Offspring Can Still Draw A Crowd

Molson Amphitheatre

Toronto

on Jul 2 2009

Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

07/03/2009 10:02am

I was probably one of only two people at the Amphitheatre who was there primarily to see opening act Frank Turner (the other being my friend Michael, who was putting up the British singer/songwriter at his house for the night), and the two bands that followed didn't sway my opinion.

Turner's Love Ire & Song (which was recently picked up by Epitaph) features brilliant, literate songwriting when it's at its best, and it often is. The two intimate performances I caught with Turner fronting a pick-up band in Austin, Texas during the South By Southwest Music Festival in March were among my favourites of the week and made him the talk of the fest for many of my cronies.

Some sort of no-compete clause meant Turner couldn't play a club show in Toronto despite holes in his schedule that would have allowed it, so the nine-song solo acoustic opening set on this tour was the best I was going to get on this side of the border.

Turner's first Canadian performance opened with Love Ire & Song opener "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous," and most of the set's highlights came from the album — with the notable exception of "Nashville Tennessee."

I knew some of my western New York friends were probably responsible for Turner getting "really wasted" the night before when he played Buffalo, N.Y.'s tiny Mohawk Place. The 27-year-old mentioned his wild night before striking into "The Real Damage," a song about being so drunk that he lost an entire day.

The heart-tugging "Long Live The Queen" was great, as was "Photosynthesis" and the set-closing "The Ballad Of Me And My Friends."

Seeing Turner alone on a huge stage didn't match seeing him in close quarters with a band. But although no-one in the sparse early evening crowd seemed to really get into his performance, he received warm applause and hopefully convinced a few folks to seek out Love Ire & Song and look forward to Epitaph's September release of Poetry Of The Deed.

I've never developed much of an appreciation for Pennywise's southern California hardcore punk over their 20-year career, but it was obvious many in the crowd had. "Bro Hymn" has been adapted as a post-goal song by the Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers, and you can't deny its infectiousness.

"Society" was my other favourite song from the loud, big bottom-ended, testosterone-filled punk set by the jeans, black T-shirt and baseball cap-clad quartet. Others were just as happy throwing down to "My Own Country," the mosh pit-activating "My Own Way Of Life," "Fuck Authority" and "Perfect People." There was also a sped-up cover of the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" that couldn't hold a candle to the original.

I listened to Smash quite a bit when it came out in 1994 (though I'm not sure how well it's aged) and gave The Offspring's subsequent four albums a shot, but admit to not knowing last year's Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace.

But even though the lawn section behind the seats was closed for this show, I was somewhat surprised The Offspring could pack the rest of the Amphitheatre — and that people of all ages were so passionate about them.

The crowd rose in unison and stayed that way for the rest of the night when The Offspring hit the stage with "Stuff Is Messed Up." Things hit another level a few songs later when lead singer Dexter Holland picked up a guitar for the first time and the initial Middle Eastern/surf guitar-influenced opening riff of "Come Out And Play" took hold.

The rest of the band members (who aside from lead guitarist Noodles were pretty anonymous and added virtually nothing visually to the performance) evacuated the stage after seven songs and left Holland at a piano that was wheeled out to centre stage. He played a bit of the Charlie Brown Christmas theme before he got more serious and performed "Gone Away," a semi-ballad that brought some lighters out in the audience.

Holland then strapped on an acoustic guitar for "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" and was soon joined by the rest of the band. A muscular version of "Gotta Get Away" and "Half-Truism" followed, and the crowd sang along to the "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da"-like tune of "Why Don't You Get A Job?"

It was then time for a very brief intermission, complete with cheesy music, a hotdog graphic on the light board behind the drum kit, beach balls in the stagefront pit and a juggler and a guy on a pogo stick on stage.

After that quick breather, The Offspring returned with "Americana" and "All I Want" before Noodles went for some easy cheers with the many drunks in attendance by proclaiming that "the beaver in Canada fuckin' rules."

"Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" had the 99 per cent Caucasian crowd trying out dance moves. It wasn't pretty.

A 60-minute set was followed by a heartily embraced three-song encore that included "Want You Bad" and ended with "Self Esteem." There were people jumping and pumping their arms everywhere, and it was almost like the clock had been turned back 15 years to when Smash became the biggest selling independent album of all time.

The Offspring aren't an important part of my life, but obviously still are for the 10,000 who came out and played on Thursday night.