Simple formula for teen ear candy

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Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press Simple Plan�s lead vocalist Pierre Bouvier jumps offstage and into the crowd at the MTS Centre Thursday night during the band�s 90-minute set.

It's a pretty simple formula for a good time: take four inoffensive high-energy teenage-oriented pop-rock bands, put them on a bill together and let the kids get wild.

That was the scene Thursday night at the MTS Centre as Simple Plan, Marianas Trench, All Time Low and These Kids Wear Crowns shared the stage while an excited crowd of 5,500 -- a large percentage of them teenage girls -- sang along, screamed and waved glow sticks in the air.

Montreal's Simple Plan were the headliners and were the most polished of the lineup, as they should be with more than 10 years of touring experience under their belts. These guys are now arena-rock pros.

The band has found the right sweet spot of catchy guitar-driven pop-punk, goofy double entendres and emotional material that is ear-candy to music fans raised on Green Day (but born too late to see the Ramones).

Simple Plan kept their stage set, er, simple, with a red-and-white motif that extended from their amps to the backing videos that brought to mind the setup once used by the White Stripes.

The quintet wasted no time in getting the crowd into it with an opening trio of zippy songs: Shut Up, Can't Keep My Hands off You and Jump, which had vocalist Pierre Bouvier leaping from risers on both sides of the stage while his bandmates hopped on the spot.

They kept the 90-minute set moving along with a mixture of playful uptempo numbers from all four of their albums designed to get kids singing and dancing in their seats along with some serious ballads. New songs from the band's latest album Get Your Heart On -- Freaking Me Out, You Suck at Love and Astronaut -- were treated with the same excitement as older crowd favourites like Addicted and Thank You. Giant beach balls fell from the ceiling and were batted around by the crowd during the strummy Summer Paradise.

Press time came before the end of the show, but the band has been ending things off with Loser of the Year, I'm Just a Kid and Perfect on their current Canadian tour.

The night started 21/2 hours before the headliners took the stage with a short set by Chilliwack sextet These Kids Wear Crowns, who play a brand of modern power-pop that was all but forgotten once Baltimore's All Time Low took the stage.

The Maryland band added a bit of jangle to the formula and found a groove on the single I Feel Like Dancin', which is more of a mid-tempo workout than a dance number. The majority of the half-hour set was filled with bouncy hook-filled numbers that had the crowd singing, dancing and clapping along until they worked themselves into a near-frenzy by closing number Dear Maria, Count Me In.

That was nothing compared to the eruption that followed when Marianas Trench frontman Josh Ramsay emerged from a giant jack-in-the-box in a white suit jacket and sparkly red pants to kick off his band's 45 minutes on stage. Musically, the group was the most lightweight of the night, but proved to be the most diverse with plenty of harmonies, some ballads and the odd diversion into glam rock.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

Simple Plan

Feb. 16

MTS Centre

Attendance: 5,500

Three out of five

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 17, 2012 B2