Montreal quintet Simple Plan first set foot in this country as support act for Bowling For Soup in February this year.  Tonight is their debut show in the UK and it's sold out.

The sight of hundreds of kids let loose inside the Underworld is enough to send a shock to the system.  Some barely looking above the age of 15 are fumbling with their lighters and in one case, a bit of heavy petting in a darkened corner, much to the amusement of one of the band members who had been wandering around earlier.

Armed with their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls and the kind of names that wouldn't look out of place in a French classic novel, Simple Plan bound onto the stage to the sound of hysterical squeals from the girls.  And they claim they're not "cute"...ball-ucks!

Hopping about with great co-ordination on the tiny stage, frontman Pierre Bouvier (que joli!) is lost amongst the choppy sea of hands, all reaching out for a piece of him.  Kicking off with an enthusiastic number from No Pads..., Bouvier's voice is crystal clear in a venue normally muffled by the sound bloke cranking up the volume knob too high.  I last visited The Underworld for one of Simple Plan's favourites American Hi-Fi, and my ears were ringing for two whole days.

Regular intervals in-between songs comprise of on-stage banter between Bouvier and bassist David Desrosiers (magnifique!), who frighteningly resembles Blink 182's Tom DeLonge with the baseball cap worn sideways and the facial piercings.  

Good humoured and chatty, Bouvier, Desrosiers and guitarist Sebastien Lefebvre (ooh la la!) tease the audience with cheeky innuendoes (none of that "We love you guys!  You're the best!" crap), much to the delight of a bunch of girls, dancing on the top platform by the stage in their bras. 

A surprise twist comes in the form of a quick trip round da 'hood (perhaps in honour of drummer Charles 'Chuck' Cormeau's love for hip-hop) where the band thrash out a clever medley of 'Lose Yourself', 'In Da Club' and 'Ice Ice Baby'.  Just think, most of the audience were still learning to crawl when the latter record came out...

Going back to what they are paid to do, the boys play their harmless mix of friendly power-pop punk records, and decked out in their skate-boarding shorts and t-shirts, there's no escaping the tag of Blink 182, Sum 41 and Good Charlotte that they are inadvertently labelled with.

As much as the likes of The Worst Day Ever', 'Addicted', 'My Alien', 'You Don't Mean Anything' and forthcoming single 'I'm Just A Kid' are good, catchy tunes, and as the band themselves claim, about their personal experiences, there's not a great deal of depth to them. 

Still, the kids couldn't care less.  Far less annoying than Bowling For Soup and better looking too, at least Simple Plan show sincere appreciation to tonight's turn-out and hell, they play an hour long set.  17 million copies shifted alone on their debut and yet Linkin Park won't play longer than 60 minutes.
(3½/5)

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