London, England - Wembley Arena
January 21, 2001



The Offspring: Wembley Arena, London

Two hours after Limp Bizkit ascend the top of the UK singles charts, The Offspring walk on stage before 10,000 rabid fans. Is this going to be the year punk and metal wrestle away the charts from pop?

As The Offspring blast into 'Bad Habit' you could certainly make a convincing case. The assembled throng of kids in the middle go mental and from the side of the arena resemble nothing less than a swarm of writhing bees desperately trying to reach the honey. Limbs fly precariously all over the place and security know it's going to be one of those nights.

The opening salvo is little short of flawless with 'All I Want' and 'Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)' driving the moshers into three-chord nirvana.

During the latter song, a percussionist is revealed behind a garage door bearing the band's backdrop, which is a nice touch. Even more incongruous are the foam bubbles that slowly drift onto the front rows at periodic intervals during the gig. They provide a certain calm above the storm raging below.

But then garage doors and bubbles are a neat summation of The Offspring, the big kids that never grew up. Nobody here tonight wants to hear social commentary - though it's buried amongst the breakneck chords and singalong choruses.

No, everyone is here to get sweaty and forget the world outside and see if they can pogo higher than guitarist Noodles, who effortlessly covers every inch of stage despite looking like he could be most of the audience's dad.

Despite the fact that the album tracks tend to blur into an indistinguishable mush after a while no-one really cares. There's even an 'intermission', where a very large gentlemen wearing nothing but a helmet and a thong gets the crowd to wave their arms in the air and show just how sweaty they've got.

No such exertions for the band - vocalist Dexter Holland perches on an inflatable pink armchair watching the merriment.

After that brief diversion they run through possibly the cheekiest Beatles rip-off of all-time, 'Why Don't You Get A Job?'. Then it's back to the rifferama - 'Smash', recent hit 'Original Prankster', 'The Kids Aren't Alright', and closing with that anthem to teen frustration, 'Self Esteem'.

They return to the stage to make sure the crowd are thoroughly drained with the track that broke down the mainstream's doors, 'Come Out And Play', and finish bang up to date with forthcoming single 'Want You Bad'. It's big, it's dumb, but the bees, sorry kids, in the middle, clutching their soaking souvenir T-shirts, all leave with smiles on their faces. Buzzin'.

By Simon P Ward, from DotMusic - January 22nd, 2001