I can't remember the exact age I was when I discovered Simple Plan but, I'm going to guess that I was about thirteen years old. The first song that I heard by them was called, "When I'm gone" and I instantly fell in love with the track. Before that, all I really listened to was Green Day, Avril Lavigne and the Plain White T's other than that I'd listen to whatever was playing on the radio. It's crazy for me to think now that just a few days ago I watched Simple Plan perform live and that I was in the same room as them. I don't go to many "big gigs" really so, I'm easily starstruck. I didn't quite freeze in front of them though. I went with my friend Chantelle and we got a decent spot on the Balcony to see all the crowd overhead. The gig wasn't sold out but, my it was busy. The view of the stage from where we was was pretty decent because of the height, we stood close to the sticky balcony railings all night, even going with out refreshments to make sure nobody could take our spot.
Before Simple Plan played there were two support acts. One was called 'The Bottom Line", they were from London and the other was called, "Ghost Town" those guys were from California. The Bottom Line opened up the gig, I can't remember what song they started with or ended with because I still don't really know their songs. I did't know any on the night, I remember having a look at their music a couple of weeks before but, I couldn't remember what either of the bands sounded like. Ghost Town seemed a little heavier but mostly because of the vocals. They're only a three piece band (Vocals, guitar, drums no bass) but, still managed to make a rather big impression. I think a lot of people were still questioning why they didn't play first though because they didn't get the crowd moving as much. The Bottom Line managed to get much more audience participation and even took a chance with a odd kind of stage dive. Someone came on stage with an air bed with "H.M.S BOTTOMLINE" written on the side with yellow electrical tape and he managed to do it too for a good minute, he was a little shaky though and did look like he was going to fall at any moment.
Once Ghost Town had finished, it seemed a big wait for Simple Plan. If I remember right Ghost Town finished at about 20:45pm and Simple Plan where scheduled to be on stage for 21:05. Both myself and my friend still didn't move, we were quite content watching them set up the stage. They had four huge white cabs. They were already onstage but, hidden by a cloth until later. I couldn't tell the model from where I was sat but I believe them to be the same as the ones the used in the music video for one of their newer songs, "Boom". From where we were stood we could see some of backstage storage space and could mostly see where all of Simple Plans guitars were kept. They brought so many with them for one show but, as a guitarist myself I find it understandable.
When it was finally time, the whole room lit in red. They started off with the first Track, "Opinion Overload"from their new album, "Taking One For The Team" and then followed on with the second track, "Boom". Thankfully they didn't just play songs from their new album, they actually played quite a selection from their complete discography. I'd Do Anything, I'm Just A Kid, Shut Up, Jump, Crazy, Your Love Is A Lie, Jet Lag, Astronaut, The Rest of Us - Just to mention a few. I managed to get a lot of footage of this gig. I was quite happy to stand and record for a while. I recorded about severn minutes of the two support acts and then another fifty minutes of Simple Plan. I'm not quite sure how my camera lasted that long (battery wise), I knew I should have had enough space because I used a 32GB micro SD.
I think the only problem I had with the night was that it was over so soon. I think I would give anything for them to come back and play next year. They did say at the concert that t had been quite a while since they had lasted played in Nottingham. Oh, and now I have another new poster for my wall, two band T-shirts, a necklace and a keyring. All Simple Plan of course. I did decide to buy The Bottom Line's album though because I quite enjoyed them, I managed to convince my friend to buy a copy too but, I managed to get their lead singer Matt to sign the Disc for me.
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