1990s punk legends The Offspring took to the stage of the 3Arena in Dublin last night, a long awaited concert for me, as I was meant to see them a few years ago, but couldn’t because of the COVID pandemic, this had a lot to live up to with the wait.
The Offspring show what they’ve learned touring the world for the last 35 years, with not necessarily one of the best concerts I’ve been to, but certainly one of the most fun.
The band themselves played great, they’ve honed in their technique over the years and deliver a stellar show night after night.
A particular highlight was the acoustic piano rendition of their song “Gone Away”, a heart wrenching song about the early loss of the lead singers loved one, which then turned into a full band performance for the last verse, incredibly powerful and incredibly moving:.
A concert with the bands hits of course, but also interspersed with snippets and covers of other songs, such as Black Sabbaths “Paranoid” and The Beatles “Hey Jude”.
The main spectacle of the show was surprisingly the part that I usually hate, the wait between the support act finishing, and the headliners coming on, but The Offspring came prepared.
With a man in a gorilla suit running around the stadium on camera, t shirt cannons, a miniature blimp, a kiss cam, a lookalike cam and so much more, that half an hour between flew by like nothing.
A band I am incredibly grateful to have finally saw after all this wait, and they did not disappoint.
Stage Setup: 10/10, an amazing set up, featuring inflatable tube men, giant inflatable skeletons, smoke, pyro and sparks, the aforementioned blimp, and so much more, a very well done and intricate setup, that was executed flawlessly.
Band Performance: 8/10, a very good performance from all the guys last night, obviously they may not be in their prime anymore, but they still deliver a high energy hour and half of a show with near perfection.
Support: 6/10, Canadian pop punk band Simple Plan were on the support slot, a band big enough in their own right to do a tour, but not really a band I was much impressed by, I kept feeling myself waiting for it to be over, with every one of their songs blending into one another as almost one long song, their hit “I’m Just a Kid” was a good crowd pleaser though.
Merchandise: 8/10, very nice merch selection, very standard prices, with some really intricate and well done artwork on all the t shirts and hoodies, with numerous unique t shirt designs and almost all of them featuring the tour dates on the back.
Crowd: 9/10, a remarkably energetic crowd, with it being hard to find a time where there wasn’t a mosh pit going, with great fan interaction the band knows exactly how to hype a crowd up, and even a band rendition of the famous Irish even chant “Ole Ole Ole”.
Overall: 8/10, A band that has successfully shown why they’re a staple of live music and touring for the last 30 years, with members on still performing lay greatly and amazing interaction and setup, their concerts are well worth a look.
Next up: The Last Dinner Party 14/111/25
Jays Concert Blog 