Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Civic Plaza
June 2, 1997



Live In Concert!

On June 2, 1997, Phoenix Civic Plaza played host to those touring fiends, The OFFSPRING. Accompanied by three opening bands, of which I only saw two, they filled the venue with adoring fans and one of the largest moshe pits I've seen. The one sour note to the evening was the venue itself. Acoustically it was a terrible place to hold a concert (concrete floor, concrete and steel walls, steel beamed ceilings with the air vents hanging down below the beams - although those were appreciated for the air conditioning provided!). It also seemed as if either the speakers had a major problem, or the guy doing sound mix needed some practice. The reverb from the bass and overwhelming drums made it difficult to hear the vocals and guitars, and I hate to think how bad my ears would have hurt if I hadn't been wearing ear plugs. (I know, I know! Ear plugs? Well, when you go to as many concerts as I do, it's a necessity unless you want to lose your hearing a few years down the road!) It also seemed as if Dexter was having voice problems, but that could very well have been from trying to be heard over all that bass and drums.

The two opening acts I did get to see were fair and good. The first one, A.F.I, a hardcore punk band out of California, put on a pretty good show at least. Their actual songs weren't anything to write home about, and then there was that same little problem of too much bass and drums, but boy did these guys have energy plus! They didn't jump, they leaped into the air and half way across the stage while they sang - even the guys playing instruments. Everything was so well timed as they passed each other in mid-air, I'm tempted to think they had a choreographer! Since it was so difficult to hear the vocals and melody line, I can't really comment on their music other than it was loud, but it looked like they were having a great time and so did the audience.

The next act, L 7, also from California (L.A.) was more of a hard rock style all female band. They made a great production out of their entrance onto the stage, and I could even hear some of the vocals. They opened with a great song (I wish I knew the name, but I couldn't hear them well enough) that really showcased the vocal qualities of the two lead singers. A combination of great harmonies, and a really strange voice accompaniment by one of the girls, really set the tone for this band. I'm trying to track down their label or publicist to see if we can't review their new album in AMZ. I'd like to hear their music the way it's really supposed to sound. Overall, they were pretty good and again gained good audience response, but folks were getting anxious to see The OFFSPRING - already an hour late to hit the stage.

After what seemed like hours of light and sound checks, The OFFSPRING finally arrived to the sound of gun blasts and strobe flashes. On their recent album, the first "song" is "The Disclaimer." To start their concert there's also an interesting narrative, but it was said too fast to catch it all, and mostly consisted of "Have a great fuckin' time!" I've already mentioned the sound was lousy, but they put on one hell of a light show!! The opening number is the only one I'm not positive about, because they were still screwing with the sound board during the song, but I think it was "Change The World." Almost all the songs came from "Ixnay On The Hombre," with a few others mixed in.

The next song was an old one called "Beheaded" which I wasn't familiar with, but after that came "Cool To Hate" and it was really awesome. The lighting was cool, the audience went nuts, there were so many bodies travelling above the moshe pit I thought they'd collide, and Dexter just about wrecked his voice for good on that one - at least it seemed so at the time! Wasting no time, the band immediately moved on to "Leave It Behind." Kids from 8 to 48 were dancing up a storm by this time in the entire room. This was a no seats, general admission concert, so everybody just found a spot to stand and did their thing amongst the sea of OFFSPRING t-shirts sporting about 10 different logos and several colors. Keeping the pace going, Noodles launched his great guitar intro to "Amazed," and this was at least one of the songs where you could make out the vocals and guitar - and the backup singing and harmonies. Since this is a song I really like, I was pleased to be able to actually hear it!

Moving right along, we were treated to more great guitar playing from Noodles on "The Meaning of Life." This was probably one of the best songs performed that night. Unbelievable energy, great song, audience singing and dancing, and what moshing. A couple of bodies almost landed on the sound mix board. (Gee, maybe that would have helped!) Of course after that we HAD to be blasted with "Mota." After listening to the album for so many months those two songs are almost in-seperable! A little heavy on the bass and drums again, but still lots of fun and a great light show on this number also. Next up was the number I was afraid wouldn't make it to the concert. Not only did it make it, it was an act in iteself - INTERMISSION! Along with the "Intermission " music from the album, bubbles were floating from both sides of the stage. The band, carrying silver trays, pretended to be serving the people in the audience. This part of the concert was a real kick to experience!

After a brief consultation with the audience, Dexter launched into the song following INTERMISSION on the album, "All I Want." This was another high energy, great light show, super audience response song. I didn't catch what the next song was - couldn't hear again, but The OFFSPRING had another little act in store for the audience. This time a play on the "should we do Heavy Metal?" thing. First Noodles did a short take off on Guns 'n Roses in slo-mo, then jumped up on the drum stand to play a stentorian version of "Black Sabbath's" "Iron Man." This got a big laugh from the audience, and at least Noodles must be a frustrated comedian! The last song of their set was "Smash," and about this time I'd had enough and was on my way out to beat the traffic.

Once "Encore!" reached a roar, the band returned to the stage to play "Gone Away." I was already outside, but all the exit doors were open, and actually the band sounded better from outside than they had inside. At least there was some balance between the instruments and vocals without all that concrete and steel reverbing all over the place. I did stay to listen to this number, because it's one of my favorites, and The OFFSPRING sounded like I'd been waiting for them to all night. I booked before the last encore because it really is a hassle to get out of that venue, so I didn't hear which song it was, but the strobes were going fast and furious. All in all it was a good concert. The sound problems were not the band's fault, and they really did put on a good show. You can see how hard Dexter works from the pictures here, and the other guys do too. If they come to your town, hope for a better venue and go see The OFFSPRING. It's more than worth it!

By Mary Ellen Gustafson