The Offspring played a show at Roger’s Place in Edmonton last night, November 21st, as part of their Let The Bad Times Roll tour. Their guests were the ‘iconic’ Montrealers, Simple Plan. I was lucky enough to win some tickets through a local alt-rock radio station, Sonic 102.9, and I brought my friend Kelly. We were both there for Simple Plan and they did not disappoint.
They played all the songs you’d want to see Simple Plan play after more than a decade; ‘I’d Do Anything‘, ‘Welcome To My Life‘, ‘Addicted‘, ‘Jump’, ‘Shut Up!’,’ I’m just a Kid’, and ‘Perfect’ with some newer tracks mixed in. They were hyping up the crowd between every song and closer to the end of their set, their drummer, Chuck, got up and yelled at crowd in his cute lil frenchie accent, put on an Oilers jersey, and crowd surfed all over GA.
Did I cringe a bit when they were yelling about how much Edmonton fucking rocks? Yes, yes I did, but they still know how to put on a great show and the last time I saw them, I was but a tiny emo kid in Vancouver. I needed this :’)
The Offspring came ready to party. They had a blimp flying around during their setup to drop guitar picks, a guy with a monkey mask on stage slingshotting t-shirts into the crowd, and the screen showed a kiss and headbang cam. Them being interactive with the crowd during the “intermission” took me back to my younger concert days – my my, how things have changed.
Hits are hits and the Offspring can’t really do any wrong but their set sounded terrible. You could hardly hear Dexter and while the crowd was singing along with them, they were not nearly as exuberant as they had been with Simple Plan. I’ll be honest, we left early and didn’t feel like we were missing anything (except for most of their hits! oops.)
Beyond hearing the songs live, I have a deep appreciation for this band that was there when it all started. I was stoked to see these oldies with my own two eyes and I would probably see them again.
But the most interesting part of the night was my Uber ride home. My driver, David, told me he’d never heard of either band. Which I was ok with as he was an older man. But then he said he’s never paid any attention to music nor has he ever had a favourite band/artist?
I knew people like this existed – I’ve seen their posts on Reddit, so I knew they were out there somewhere. And, I guess, I am not entirely surprised that they come from St. Albert? What a freak. He’s only ever been to one concert in his life, and it was a gift to his wife – CELINE DION!! I mean if you’re gonna go just once in your lifetime, it better be for Celine Dion.
Bye!