Pop-punk rockers The Offspring returned to Victoria for the first time since November 2022 for another sold out show at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
It was the first of a 8-stop western Canadian leg of their ‘Supercharged Worldwide’ tour. Tickets for this concert have been sold out for weeks.
For those who were at the band’s previous show in Victoria, much of the set was very familiar but some amped up theatrics. During the intermission before they took the stage, The Offspring’s blimp drone was back floating around the arena but with an added digital LED marquee while the waiting audience participated in a kiss cam, a head banging cam, a booty cam, and a F*** You cam where both adults and kids alike got the chance to flip the bird on the stage’s big screen. If you were a parent wanting to bring a kid for some G-rated entertainment, this was a definite sign you were in the wrong place. With that said, it was all smiles on camera and no one looked offended.
The Offspring brought pretty much everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to crowd pleasing visual concert gimmicks. It was as if their management asked the band, “Do you want giant inflatable skeletons, fog, confetti, streamers, a grand piano, beach balls or whacky inflatable tube men?” and the answer was just, “Yes.” Sadly, for media photographers, we were unable to capture any of those moments as they all happened after the allotted first three songs media are allowed to cover a concert.
The setlist was nearly identical to the one three years ago. This time though, they paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with portions of Black Sabbath songs. There was also a a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ that was unexpected.
In 2022, Josh Freese was drumming for The Offspring before joining The Foo Fighters in Spring of 2023. Freese was not back despite no longer being with Foo Fighters. Bad Religion’s Jamie Miller pulled double duty.
In the latter half of the show it was apparent that Dexter Holland’s voice was struggling a bit with upper register notes. The issue was unfortunately most prominent when Holland performed ‘Gone Away’ solo behind a grand piano. Not sure if it was a cold or if it was because this was The Offspring’s fifth show in seven days? He definitely sounded better in 2022.
Vocal imperfections aside, the sold out crowd were still enjoying the show a lot. A small mosh pit was circling and shoving in the middle of the GA section. Fans were singing along to all of their radio hits. Numerous people were dressed up as the white guy from the ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’ music video.
Noodles’ guitar solos were on point and the banter between him and Dexter Holland was as entertaining as last time.
Opening the night and returning to Victoria for the first time in more than two decades were L.A. punk rockers Bad Religion. The band last performed in the city at the Victoria Curling Club in 2003.
I think for a lot of people in attendance, despite their position on the card, Bad Religion was considered their headliner. The band certainly had a co-headlining level set of 19 songs.
There was one man in a section to the right of where I was sitting that suddenly stood up to start violently pumping his fist and headbanging during the performance of ‘True North’. Clearly it was one of his favourite songs. The woman beside him was also doing some headbanging from her seat.
Seeing how relatively mild the mosh pit in the GA floor was for this show made me wonder how sweaty and rowdy the mosh pit must have been like at the curling club 23 years ago. I feel like there would have been crowd surfers everywhere.
The tour continues with more BC stops at Rogers Arena Saturday January 24 and Kelowna Sunday January 25.
