Avril Lavigne Joined Onstage By Sum 41's Deryck Whibley At Warped Tour

The 30th anniversary of the Warped Tour has made dreams come true for many fans of rock and punk, but it also sparked a reunion by two members of Canadian music royalty – Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley.

Performing at the Washington, D.C. edition of the Warped Tour on Sunday, June 15th, Lavigne’s greatest hits-style set was punctuated with a couple of covers. One of these was a rendition of Simple Plan’s Young & Dumb, though it was a cover of Sum 41’s In Too Deep that resulted in a special guest being brought out to the stage.

“What do you say we bring one of the OG Warped Tour bands back out her tonight to join me right now?” Lavigne told the crowd to widespread applause. “I know they’re one of my favourite pop-punk bands, what about you? Let’s hear it for Deryck from Sum fucking 41!”

“Holy shit, god damn,” Whibley told the crowd as he came onstage. ”I thought I fucking quit music. But how the fuck can I miss the Warped Tour right?

“I’ve come out of my three or four-month retirement for two reasons: to be with the Warped Tour family, and to be with the one, the only, the motherfucking princess.”

The pair's onstage collaboration was a special one, especially given the pair had previously been married. Having first met in the early '00s, the couple married in 2006, but eventually filed for divorce three years later in 2010.

However, it was also a noted event due to it being Whibley’s first appearance onstage since Sum 41’s official disbandment earlier this year.

Having launched their Tour Of The Setting Sum trek in early 2024, the run of dates would be the group’s last ahead of their breakup in 2025. The group would play their final gig in March as part of their induction into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame.

Unfortunately, Australian fans missed out on the chance to catch Sum 41, with Whibley being diagnosed with pneumonia and necessitating the cancellation of their appearance at December’s Good Things Festival.

“All I can say – and it’s still not enough – but sincerely, I’m so sorry,” Whibley said at the time. “We really wanted to play; it just really fell out of our control, and I can’t say sorry enough. But I’m truly sorry.”

Meanwhile, it’s currently been 14 years since Lavigne was last on Australian shores. Though she’s not released a new album since 2022, she did issue a Greatest Hits album in 2024, but no local tour dates have been announced as yet.

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