Positioned in the shadow of Truist Park (home to the Atlanta Braves), the Coca-Cola Roxy played host to multi-platinum rock band Simple Plan on a pleasantly temperate Wednesday evening in the South. Headlining for the first time in over eight years, Simple Plan’s “Bigger Than You Think! Tour 2025” brought along artist support from LØLØ, Bowling for Soup, and 3OH!3. Opened as recently as 2017, this venue is a cornerstone destination within The Battery Atlanta, a mixed-used development of restaurants and condominiums adjacent to the ballpark, located approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. Fortunately for the early crowd that lined up before the doors were scheduled to open at 5:30pm, the concert was not competing with a Braves home game, which made way for easy parking.
With a long night of music ahead, the evening began early at 6:30pm with 27-year-old Canadian pop rock singer-songwriter LØLØ (born Lauren Mandel) taking the mic first. Opening her set with “faceplant” off her debut album Falling For Robots And Wishing I Was One (2024), LØLØ immediately captured the audience’s attention with her perky presence, commanding voice, and skillful guitar shredding. Having built a following of nearly 170,000 followers on TikTok, LØLØ did not come across as an unknown introductory act, and in fact had a throng of fans singing and screaming along to her entire 10-song performance. While she didn’t play it, it is worth mentioning that LØLØ did just release a brand new single this week called “american zombie,” so be sure to check it out.
LØLØ
LØLØ – Vocals, guitar
Ben Healey – Lead guitar
Mike Sleath – Drums
Setlist:
1.) faceplant
2.) 2 of us
3.) The devil wears converse
4.) debbie downer
5.) hurt less
6.) u turn me on (but u give me depression)
7.) DON’T!
8.) omg
9.) I Love It (Icona Pop cover)
10.) hot girls in hell
Next up on the tour bill following a quick 20-minute equipment and stage backdrop change was Grammy Award-nominated rock band Bowling for Soup. If I am being honest, this was the band I was most looking forward to as I have sadly never caught them live before, and they did not disappoint. Bursting out first with their popular single “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” from their 2002 album Drunk Enough to Dance, Bowling for Soup was nonstop fun for the next 40 minutes.
Anchored by founding member Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Bowling for Soup was rounded out by longtime drummer Gary Wiseman and bassist Rob Felicetti. Joking that the tour was “a bunch of old guys still singing about high school,” Reddick energetically lead the band through a 10-song set that delivered upon their most familiar tunes in “High School Never Ends,” “Almost,” “Punk Rock 101,” and of course fan favorite “Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day,” the theme song from Phineas and Ferb.
Offering up a twist to a normal run of show, Bowling for Soup actually paused mid-set for band photo ops while facing the audience, all to The Darkness playing in the background (whom ironically had just played in Atlanta the night before). However, it was their back-to-back performances of “Stacy’s Mom” (“not our song,” Reddick laughingly reminded Atlanta) and the lovable, sing-along hit “1985” that really landed the punctuation mark on their portion of the night. Both exhausting to watch and entertaining to listen to, Bowling for Soup was the perfect supporting act.
Bowling for Soup
Jaret Reddick – Lead vocals, lead guitar
Gary Wiseman – Drums, percussion
Rob Felicetti – Bass, backing vocals
Setlist:
1.) Girl All the Bad Guys Want
2.) Hey Mickey / Fight For Your Right / DONTTRUSTME
3.) High School Never Ends
4.) Ohio (Come Back to Texas)
4.) Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day (Phineas & Ferb Theme Song)
6.) Almost
7.) Turbulence
8.) Punk Rock 101
9.) Stacy’s Mom (Fountains of Wayne cover)
10.) 1985 (SR-71 cover)
Following Bowling for Soup as the penultimate act of the night was high-energy electropop duo 3OH!3 (pronounced “three oh three”) from Boulder, Colorado. The vocalists pairing that comprised 3OH!3 in Sean Foreman and Nathanial Motte were rounded out by Jess Bowen (simply an animal on the drums) and Marshall Gallagher (guitar, keyboards), with the neon coverall-wearing group starting their night with “PunkB*tch” off their second studio album, Want (2008).
Admittedly I knew very little about 3OH!3 going into Wednesday, and was surprised to learn how impactful their album Want was to the music industry. Their lead single, “Don’t Trust Me,” went on to be a five-times platinum certified massive hit, while their follow-up remixed second single “Starstrukk” featuring Katy Perry elevated their international fame, with the song charting in the Top 10 across multiple countries. That is one impressive resume. One additional highlight for me was “My First Kiss,” a track that 3OH!3 previously teamed up with Kesha on for their 2010 album, Streets of Gold. I am not sure I would have positioned them right before Simple Plan, but clearly the exhilarated crowd had a differing opinion when the band closed out their 10-song set with “Don’t Trust Me,” also pulled from Want.
