Sum 41, O2 Academy, Birmingham - review

It was like stepping back in time, but this time I was wearing less eyeliner, and more comfortable shoes.

When Sum 41 dived onto the stage at Birmingham's sold out O2 Academy last night, they still looked every inch the cute guys next door, but perhaps with a little more hair dye and smile lines.

But the fact that they'd been rocking out for 20 years didn't stop them from delivering some real metal, with a few old favourites thrown in just for the thrill of it.

The best moments were those that made the crowd feel 15 again, with the audience erupting into chorus for Motivation, throwing their fists in the air for Still Waiting and dancing wildly to In Too Deep.

The band's newer material just didn't seem to have the same pull, the same angst, the same anger. But maybe that's because the people watching no longer felt so enraged. We were all a little, well, quieter, appreciative of the flashbacks our favourite songs provided, and the talent of the musicians themselves.

There was still an ever-widening mosh pit, but the majority of people were seated in the balcony area, primed for the best view of the artists that helped define their teenage years.

When front man Deryck Whibley turned the music down low, turned the lights up and walked into the crowd surrounded by burly security guards, he became one of us, recognising the fans that have stuck by the band for so many years.

Interweaving ballads with the classics – Queen's We Will Rock You and Black Sabbath's Paranoid - was a sure fire way of keeping the crowd going through some of the lesser known material, which somehow lacked the edge of the songs we all knew and loved.

But the atmosphere, the pyrotechnics on stage, the spritely clambering of Whibley and the incredible guitar and drum solos from relatively recent addition Tom Thacker and well-known Dave Baksh and Steve Jocz meant that we could perhaps enjoy the band more for what they are now, as well as what they were – good old-fashioned skate punk with a whole lot of talent thrown in.

By Jessica Labhart.

• Sum 41 perform in Manchester tonight before heading to Leeds, Glasgow and London as well as Bristol, Nottingham and Southampton. For more information, visit http://www.sum41.com/tour.