The Offspring
A Concert Review |
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When the Dude on the Right and I showed up for the
show, the first thing I thought was "Man, am I getting too old
for this?" The only people older than us seemed to be there
with their kids. The second thing I noticed was "Boy are they
dressed stupid." A 70's theme pervaded, but they were wearing
stuff that wasn't even cool in the 70's. As the night went on the
older and scarier crowd arrived. I think the Dude on the Right
summed it up best "I'll bet their parents are proud." Lots
of weird haircuts and piercings - I just don't get it. Maybe I am
getting to old for this.
Enough soul searching and on to the reason we were here in the
first place - Offspring. The show started with a modified version of
the "time to relax" intro from "Smash." This
version encouraged the crowd to "fuck shit up," get
trashed, and puke. By the response this got I think the crowd was
ready to live up to the challenge. They opened with "Bad
Habit," a snappy little ditty about a pyromaniac. Dexter was
sporting a bright green sport coat (a tribute to Tiger Woods
maybe?), and Noodles was wearing a very stylish blue floppy hat and
sun glasses. They proceeded to crank through a mix of songs from
"Smash" and "Ixnay on the Hombre," with all the
songs sounding great, and the band had the crowd pumped up from the
get go. The show continuing, Dexter introduced "Cool to
Hate" and he said they really hated the Spice Girls. Alright,
fine enough, but he kept mentioning this several times later in the
show. I'm not sure if they got turned down for dates or what, but I
think there's a story there somewhere.
An "intermission" came about halfway through the set,
and as the intermission song from "Ixnay" played the band
sat on stage and had a drink while a bubble machine blew tiny
bubbles over the mosh pit. The second half of the show proceeded
with six more songs including "Smash," "All I
Want," and ended with "Self Esteem." They even teased
the crowd with a little bit of "Iron Man," bashed Guns n'
Roses while playing the intro to "Sweat Child O' Mine,"
and Dexter took a dive into the pit late in the show.
Coming back to the stage after a lame cheer from the crowd (maybe
they were tired from moshing, or past their bedtime - I'm not sure
which), Offspring ended with an encore of "Gone Away," the
power ballad from "Ixnay," followed by the ska "Don't
Pick it Up," and ended with "Session" from
"Ignition."
Sure, Offspring sold out their punk roots. From the over-dramatic
intro, the big light show complete with smoke machine, to the cheesy
intermission, Offspring are more of a stadium rock wannabe band than
a punk band. You can't really blame them though, the money is a lot
better, and real punk will never get radio exposure. For me, they
are to punk what Bon Jovi is to heavy metal; a PG-13, overexposed,
shadow of the real thing. That's not necessarily a bad thing, hell I
still think Jovi's pretty cool. In a nutshell, Offspring rock and I
give them TWO BIG THUMBS UP. If you like their music you'll love the
show. I guess maybe I'm not so old after all.
AFI, the first opening act, was a more traditional four man
California punk band. These guys came out with a lot of energy and
really tried to get the crowd pumped up. They cranked through a
half-hour set of loud, fast music to a small and not too receptive
crowd. One guy was trying to crowd-surf, but I think he got lost.
One second he was getting passed around, and the next all I saw was
his shirt is getting thrown around - I hope he made it out OK.
L7 was next up. I was kinka looking forward to seeing them, as I
am a big fan of chick bands, especially chick metal bands.
Unfortunately I was disappointed. The only one who seemed to have
any interest in being there was the bass player who was really
playing to the crowd. They started with "Andre" and worked
in a mix of old stuff and songs from their new album "Beauty
Process." Don't get me wrong, they sounded good, the vocals
were clear, and they ripped out some great guitar, but they just
seemed bored.
'Till Next Time!
Hang Loose |