Show Review: Simple Plan Thrills Crowd at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic
Simple Plan
w/ 3oh!3, Bowling For Soup, LØLØ”
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
San Francisco, CA
August 12th, 2025
Review and Photos by Jaime Schultz
On Tuesday night at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, Simple Plan brought one of the year’s biggest pop-punk tours to Northern California, packing out the nearly 8,500 capacity venue in the heart of San Francisco. The Canadian act played their biggest Bay Area headlining show to date, with a set packed with hit after hit song from their decades-long career.
As fans made their way into the venue, LØLØ kicked things off with a fun and energetic set, featuring a brand new song called “The devil wears converse” and a cover of Icona Pop’s crowd-pumping anthem “I Love It”. The up-and-coming singer-songwriter breezed through a fun performance to set the mood for the evening. Texas-based Bowling For Soup brought all of the hits, kicking things off with “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” and finishing with none other than “1985”. Fan favorite songs like “Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day” - the theme song to Disney Channel’s Phineas and Ferb - “Punk Rock 101”, and “Almost” had the crowd singing along.
The energy rose even higher when Denver’s 3OH!3 took to the stage, that speaker-busting synth riff of “PunkBitch” kicking off their hit-laden set as the crowd filled all the way in. Backed by a live band - featuring drummer Jess Bowen of The Summer Set - the duo consisting of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte powered through a heavy-hitting performance featuring tracks like “Starstrukk”, “Touchin On My” “My First Kiss”, and “Don’t Trust Me”, a song that begs for its chorus to be screamed at the top of your lungs.
Simple Plan wasted no time by diving headfirst into tracks like “I’d Do Anything”, “Shut Up!” and “Jump”. immediately taking the venue back to the early 2000s with songs from albums like Still Not Getting Any…. and No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls. It is definitely one of the biggest stage setups the band has ever had, going beyond the smaller rooms that the band were headlining just a few years prior.
Similar to Bowling For Soup, Simple Plan also has a television theme song that spoke to a generation - the pop-punk-infused “What’s New Scooby Doo?”, which opened the three-season show during its run on the now-defunct Kids WB. They are a band that takes what they do seriously without taking themselves too seriously, as they performed the track amongst a dancing group of fans dressed as the crime-solving pup.
A medley of tracks was performed, pulling moments from “The Worst Day Ever”, “My Alien”, “God Must Hate Me”, “Grow Up, and even “Vacation”, a rarely played song they contributed to the Mary Kate and Ashley film New York Minute in the early 2000s. A mix of covers found the band dipping into the catalogs of Smash Mouth (“All Star”), Avril Lavigne (“Sk8er Boi”), and The Killers (“Mr. Brightside”).
Like all good things, the show eventually came to an end with performances of anthemic tracks “I’m Just A Kid” and “Perfect”, as confetti rained down upon the crowd. Simple Plan is definitely at the top of their game, and there’s nowhere to go but up.
Simple Plan Set List
I’d Do Anything
Nothing Changes
Shut Up!
Jump
Addicted
Jet Lag (with LØLØ)
Can’t Keep My Hands Off You
Astronaut
Welcome To My Life
Summer Paradise
Untitled (How Could This Happen To Me?)
Thank You
The Worst Day Ever / My Alien / God Must Hate Me / Grow Up / Vacation
All Star / Sk8er Boi / Mr. Brightside (covers)
What’s New Scooby Doo?
Where I Belong
Encore:
Crazy / Perfect World / Save You / This Song Saved My Life
I’m Just A Kid
Perfect
