By Jase Walker
One of the best things in life is getting to see one of the greats of your childhood still doing their thing and doing it for the sheer love of it. And tonight this is The Offspring. It’s Friday night, the beer is flowing, the vibes are already electric because what better thing to do when the cold weather is coming in than throw your cares away and listen to one of the best pop punk bands ever?
The Offspring are truly an enduring act that may have had their dips over the years but have always bounced back and done tours that have setlists appeasing new and old fans alike. But not just that, they’re also coming around with fellow pop-punkers Simple Plan, so it’s just gonna be a big fucking party tonight eh?
Simple Plan opt to start their show with the intro music for Star Wars blasting over the speakers and then launching immediately into ‘I’d Do Anything’! Admittedly I wasn’t expecting them to lead with what is probably one of their biggest songs but not going to complain at all! I guess that they’ve just opted to go with all killer no filler on this show, considering the follow-up is ‘Shut Up’ then there’s no real question about it!
I feel like it’s almost insulting to refer to Simple Plan as just the openers for this show, they’ve been doing this for almost just as long as The Offspring have and are every bit as worthy of being on a stage like this in their own right. The way they sound and act up on a stage this size is totally natural and they’ve got no fear about running around and getting a crowd this size going. There’s no “warmup” here, there’s just the show and a crowd that’s already fully revved up before they even got to the venue! Continuing the no filler approach, ‘Addicted’ sees the audience clearly singing along to the chorus, you might not know Simple Plan super well but you definitely know their songs.
After a show of hands, it’s quite surprising how many people held their hands up for the first time seeing Simple Plan: for myself, I think this is the third time I’ve seen them? Either way, everyone here is clearly having a great time seeing them so I guess it’s a great tour combo for them!
For ‘Summer Paradise’ it initially looked like it’d just be the one large ball being thrown into the audience but the moment it gets thrown out, about 12 other balls suddenly erupted from the front and immediately fly out into the wider crowd. They take a moment to remind the crowd to be aware of… ‘Scooby Doo!’, just as several people run on stage in Scooby Doo outfits and a guy with a T-shirt launcher fires a bunch of shirts into the crowd, all of about one minute of madness but damn fun nonetheless.
Towards the end, Chuck Comeau jumps off the kit and switches roles with Pierre Bouvier on the drum kit for “I’m Just A Kid’, but not just that he jumps down into the front of the crowd to stand up on the barriers! He immediately follows it up with jumping on top of the crowd to surf around to high five as many people as possible!
I’ve seen a lot of bands open shows in venues of this size but rarely have I seen antics like this. Simple Plan are clearly a band that know they’ve got a solid fanbase in the house for them as well as The Offspring and have no doubts about making the most of it, even down to the last moment with throwing confetti over the audience. This hasn’t been an “opener” or “support” slot at all, this has been a fully comprehensive show and set in its own right. Simple Plan have done themselves proud, a fantastic show that stands on its own and has been a wonderful start to tonight’s event.
I popped outside for a brief moment and I’ve come back into what I can only describe as shenanigans! There’s a blimp in the air focusing camera on random parts of the audience in addition to cameras throughout the crowd focusing on people twerking to the music while commentary blasts out over the speakers. Two random people in the nosebleed seats also get random upgrades from a dude in a gorilla suit while the camera follows them to their upgrade while AC/DC plays! This is quite the upgrade of show style since the last time I got to see them at Manchester Arena a few years ago!
The crowd loudly chants the countdown, and it’s time for The Offspring to get started!, opening with ‘Come Out And Play’ – because why not go with the old stuff to kick things off eh? But not just that, with ‘Want You Bad’ they’re going with some big sing-along classics right out of the gates, getting people comfortable before slipping some new stuff in eh?
I really have to admit that The Offspring have outdone themselves with the production on this show too. Three massive screens behind them with various images and live action effects alongside two huge screens floating either side of the stage with a smattering of lights across the roof of the stage in addition to two massive horizontal light bars above and below the screens. It’s absolutely incredible how they took their last tour setup and one-upped it in such an extravagant fashion. From my point of view I can’t quite see the band super well because I’ve got an army of tall Dutchmen in front of my vision because that’s just how it is here but the engrossing production is more than visible!
The Offspring subverted the expectations with playing ‘Hit That’ before not quite hitting the bridge of the song and launching into ‘Original Prankster’ and playing a somewhat abridged version of that also. I suppose it’s a good way of getting two of your most well known songs out of the way in a quick manner because there’s still so much else to get through in a headline set.
A short movie plays while two large skeletons inflate either side of the stage, adding yet more interesting parts of their production into the fold.
The variety of music they’re doing through their catalogue is pretty deep though! They’re even reaching back to ‘Smash’ with ‘Make It Alright’ and ‘Bad Habit’ with, as per punk fashion, both songs barely last two minutes. But of course they pad it out a bit with talking complete rubbish between the songs but that’s just how The Offspring roll, they’re here to fuck about just as much as the crowd is.
A random segue to Black Sabbath/Ozzy, a small cut of ‘Paranoid’ followed by ‘Crazy Train’ and given the year we’ve had it’s probably more than appropriate. Following this up with a metal cover of ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’ was a genius stroke though, with accompanying ridiculous visuals, all part of The Offspring’s sense of humour. A bit more messing about and a blast through a piano version of ‘Gone Away’ gets followed up with a Beatles cover of ‘Hey Jude’, which isn’t exactly what I expected from a pop punk band, but I’m quite happy with it either way.
I feel like we’re in the home stretch for the show at this point – we’ve passed 10pm – and they confirm it by kicking off with ‘Why Don’t You Get A Job?’ and unleash loads of massive beachballs into the crowd: yeah this is it! Of course that’s followed up with ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)’ with a bit of messing about and the cameras focus on a lady down the front wearing the full getup of the character from the infamous music video. And finishing off the main part of the set is ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ and I’ve probably shot my voice to bits by this point but the moment they finish, the Offspring blimp is back around the crowd demanding ‘Dance Fucker Dance’ so we’re clearly not done yet.
‘You’re Gonna Go Far Kid’ has amazingly ended up one of their biggest songs despite coming way later in their career compared to other big songs. Finally playing things out with ‘Self Esteem’ wraps up a pretty staggering setlist that’s managed to cover all the bases of their biggest songs while still managing to champion newer material that’s managed to find itself settled as a solid part of their catalogue.