New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
May 22, 1997



The Offspring Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center May 22, 1997 New York

"You know what I just realized?" the Offspring's lead singer, Dexter Holland, asked the packed house in front of him, with no small amount of drama. "There's a lot of people here tonight."

A decent turnout should not surprise a near-Ph.D. fronting a multiplantinum punk band. But during the course of their hour-long show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, in New York, the Offspring never missed an opportunity to work up the crowd, be it with Holland's easygoing humor or a lighting system that would do an arena-rock act proud.

This night, the Offspring deliver the goods despite the absence of drummer Ron Welty for most of the show (former Vandals drummer Josh Freese filled in).They thrashed through "Cool to Hate" with the anger they learned from '80s hardcore, hit a funky ska groove on "What Happened to You?" and tore through "Come Out and Play" punctuating the song's pauses by turning on every light in the house. Such moves aren't exactly original, and most of the Offspring's material is similarly derivative. But, like the best of their '90s pop-punk peers, they proved that a group with enough showmanship and personality can make even the most timeworn antics and music sound powerful - if not exactly fresh.

From "Rolling Stone" magazine - July 24, 1997

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