3OH!3
Sean Foreman – Vocals
Nathaniel Motte – Vocals
Jess Bowen – Drums
Marshall Gallagher – Guitar, keyboards
Setlist:
1.) PunkB*tch
2.) Starstrukk
3.) Double Vision
4.) Richman
5.) Hear Me Now
6.) Touchin on My
7.) Slushie
8.) Colorado Sunrise
9.) I’m Not Your Boyfriend Baby
10.) Don’t Trust Me
(CLICK HERE for Chuck Comeau’s recent interview with All Music Magazine)
As the clock crested past 9:30pm and the house lights went dark to a large stage video screen rolling through Simple Plan’s logo and historical footage, the Canadian rockers stormed out to “I’d Do Anything” from their 2002 debut studio album, No Pads, No Helmets … Just Balls. Like when I last caught them live back in August 2023 in support of The Offspring, Simple Plan was full-throttle from their first note. Surrounded by Chuck Comeau (drums), Sebastian Lefebvre (guitar), and Jeff Stinco (guitar), vocalist Pierre Bouvier never stopped moving and exuded the type of energy needed to carry the band through a headlining duration.
Simple Plan has cultivated an adoring and now multi-generational pop-punk following that has supported them for nearly 25 years, with fan parents who at the time attended the Vans Warped Tour earlier in their youth now showing up to the band’s shows with their children in tow. Bouvier and team delivered a blistering and fun concert experience throughout the night, replete with CO2, confetti cannons, as well as Simple Plan branded large beach balls thrown into the audience mid-set for the song “Summer Paradise.”
Similar to their last Atlanta visit, expected tunes like “Shut Up!,” “Jump,” “Addicted,” and “Welcome to My Life” were all included within the early part of the performance, but I particularly enjoyed that they featured their latest punkish rocker “Nothing Changes” as well. That new track is signature Simple Plan, and I already have it on heavy Spotify rotation.
Given that this tour is just about over, I won’t feel bad revealing a few other specific highlights from their night, including LØLØ joining the band mid-set for a duet performance of “Jet Lag,” as well as Bouvier visiting a piano creatively positioned towards the middle of the general admission floor for the ballad “Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?).” However, it was the invitation to the 30 or so costumed fans to join the band on stage for “What’s New, Scooby Doo?” that definitely stood out, as well as a classy move by Comeau to get a drumstick gift out to a little Scooby-dressed kid as he departed the stage.
After wrapping up their main set with “Where I Belong,” the band returned from the performance pause to kick off their two-song encore with “I’m Just a Kid,” their 2002 debut single from No Pads, No Helmets … Just Balls. Sporting a Michael Penix Jr. No. 9 Atlanta Falcons jersey, Comeau crowd-surfed his way through the song (Bouvier took over the drums), with Reddick joining in on vocals along with Christopher “Xelan” Bernard from locally-based The Paradox Band. Simple Plan then capped off the 4-plus hour night of musical entertainment with arguably their most popular tune in “Perfect,” much to the delight of their dedicated fans.
If you’ve gotten this far, it is likely Simple Plan’s 19-city “Bigger Than You Think! Tour 2025” is about to complete its U.S. run with The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, on Saturday, September 6th. However, European fans can look forward to Simple Plan picking up touring again (supporting The Offspring) starting on Friday, September 26th, at the Palacio Vistalegre in Madrid, Spain. Or if you need a Simple Plan fix at any time, check out their new documentary “Simple Plan: The Kids in the Crowd” on Prime Video.
Simple Plan
Pierre Bouvier – Lead vocals
Chuck Comeau – Drums, percussion
Jeff Stinco – Lead guitar, backing vocals
Sébastien Lefebvre – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Setlist:
1.) I’d Do Anything
2.) Nothing Changes
3.) Shut Up!
4.) Jump
5.) Addicted
6.) Jet Lag (with LØLØ)
7.) Boom!
8.) Astronaut
9.) Welcome to My Life
10.) Summer Paradise
11.) Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)
12.) Thank You
13.) The Worst Day Ever / My Alien / God Must Hate Me / Grow Up / Vacation
14.) All Star / Sk8er Boi / Mr. Brightside
15.) What’s New, Scooby Doo?
16.) Where I Belong (Simple Plan & State Champs song)
Encore
17.) I’m Just a Kid
18.) Perfect
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.