Sum 41 At Place Bell

It’s never fun to say good-bye, but when that time comes, it’s always best if you can go out with style.  That’s what Sum 41 did before more than 10,000 fans in Laval’s Place Bell late in the month of January.  The ‘Tour of the Setting Sum’ began almost a year ago, with the final shows set to take place as the month comes to an end.  One of the final stops was here in Laval, just a short trip across a bridge from Montreal, a city that helped break the band 25 years ago.  I seem to say this a lot lately, but how is it possible that 25 year have gone by so quickly?  It only seems like yesterday that we all were introduced to these mischievous no goodnick middle class brats and their hit song ‘Fat Lip’.  I can still remember listening to our local radio morning man, Terry DiMonte of CHOM FM, championing them on the air every time that one of their early singles was played.  They’ve had one heck of a ride since then, and it is kind of sad seeing it come to an end.  Which bring us back to our departing headliners.  Sum41 treated the crowd to all of their hits, and some call backs to a few favourite tracks of their own.  They also threw in enough pyro and confetti  to make sure that this last party would be one that wouldn’t be forgotten.  Almost all of Sum 41's albums saw several tracks get played, from their groundbreaking ‘All Killer, No Filler’ album straight through to their most recent double album ‘Heaven x Hell’.  Despite some well publicized health and other rock and roll lifestyle issues, singer Deryck Whibley is in great form on this night.  His smile and the smiles of everyone else in the band, light the stage.  They are probably feeding off some of the incredible energy that is coming from the fans, who are rabid for their heroes before the curtain even dropped on this last visit to La Belle Province.   There's also probably a little bit of them enjoying the moment.  It is their final tour, so they might as well take a good look around for the last time.  The band was certainly enjoying everything from their view up on the stage.  So did the fans.  It's never fun to say goodbye, but if you're going to go, make sure to go out with a bang.  That is certainly what Sum 41 did. All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Sum 41 while they performed, for the final time, on the Place Bell stage.

If you would like to find out more about Sum 41 and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of GOB and PUP, who performed earlier that night, you can do so by following the respective links.  A big thank you goes out to Chris Nary of Laffitte Management Group and Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to shoot the show.  As always, I am very thankful for the opportunity.  One of the final songs Sum 41 played was ‘So Long Goodbye’, to what I am told was a quite a few tears in the crowd.  Rock n Roll retirements often don’t always stick, but just in case this one does, we’ll let Sum 41 go out with some of their own words.  "Cause it's quite all right.  And so long, goodbye."