The sun is beaming onto your crusty Blink-182 t-shirt while the smell of hair gel and smoke fills the air. Not to be mistaken for a scene out of 'American Pie', it's 2022 and The Offspring and Sum 41 are about to play the Adelaide Entertainment Centre (5 December).
On Monday, thousands of punk rockers (varying in age and hair styles) came together to scream in unison to the songs that we have all played on repeat.With 2021 release 'Let The Bad Times Roll' The Offspring's first album since 2012, the SoCal icons are at the beginning of their Australian tour (which sold out when tickets first when on sale back in March, 2020).
There was a buzzing energy in the air as punters lined up to have their ticket scanned, however no one could have been prepared for just how insanely incredible the night was about to get. The venue quickly became a sea of bodies as rock & roll ballads were blasted from the speaker, fuelling the hype.
The lights dimmed, the crowd roared – this was Sum 41's cue to run onto the stage. The start of the set was explosive (literally) with pyrotechnics lighting up the arena as the distinct opening chords to 'Motivation' blasted through the speakers.
In true frontman style, Deryck Whibley had the attention of everyone, ditching playing guitar to run laps of the stage – bringing a fresh energy to Sum 41's set.
The crowd was kept engaged with games like 'what side can scream the loudest' plus charismatic band banter. In a world where so much of our lives is lived through screens, there were more fists in the air than Snapchat stories being filmed.
After playing a run of genre-defining pop-punk hits, the '90s teenagers (who are now middle-aged moshers) in the crowd got their dose of nostalgia when Sum 41 played 'Makes No Difference', off their debut EP 'Half Hour Of Power'.
Fans were left with croaky voices before The Offspring had even begun and there was one question on everyone's mind: How the hell do you follow that up?'
After performing more than 1,100 shows across the globe, this definitely wasn't The Offspring's first rodeo. Ironically, 'Come Out And Play' was their first song, and it was evident the night was (somehow) going to get a whole lot crazier.
They had us on a high and we didn't come down. Focusing on albums post 'Smash' (1994), the entire set was packed with the hits from 'the good old days'. After an exhilarating performance of title track 'Let The Bad Times Roll', The Offspring jumped straight back into the classics with 'Staring At The Sun' and 'Spare Me The Details'.
Despite a career that spans a whopping 38 years, their love for performing is as authentic and real as ever. Adelaide was treated to watching Noodles play with himself – in other words he 'noodled' on his guitar and the crowd got to catch their collective breath.
The ecstatic energy was quickly picked back up with a cover of The Ramones' 'Blitzkrieg Bop', arguably one of the most over-played songs, however Dexter made it his own.
After finishing the set with 'Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)' and 'The Kids Aren't Alright', The Offspring briefly left the stage, before returning for an encore of 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid' and 'Self Esteem'.
Waking up on Tuesday and getting ready for work would have been extremely hard for lot of people. . . but the more you suffer, the more it shows you really care, right?!
