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The Offspring, a band that has been around since 1984, and has amassed quite the following finally returned to the Molson Amphitheatre after several years to bring about the “Shit Is Fucked Up Tour”.

Thursday July 2nd, 2009 is now a day that I will never forget as this has to be one of the best concerts I have ever been to hands down. Seriously this was something for the ears to behold, and is definitely one of those stories I’ll be telling my children or grandchildren that is if I ever end up deciding to have any. The setlist that night was absolutely phenomenal; they played basically every single one of their greatest hits plus a bunch of great stuff off of their latest album.

The opening acts for that night included Frank Turner and Pennywise. It really didn’t seem like anybody much cared for Frank Turner’s stuff, neither did I really, but overall he was okay on the whole although I couldn’t tell you for the life of me the name of a single one of his songs. Pennywise took it up a notch and delivered an above par performance interacting directly with the audience at different parts of their set as well as taking a request or two. Their setlist that night was impeccable with my favorite song of the their set being a cover of “Fight For Your Right” by The Beastie Boys just because I’m a huge fan of anything that has to do with The Beastie Boys.

As soon as The Offspring hit the stage though, I basically forgot everything and anything that had happened earlier on in the concert because these guys just surpassed all previous expectations. Their set that night was unrivalled and unparalleled. I find it so rare for a band not to play at least one awful song during an entire live set, but they seemed to pull it off that night which was spectacular. They played all of my old favorites including “All I Want”, “The Kids Aren’t Alright”, “Self-Esteem”, and some of my newer favorites as well such as “Shit is Fucked Up”, and “Half-Truism”. It was a sight that night you just had to see to believe.

They were just so energetic and alive that night and were really into everything that they were playing. It basically felt as though they were not only playing for the audience, but were also playing for themselves at the same time, which is one of the greatest things about being in a band sometimes; you can do both and keep the fans and yourself mutually happy.

They pulled a couple stunts here and there including one stunt where Dexter Holland was getting ready to play something on the piano when all of a sudden it looked as though he had just lost it with the audience, threw his cup of water at the front row and stormed off stage. Noodles then proceeded to come on stage and told everyone that he was too drunk to play piano and to help him get Dexter back on stage. Dexter came out and apologized and told everyone that he was just nervous and then continued on to play the Charlie Brown theme song and then proceeded to play a masterfully executed rendition of “Gone Away” on piano.

They joked around with the audience, kept everyone on their feet and entertained at all times. They even had an intermission at one point where they all walked off stage and their cover of “Tea for Two” aka “Intermission” off their album Ixnay on the Hombre started to play. The first guy to come out on stage was a heavier set male wearing a sombrero who waved his arms in unison to the song and had the audience following along with him. There were beach balls thrown out into the crowd, and then another guy in a sombrero came out on a pogo stick and almost made it across the stage and then fell down in a hilarious fashion. Another guy, yet again in a sombrero, was juggling across stage and it was just an amazing feat to behold. You just don’t see something like this at most concerts you go to. It gave the band a bit of a rest but kept us all enticed and occupied at the same time instead of just waiting around bored in anticipation for them to come out on stage again.

They ended off the whole concert perfectly with an encore that consisted of “Hammerhead”, “Want You Bad”, and “Self-Esteem”; a medley of three great songs to finish off the perfect night. I can’t stop talking about how amazing this concert really was and I doubt any future concert I go to may match this one although I could be very wrong on that point. I have no idea when they’ll be back in Toronto, but I have been hearing rumors of them possibly coming back to Toronto this winter, although I have no evidence to support this so I will dismiss those rumors for the meantime until I can get any solid proof. If they are playing a show near you though, I would definitely pick up a ticket and go see them, you will not regret it.

Setlist

1. Shit is Fucked Up
2. Bad Habit
3. You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid
4. Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)
5. The Meaning Of Life
6. Have You Ever
7. Staring At The Sun
8. Gone Away
9. Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?
10. Gotta Get Away
11. Half-Truism
12. Intermission
13. Americana
14. All I Want
15. Why Don’t You Get A Job
16. Pretty Fly For A White Guy
17. (Can’t Get My) Head Around You
18. The Kids Aren’t Alright

Encore:
19. Hammerhead
20. Want You Bad
21. Self Esteem

Come Out And Play(Keep ‘Em Seperated) by The Offspring
Gone Away by The Offspring
All I Want by The Offspring

Tags: concert