The Offspring returned to London to play at Crystal Palace Park (Image: Federica Burelli)
“We’re making history tonight,” Dexter Holland shouts. It’s not the first time this phrase has been at their show tonight (June 28). But on this occasion, The Offspring’s charismatic frontman is urging a crowd of 20,000-plus people to create a wall of death. Not to one of their many iconic anthems, but to ‘Love Story’ by pop megastar Taylor Swift.
“Taylor Swift is punk-rock!” he calls out, before hoards of the crowd throw themselves at one another to a fast-tempoed: “Marry me, Juliet / You’ll never have to be alone.” It is just one example of the light-hearted, unpretentious atmosphere the Californian punk rock heroes are capable of nurturing.
Thousands of fans made their way to the park on a Sunday night (Image: Federica Burelli)
It hasn’t even been a year since the band were in the UK for their Supercharged Tour, where they played a spectacular, sold-out show at London’s O2 Arena. And while they are hitting Crystal Palace Park without any new material, the band offer the same crowd-pleasing performance.
After being rallied up by a quality line up of support acts, rounded off by a joyous set from the Dropkick Murphys, the main show kicks off with longtime friend Jason ‘Blackball’ McLean joining the band on stage for the opening number. Delivering the iconic line: “You gotta keep ‘em separated” on ‘Come Out and Play,’ he sets a feverish tone for the rest of the evening.
“It’s going to be a hell of a show, I can tell,” beams Noodles, guitarist and the band’s leading MC, and he isn’t wrong. The early set of tracks already has the crowd singing along to celebrated anthems like ‘All I Want’ and ‘Want You Bad’. Flanked by two blue, 20ft inflatable skeletons, the band continue to rip through a string of classic fan-favourites including ‘Original Prankster’, ‘Make It All Right’, and the explosive ‘Bad Habit’.
A master of playing to the crowd, Noodles jokes mid-set about it being the “biggest show we’ve ever played here,” exaggerating the numbers to over a million. He suggests they’ve set a new record before quipping: “Nope, now two people have left.” As the set continues, he indulges his own love of “cuss words” by leading the crowd in an a cappella chorus of ‘f**k yeahs’ Freddie Mercury-style. It’s the same jokes we’ve heard before, but it doesn’t make them any less entertaining.
Noodles loves to play to the crowd (Image: Federica Burelli)
Despite being a Sunday night it’s a whole family affair, with young children being held up on their parents’ shoulders. In one heartwarming moment, the camera pans to a young kid in the crowd who turns around to reveal the number ’31’ painted on his back in a brilliant tribute to the iconic lyric from ‘Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)’.
Unsurprisingly, this exact track remains the crowning glory of the set. Accompanied by flailing skydancers and multiple ‘white guy’ impersonators who join the band on stage for a synchronised dance, the set up is a personification of the band’s unchanged banter and is always the most quintessentially Offspring-esque feature of the night.
One unlikely twist comes when Dexter returns for the encore, without saying a single word, kitted out in an England football shirt to finish off the night with ‘You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid’ and ‘Self-Esteem’. Unsurprisingly, his new outfit instantly inspires a spontaneous a cappella rendition of ‘Three Lions’ echoing across the park.
Decades on, they still possess the same fun-loving energy that made them famous. They may be playing the same hits with the same scripted jokes, but now they’re capable of providing tighter, more intentional performances that bring thousands of fans out on a Sunday night.