The Offspring's Dexter Holland climbed behind the piano to perform a majestic rendition of 'Gone Away' during the band's sold-out performance at Manchester's AO Arena on Sunday evening.placeholder image
The Offspring's Dexter Holland climbed behind the piano to perform a majestic rendition of 'Gone Away' during the band's sold-out performance at Manchester's AO Arena on Sunday evening. | Photo from Federica Burelli
Combining masterful musicianship with witty on-stage banter, inflatable skeletons, tube men and balls, The Offspring returned to Manchester for the first time in four years, delivering a supercharged set on a night of celebration at AO Arena.
From firing up a large drone-powered blimp, which hovered around the arena with a camera attached to it, to introducing a hype man wearing a gorilla suit, engaging the fans in karaoke sessions of A-Ha’s ‘Take On Me’ and entertaining the 15,000+ capacity crowd with celebrity look-alikes, booty cams and kiss cams in an intermission that felt similar to an interval at an NBA game, The Offspring are a band who know how to go all-out when it comes to creating an unforgettable live experience, which leaves you craving more.
The five-piece, who have sold over 45 million records across their four-decade career, becoming one of the best-selling rock bands of all time, are like a fine wine that continues to get better with age, and the engaging interlude set the tone perfectly for a rollercoaster of a set. The band were in red-hot form from the outset as they opened proceedings with a high-octane rendition of ‘Come Out & Play’ that was fuelled by big, distorted tones and powerhouse drumming before an equally exhilarating performance of ‘Want You Bad’ that sparked mosh pits galore in the standing pit.
Having been away from Manchester for four years, the Californian five-piece were eager to make up for lost time, bringing out the hits in full force during the opening exchange, launching into an impeccably punchy ‘Looking Out For #1’ before unleashing a barrage of chugging guitars and hard-hitting drumming on a majestic performance of ‘Staring At The Sun.
The electro-infused ‘Hit That’ is delivered masterfully, seamlessly blending into a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Original Prankster’, which helped maintain a relentless moshing session in the standing pit. The camaraderie between Holland and Noodles, who have forged a close bond across their 40 years performing together in the band, was an undoubted highlight in the performance.
In a series of a light-hearted moments of patter, Noodles boldly claimed that over a million people were in attendance in Manchester, which Holland expressed doubt at, the pair debated whether “intelligent people curse way more”, while the lead guitarist guided the crowd to scream “f*** yeah” repeatedly and even volunteered to “embarrass” the frontman by acknowledging Holland’s hot sauce, his status as a pilot and even Holland's PhD in molecular biology.
Fittingly, the second-half of the set served as a celebration of music as the band blended a mix of covers and their own material into the setlist. The five-piece paid tribute to Black Sabbath with a snippet of ‘Paranoid’ before launching into a cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Crazy Train’, which sparked chants of “Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy” – chants in which the band fully embraced.
A flawless, solo, piano-led rendition of ‘Gone Away’ from Holland saw a shift away from The Offspring’s brand of punk-rock was sandwiched between a spellbinding performance of The Ramones’ classic ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’, which saw the band’s gorilla hype man pacing his way across the stage, and a performance of The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’, which saw the sold-out crowd singing their hearts out in unison.
As the band closed out the performance, the five-piece knocked a rendition of ‘You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid’ out of the park before closing out the show with the euphoric singalongs of ‘Self Esteem’, ending the night with a masterclass of a performance. “Manchester, you f***ing rule,” Noodles added as the band prepared to depart for the final time. So do you, The Offspring.
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