Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center
December 15, 2000

To be honest, I wasn't all that stoked to go to this show, even though the $28 I paid for my ticket is long gone. Technically, I'd seen all three bands before, although all of them were at festivals, and the only one I actually watched was the Offspring, who wasn't that impressive, but, alas, The Offspring continue to put out great records, and I was interested in seeing MxPx, despite not liking their last album particularly.

We arrived right at MxPx opened their set with "Party, My House, Be There," and stood easily 50 feet away from the stage. The crowd for this show was quite large, so we didn't bother to push up front. The trio had far too much stage space to deal with, and they seemed completely in awe of the gigantic banner behind them bearing their name. After the first song, Mike explained, "We're MxPx, if you couldn't tell from that huge fuckin' banner behind us." In general, I thought MxPx was very entertaining - they played only about eight songs, including "I'm Ok, You're Ok," "Chick Magnet," Responsibility," and a couple others. Before playing "Middlename," Mike explained "you all probably only know this song as the first track on 'Life In General.'" That's pretty much how things went - "Responsibility" and "Chick Magnet" drew some attention from the entire crowd, but in general, just the kids on the floor were really interested. They closed with "Punk Rawk Show," after only about 25 minutes of music. I've found that MxPx is really continuing the basic laws that bands like the Ramones set down many years ago - simple sound, catchy hooks. MxPx is a lot of fun to watch, and they do well even with a big arena crowd.

I won't talk much about Cypress Hill - I'm not a real big fan of the whole rap and rap/rock genre. I have no real problem with it - it's music just like anything else, I'm just not into it. I will say this - even for a dude like me, I found them to be mildly entertaining - they have good stage presence and a lot of energy. Basically, everything was just ducky until they started with a song in which the chorus is, "I like to get hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.." I bet all the parents at the show were really happy about that. I don't dig Cypress Hill's pro-drugs, pro-stoner stance (duh), but I have to give credit where credit is due - they kept me entertained, although it did start to wear on me a little.

Ever since I saw the Offspring at the HFStival in '99, I've been kind of confused with them. I thought they were amazingly dull in person for such a rocking band on CD. I have (or, at least had) all six of their CDs (excuse me, I don't have their fan-club-only release "Club Me"), and all of them are very enjoyable ('Ixnay on the Hombre' and 'Smash' are probably my favorites), but they just kind of stood around. When they came out at this show, they started with the same act. The Offspring really don't do anything for me in a live setting, and I think a major reason for that was the fact that they have absolutely no way to interact with the crowd when there's a fence and 12 huge guys between them and the audience. The Offspring need a club to play in. Surprisingly, I thought the best stretch of the show was when they played "Have You Ever" and "Americana," back to back. Incidentally, 'Americana' is my least favorite of their CDs, but those songs got me the most excited during their 90-minute performance. They opened with "Bad Habit," and other highlights included "Staring At the Sun" and "Pay the Man" from 'Americana,' "Original Prankster," from their new CD, 'Conspiracy of One' and they even ripped out "Session," from their Epitaph days. They hit all their radio tunes except for "I Choose." I was pretty pissed off that they didn't play "Change the World" - that is easily their coolest song. The song selection in general I felt was very poor - they did have a good mix of older and newer songs, but they seemed to have forgotten they released 'Ixnay on the Hombre,' as the only song that was played from that album was their radio hit, "Gone Away."

The problem with the Offspring was that their energy and satirical wit from their albums was not transferred well to the Patriot Center. I felt like I was at a high school dance, just with a few crowd surfers and some yelling. What few pits opened up were tame and closed within seconds, and while the people in the crowd were moving, they seemed like they were more just swaying in the breeze. The one good thing is that it looked like no one really got hurt - I only saw one girl get carried out of the place. The "bro" concentration was fairly low - although it was more than zero - I wanted to punch the guy behind me every time he grabbed on my shoulders so he could jump up and down two inches higher, and there was the occasional sweaty-shirtless teenager passing by, throwing elbows and shoulders on his way to crowd surf up to the stage and continue the cycle. I think Offspring have kind of pushed themselves on the radio more similar to Blink 182 than the likes of Green Day. The songs that get popular are much more tame and liken themselves to more of a pop crowd than a pissed-off teenager crowd, which is where their music belongs. The crowd at this show were the typical type of people the band makes fun of so much in their songs, although I bet half of the Offspring's songs are meant to be self-derogatory as well.

My take on the show: no way was it worth $28 (which was the discounted price - normal price was closer to $35). MxPx was very good, but played a brief set. Cypress Hill was entertaining, but they're really not my thing. Offspring was a good waste of time, but not for $28 - they just aren't a very exciting band, despite how much you may like their CDs. When Offspring does a club tour, maybe I'll go see them again - until then, I'll just go pop 'Ixnay on the Hombre' into my stereo and enjoy it from the comfort of my own home.

By Kevin, from PunkROCKS