Sum 41 (Hippodrome, 1.3.17)

Trash Boat. Trash Boat. Trash Boat. I said in my review of the Wonder Years gig that it appeared to be a contractual obligation that all touring US pop-punk bands in the UK had to be supported by Trash Boat. Their appearance tonight is starting to make me wonder if I'm right. Again, there's no real point in talking about a band I dislike but will observe tonight that one of their songs ripped off the riff from Blink 182's "Dammit". I'm aware it's a derivative genre, but you need to do better than lifting from one of the most recognisable songs in pop-punk. I'll leave the final word to Darren Maskell who described their set tonight as "bollocks".

 Huzzah then for Sum 41, forgoing a day off on their "Don't Call It A Sum-Back" tour to play a 50 minute club set in Kingston. Spanning their entire back catalogue, the energy seldom lets up through the early sparkiness of "The Hell Song" to the new material off "13 Voices" which almost has a Muse-esque feel. I'd forgotten how much I liked the tempo shifting "Walking Disaster" which is also well received by the crowd. Not quite as well received as "Fat Lip" however, one of the touchstones of the genre and a moment where the floor of a sold out Hippodrome genuinely seems to move. It's a special, joyous moment that's probably worth the entrance price alone.

I last saw Sum 41 at the Kasbah in Coventry in 2012 in what was a lamentably poor gig.They were terrific tonight, in part due to the return of Dave "Brownsound" Baksh on the lead guitar, who provides the band with a certain je ne sais quoi. I'm loathe to use the expression "return to form", but this punchy set from the Canadians was precisely that.

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