Atlantic Records

We are interns in the publicity department and it is our responsibility to find upcoming news on different artists who are under the Atlantic Records label. Through this job we had seen numerous announcements about Simple Plan coming to New York City to perform and promote their new album on the release date, June 21st 2011. Little did we know, though, that we would be the chosen interns with the assignment of actually attending the performance.

One of us (Bianca) had seen Simple Plan perform several years ago in San Diego, California, but the emotions felt prior to the show were equally green for the both of us. Prior entering the Gramercy Theatre, we shared our memories of how each of our middle school friends and we would sing along to the Simple Plan’s radio hit songs, “Addicted” and “I’d Do Anything,” during our attractive, pubescent years. The venue was packed both on the floor and in the seating with fans of ALL ages eager to see one of their favorite, or for some their utmost favorite, band perform in front of their eyes. For many it was their second, third, or fourth time going to Simple Plan’s live performance while one of us (Olga) was experiencing it for the first time. Pierre Bouvier, the lead vocalist, even addressed Olga and every other untapped attendee with a genuine, “Welcome to the family.”

While the casually dressed band played a mix of their old songs, enabling the crowd to sing along, they also introduced their songs from their new album, “Get Your Heart On!”. Even though we didn’t know the words, every one of their songs had us jumping up and down, and rocking out. A personal favorite was “Can’t Keep My Hands off You” which has an upbeat tempo and addictive lyrics. We can’t help but reminisce about their other songs such as,“Astronaut,” and, “Loser of the Year” , which, unless you attend one of their upcoming concerts, can be listened to on ITunes. The audience screamed with excitement to every song, and most fans knew the majority of the lyrics. The strongest reaction we witnessed was to “Jump,” where everyone came together and literally jumped up and down throughout the song. In addition, the band captured the amazing ambience of the night by singing the Black Eyed Peas song “I’ve Gotta Feeling”. After a few more songs they even got the chance to do a cover of one of Atlantic’s artists, Cee Lo Green’s, “F**k You.”

Overall our exit from Gramercy Theatre was much different from our entry. We left with a head full of new lyrics flowing in and out and a lot more curiosity for the other songs from their new album that weren’t played during the concert. Excitement for the band was re-developed as we once had in our younger years. The both of us, were proud to be officially declared as members of the Simple Plan family and similar to how family members gather several times a year, we will have to gather with Simple Plan in hopes of another future concert and plenty more albums.

The Simple Plan Sisters, Bianca & Olga