New York, NY - Roseland
February 26, 1999



Post Punk Offspring Fly Right At Roseland

New YORK - "The bottom line of it is, that you shouldn't try to be something you're not." Dexter, frontman of the Offspring has said about the bands recent hit, the moching "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) The Orange County California based quartet lived to that rule Friday Night at Roseland, at the first show of a soldout three night stand. The show included novelty songs such as Pretty Fly and the singsongy calypso-flavored "Why Don't You Get a Job?"

There were also visual touches that wouldn't be out of place at a Hanson concert, like showing of confetti, streams of bubbles blown from onstage machines and a surpise appearance by the star of the Pretty Fly video whose purposely gawky dancing cracked even Holland. Most of the music though was the kind of hard, fast simple but uplifting Ramones - influenced punk rock this band has been playing since the late 80's with varying degrees of success - while 3 of the bands five albums have sold dissapointingly, anyways back to the article, 1994's Smash and 1998's Americana have been big hits reachig a mainsteam pop, as well as a hardcore punk audeience. This was the sort of show that could expand the Offspring's following even further, Virtually every song had a strong pop hook, and Holland's unpretentious everypunk persona made his 2 sides, the angry young man and the cranky smirking oversee - of modern life equally believable. At 33, he is getting pretty long in the tooth for the punk game but he's dealing with it in the best way possible. He writes songs about things he cares about, not things a record company might think his young target audience would care about. The show was notably light on simplistic teen-angst anthems. Instead songs attacked slackers (Why Don't You Get a Job?), criminals (Walla Walla), wannabes (Pretty Fly), casual violence (Bad Habit, Come Out and Play), nihilist (Cool to Hate) and social malaise (The Kids Aren't Alright and Americana), of course this was probably beside the point for the moshing masses assembled on the Roseland dance floor, pumped up by the buoyant rythms of drummer Ron Welty and bassist Greg K, and the grinding riffs of guitarist, Noddles. Added to the mix from time to time were quirky surf-rock guitar leads by Holland and percussion from two supplemental band members . The music was far from perfect backing vocals on americana were off-key. Hollands voice petered out of key during the acappella segment of Bad Habit. They rythem section ran out of steam halfway to Come Out And Play.

But pristine perfection isn't a pre-requisite for a punk band, even one with as many pop hits as the Offspring. Opening band Ozomatli is like the Offspring based in the LA area, but couldn't be more different in terms of influences. This nine-peice ethnically diverse band played it's percussion-heavy mix of hip hop, salsa, and funk with the belebratory flair of a New Orleans mardi gras band. Several songs were built around chanted choruses and raucous horn riffs, and one featured both hip hop record scratching and the insistent beat of a tabla (an indian percussion instrument). Band members danced hopped and pumped their fists in unision and at both the start and end of the set they marched through the blub's crowded dance floor playing their instruments. Pretty Fly by any standard.

By Jay Lustig, from Star Ledger