The Offspring
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC
May 8th
After only a year away, it was quickly evident that The Offspring hadn’t overstayed their welcome once they walked out in front of a full house at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena last night (May 8th).
For someone whose first iTunes download was an Offspring classic – “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” – in 2009, lining up amongst the hordes of fans gave a buzzy feeling.
Emerging out of California in the ’80s, The Offspring rose to become one of punk-rock’s most enduring bands. They first toured these parts all the way back in 1995, 30 long years ago. The lighting and VFX work has definitively had an upgrade since then, but their Thursday night setlist was a wonderful time capsule of the confident sound of punk music of the ’90s and early 2000s.
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Before The Offspring arrived, though, the similarly-natured Simple Plan belted out hits like “I’m Just a Kid” and “Summer Paradise”, showcasing main-act energy. Energy levels were maintained through the 30 minutes of downtime between Simple Plan and the headline band through a drone-powered blimp that traversed the crowd, dropping guitar picks, barking orders, and, most cheekily, forcing crowd members to participate in a dreaded digital triumvirate: kiss cam, headbanging cam, and booty-shaking cam (google at your own risk).
@offspring Learning to fly… a blimp on tour.
Although the tour took its name from their 2024 album, Supercharged, The Offspring’s setlist was a greatest hits parade, with a healthy sprinkling of interludes (“Back in Black”, “Smoke on the Water”, and a furiously rocking “In the Hall of the Mountain King”).
From classics such as “Want You Bad”, “Why Don’t You Get a Job?”, and “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” to more recent cuts like “Looking Out for #1” and “Make It Alright”, every era was on full display.
It was impressive how seamlessly Dexter Holland and Noodles transitioned from their (finely) aged speaking voices into their traditional vocal styles, reminiscent of some snot-nosed, rebellious twenty-somethings who stopped listening to their parents a long time ago.
The more recent additions to the lineup, Jonah Nimoy, Todd Morse, and Brandon Pertzborn, all got their moment in the spotlight too, proving they were a formidable match for the band’s OG members in terms of skill and attitude.
This attitude came to the fore when Noodles encouraged a lengthy call and response in a similar vein to Freddie Mercury’s classic Live Aid moment; when he implored everyone to shout “f*ck yeah!”, the crowd happily obliged.
@not_bianca1 DEXTER POINTED AT ME #concert #theoffspring #melbourne #livemusic #fyp #90s #yourgonnagofarkid
In a time where nostalgia is increasingly used as a selling point on the live music scene circuit, finding the sweet spot where past glories are celebrated while an act still thrives in the present is a tightrope. However, The Offspring’s overt commitment to playful punk-rock humour still makes them so universally appealing, even as they wave their unapologetically ’90s-meets-’00s style gleefully in fans’ faces.
All one had to do was look around the Rod Laver Arena, spotting groups of teenagers, Gen Xers, and almost everyone else in between trying to out-sing each other to appreciate how popular The Offspring remain. Few bands can achieve such intergenerational appeal without the influence of intense parental pressure!
The Offspring finish their Australian tour with shows in Sydney and Brisbane. Find ticket information here.
