On a rainy Thursday, I was fifteen again.

Before I go on and on about what the Canadian pop punks mean to me, I'll talk a little bit about their openers for the evening.

First, and coming straight from London is The Bottom Line. As far as the pop punk spectrum goes, they are on the same end as the likes of bands such as Good Charlotte, The Starting Line or tonight's headliners, Simple Plan. Think mid noughties pop punk with oversized baggy shorts and oversized t-shirts and white socks in DC Shoes trainers. That kind of pop punk. It's good. It's catchy. It does its job and it does it well, and the two thousand or so people in the Forum obviously enjoy it as they jump around and clap with enthusiasm. The Bottom Line's obvious happiness at playing their hometown sweats through every note and is endearing.

And despite all their qualities and despite my endless love for all things noughties pop punk, it's just not for me. I have a bit of a dance and I cheerfully clap, I have a gigantic singalong when they cover Wheatus' über-classic Teenage Dirtbag, but I can see through the cracks and I find the overall performance good, but a little bit too gimmicky to my taste.

Second up are the Americans from Ghost Town. I had heard their set at the UK edition of Warped Tour in October, had cringed a whole lot to their song called You're So Creepy and not much else.

About six months later, I can appreciate how talented they obviously are. Kevin Ghost's vocals are impressive and just like The Bottom Line, they do an excellent job at warming up the crowd, which is what you essentially want from a support act, isn't it? They have a fair amount of fans in the crowd and those fans are easily heard - I am myself surrounded by a few people who know every word to the band's songs. 

And yet I still cringe when the words "We like creepy girls" are uttered as an introduction to the infamous You're So Creepy, and what little enthusiasm I had mustered up before that moment has gone down the toilet. I just can't sit through a band who asks the crowd to raise their hand if they're creepy twice in my life.
(Other words : Warped Tour UK)





My story with Simple Plan is not very different from the one most French people my age have with them - I heard Welcome to My Life for the first time in a Citroen ad (yes, Citroen as in the cars) and from then on, I was hooked. Their songs are the first I knew the words to in English, and, like a whole lot of teenagers, I could relate to the lyrics and felt like the Canadians were talking about my life and mine only.
Eleven years later (insert here how old I feel and how I don't even understand what sorcery is to blame for me turning twenty-six in two months), I don't listen to them every day like I used to, their lyrics aren't plastered behind my door anymore and I know the words to enough songs to last me a full club night, but I know there will always be a space in my heart for Simple Plan.

Just like I did when I watched Sum 41 back in February, I start crying as soon as they walk on stage, and, to be honest, I don't really have an explanation for it. I know I have just said I don't listen to the Canadians every day like I did when I was a teenager, but this is not a nostalgia gig for me. Nostalgia gigs are me watching The Libertines at T in the Park as a tribute to my indie phase. Watching Simple Plan is a celebration of my teenage years and where they led me today, what I've become thanks to all those pop punks who have changed my life.

Simple Plan are playing the Forum to promote their newest and fifth record, Taking One For the Team, but the setlist is a good mixture of everything they've done since their very first album, No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls. They haven't lost their jokey, good natured side (as shows the odd "having sex with your grandmother" joke thrown by frontman Pierre Bouvier in the middle of the set) and contrary to a lot of bands in their position, it doesn't feel forced - never has and probably never will.

There are a lot of happy tears on my part as the Canadians go through songs that have marked my life, each in their own way. There are the emotionally charged Welcome To My Life, This Song Saved My Life, Perfect World or Crazy, there are the catchy I'd Do Anything or Jump that have become songs I dance to with my friends in clubs, and there are the new ones I am more than happy to get acquainted with. I sing a lot, cry a lot but mostly, I have a gigantic smile on my face from start to finish.

There are no words that could ever do justice to the impact Simple Plan have had on teenage me. They have made me a happier person, they have taught me English (funnily enough for a band that made it big in France because they speak French), they have made me a stronger person, they have helped me deal with the crap that was in the head of a fifteen year old girl who was trying really hard to find her place in the world.

Next time you hear a song in an ad and you like it, try and find it somewhere. You never know where it may lead you.