#fort gate

Listening to the people's bickering in the line, all hyped and jolty for what's in store for them, no wonder I am pretty much anxious rubbing my hands with excitement. Hearing the soundcheck was enough to put me off balance as I heard Iron Maiden's “Trooper” played in the background. Wild ideas went running through my head as I walked up near to the front stage, wearing my ACDC shirt proudly, with much hope that the band performs ACDC tracks as a pre gig warm-up. Oblivious to whats happening, I started bobbing my head to a known beat and began singing to 'Shoot To Thrill' as it reverbrated across the amplifiers. I could forsee an amazing night as everything was so apt. In my mind, I told myself “I can't believe I'm here! Like Sum 41 is playing in Singapore.. FOR REAL! FINAF******LY!”

As I looked across the crowd, I caught glimpses of excited faces and heard voices already singing to tunes of “We're All To Blame” and “Pieces”. Crowd kept streaming in and the atmosphere grew exponentially. We kept chanting “SUM 41! SUM 41! SUM 41!”, not missing a word. Lights were dimmed and spotlights were shone on stage. There stood four fine gentlemen, clad in their funky usual attire with drumsticks at hand and guitars straps, draping across their shoulders. From crazy fangirls to teenage boys then to us, the 'veteran' teenagers, loud screams and claps rang across the crowd. The wait paid off when Deryck's voice graced the crowd, giving us the warmest greeting. Everyone went mental as soon as they started playing 'Skumfuk'. The guitar strums and the snare beats rang across the crazy fans who were jumping up and down, screaming their lungs out, living the teenage dream.

Their songs brought us down to memory lane as we bopped our heads to the beat and Deryck's impeccable vocals. He sounded just like how he was, seven years back when I first started listening to them. Then, the familiar tune that I remembered dancing my butt off, back when I was studying for my major exams, ruled the whole of me. Well be it in the shower or in the room, I gave a strong warcry, “Take everything left from me! ALL! TO! BLAME!”. I was jumping hysterically in my spot along with my other friends, with my hair down as we sang along to the chorus. Approaching the bridge of "We're All To Blame", Deryck yelped, "I want to see a circle pit forming, right now, a circle pit". I didn't spare another moment to join in the pit and ran in circles. Cone was working the bassline, that rad bass line accompanied by Tom's mad rad guitar screams, mixed them altogether and let it amplified. That flowing sensation was making me all hyped like as though I was caught in a trance with Steve's teases on the snare and the floor toms, until at one point Deryck screamed 'SACRIFICE!!!!'.

The pit grew and everyone was moshing like crazy bunch of hysterical youth and I only remembered getting kicked in the head and falling onto the ground. However by the power of grey skull, a kind young lad helped me up and pulled me to a safe zone. Until today, I do not know who that person is but I would love to meet him again to give his due thanks.

Well, a moment of 'lovestruck in distress' there brought me to zonking out for a bit but it didn't remained for long as I joined back the moshpit minutes after. A string of famous anthems came along with 'Fat Lip', 'In Too Deep', 'Welcome To Hell', 'Motivation' and 'Hell Song'. Tom being all cool, backing up the vocals while Cone hits us with his badass basslines. Steve didn't spare us with the constant heavy beat of his pedals, picking up the pace of the pit with the crowd growing as enthusiastic as ever upon progression of every song. Precise and committed nevertheless.

The night ended with a terrific bang which made our shirts soaking wet, shoes dirty as hell and jeans badly soiled. Despite all of that, it was well worth the amazing night. We waited for the crowd to die off before we make our way out but to our surprise, one of the organisers approached this bunch of deranged, hungover-looking kids a.k.a my lunatic friends and uttered those seven heavenly words, “Do you guys wanna meet the band?”. We went sniffing the air like, "Huh? Meet the band? YEAH! LIKE YEAH?" and the bones in my knees came loose for awhile!

How often do you get this kind of opportunity flying right into your pocket? We met the band for real and as calm as I could be, I was still in a state of shock but manageable in the end. I took a photo with Deryck Whibley, the man I could only stare from the photos on my wall since the age of fifteen and now, I stood right beside him with my arms around his shoulder. How legit can this be? In conclusion, that awesome night taught me in a way that you're never too old to listen back to classic songs when you're still that young, angsty teenager with raging hormones. Sum 41, their music has helped through my tough, teenage years and I couldn't thank LinVan Productions enough for bringing them here.