quite pretty.
I would now like you to raise your hand if you have been personally victimised by We The Kings for gaslighting you into thinking ‘Check Yes Juliet’ was a “new” song. My hand is also in the air, because I know I sang my lungs out to this when I was in high school! This was of course the closing song of their set and it went off!
Another short break before Boys Like Girls entered onto the stage. I thought I had been thrown back into seeing some 80’s glam rock band, because the leather and leopard/snake print boots were on display. Lead singer Martin Johnson was even rocking leather pants. I love that look, so for me that was quite fun to see in person, but I was also thinking they must have been boiling hot in that attire!
Opening with the classic song ‘Love Drunk’. This is a song I still listen to and know, so it was a great opener to get the crowd excited.
Boys Like Girls – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Bec Harbour
There was a good mix in the Boys Like Girls setlist of classic songs and newer songs (which I didn’t know, but still thoroughly enjoyed). Certain classic songs like ‘Five Minutes to Midnight’, ‘Heels Over Head’ and ‘Two Is Better Than One’ had lyrics rushing back to the front of my mind, which I hadn’t heard in years.
I will say that Boys Like Girls look and sound heavier live than recorded, which was surprising to me. But you could tell they feel like rockstars, even lighting up cigarettes on stage. There’s some Motley Crue kind of vibes in their performance, except with much better vocals.
As a side note, I don’t think I have ever witnessed a band throw so many picks out to the audience! I even scored a pick from bassist, Morgan Dorr, which is flicked up to the balcony with ease.
I think overall the crowd was anxious for Simple Plan to come on, so the energy did not feel as high as the We The Kings set. There were definitely people super excited to see Boys Like Girls, but We The Kings definitely had more overall crowd reaction and interaction.
A few more outstanding throwback songs and the lights went down for Simple Plan to come to stage. The roar of the crowd was incredible, it felt like somehow there was another 500 people in the already packed room for the volume of the cheer. Immediately the band brought their insanely high energy, opening their 1.5 hour set with ‘I’d Do Anything’ with the chorus blasting smoke into the crowd and a surprise confetti burst.
Simple Plan – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Bec Harbour
The smoke continued at peak points throughout songs in their set, which gave the room a feel of a stadium size concert but at the indoor venue.
Continuing with classics like ‘Shut Up!’ and ‘Jump’, the crowd was yelling the lyrics back to lead singer Pierre Bouvier (side note, what a rad name!). Following these bangers, were ‘You Suck at Love’ and ‘Your Love Is A Lie’, which I am personally not very familiar with, but the whole room was still in awe of Simple Plan and the songs being played.
Another album classic from No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls was ‘Addicted’ which again was a crowd pleaser. I’m going to start to sound repetitive saying the crowd was joining in and singing along with every song, but it truly was the case at this show.
Jumping forward to the 2022 album Harder Than it Looks, the band played song ‘Iconic’, which I have never heard. This would be what I would consider a heavier song for Simple Plan, still amazing like their discography is, but it had a different sound than most songs I know. This song included streamer cannons being shot out above the crowd, which got caught up in the lights and other things above the room. Slowly watching people reel in the streamers to keep as a momento was quite cute.
Simple Plan – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Bec Harbour
‘Summer Paradise’ was next, which is a little more funky than other Simple Plan tunes, but the big event of this song was Pierre kicking a giant branded beach ball into the crowd, which followed quickly with another bunch of beach balls being given to the crowd, which lasted through the entire song. During the next song, I watched people in the crowd let the air out of the beach balls so they could keep them, but also the security guards in the barricaded area lean on them for a period of time and then let the air out and pass to the crowd. It was a funny moment if you weren’t on the balcony, wouldn’t have seen.
A couple more songs and then we got a treat of a silly medley of songs, which included ‘All Star’ by Smashmouth, ‘Sk8r Boi’ by Avril Lavigne and ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers. This led into ‘Scooby Doo’, complete with a set of Scooby Doo costumed people throwing t-shirts out to the crowd. Pierre managed to launch his throw to reach a person in the balcony, who was stoked to have caught the shirt.
After the set finished, the crowd began chanting for an encore, which to everyone’s delight came pretty quickly with the ‘Bluey’ song being the first encore moment. Jumping into a cover of ‘Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again’, the crowd did not have to be told to sing the classic return line of “no way, get fucked, fuck off”, which the band clearly loved.
I don’t recall at which moment this happened, but drummer Chuck Comeau came to the microphone and he and Pierre swapped places, because Chuck wanted to safely crowd surf to give “everyone in the room” a high five. He gently placed himself into the crowd and he surfed and rolled around, so excited to be in the crowd and high fiving people as promised.
The set and encore were finished with crowd favourites ‘I’m Just a Kid’, ‘Untitled’ and ‘Perfect’. The band is so well timed together and still are clearly enjoying playing, it’s just so clear to see. Pierre’s vocals are also so clean, even after jumping up and down constantly, he doesn’t sound out of breath.
Obviously, besides Simple Plan, seeing We The Kings live for the first time was my stand out of the night. The crowd interaction was spectacular and really they really played so well.
Simple Plan Crowd – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Bec Harbour
The whole night was such a high school nostalgic night for me and it was amazing to be a part of. I ended up standing next to a friend from high school accidentally, which was who I was singing my lungs out to these songs with all those years ago. I left feeling very happy and content. This was a big show, having Jax and three bands playing, but it was well worth being tired for my day job on Monday. A big shout out to the people attending both nights, I don’t know how you do it! Now these bands are back on my radar, I’m going to have to catch up on all the songs I don’t already know. One very happy elder emo here! If you went to one or both of any of these shows, I can’t imagine any disappointment.
