Orange County, CA - Chapman University's Hutton Sports Center
April 19, 1996

"We're not Rocket From the Crypt," said Bryan "Dexter" Holland. The crowd had pretty much figured it out by that point. No, it was those punk do-gooders the Offspring, with another surprise hometown show for an Orange County crowd that was expecting to see San Diego's Rocket From the Crypt open for Rancid at a sold-out benefit show Friday night (April 19). But Rocket singer John Reis had suffered a slipped disc in his back. This had forced Rocket to drop off a Thursday night (April 18) show at the Glass House in Pomona; the Beastie Boys performing as "Quasar" were the replacement band that night. But on Saturday, it was the Offspring (which share manager Jim Guerinot with Rancid) who agreed to fill in for a night of hits and a peek at the band's next album. So a couple of thousand fans at Chapman University's Hutton Sports Center - packed a wee bit past capacity? - got a show that likely could have nearly filled nearby Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

Long story short: Rancid still ruled the show, with moshing and surfing every bit as intense on songs such as "Roots Radical" and "Black and Blue" as on hits "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho." In fact, the Offspring's biggest cheers came when Rancid's Lars Frederiksen popped on-stage to deliver the "You gotta keep 'em separated" tagline in "Come Out and Play." The only allusion to the bands' troubles with their shared record company, Epitaph, was when the Offspring performed some new material. Guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman noted that the band had "a fuckin' lot of new songs ... for whoever wants to do a record with us." Or, given the bad acoustics of the gym, he may have said nothing of the sort. For the record, the new material features Holland's soaring vocals in front of some breakneck, yet restrained, guitar work - if that makes any sense. The bands, along with Orange County punkers U.S. Bombs, raised $5,000 for Mary's Kitchen, a food bank. The Offspring haven't appeared live since last December's "Rock For Choice" benefit.

By Mark Brown, from Addicted To Noise - April 21st, 1996
Addicted To Noise L. A. correspondent Brian Gross also contributed to this report.