It’s been a while since I last attended a gig at the Manchester Academy on Oxford Road. Since then, it’s undergone what looks like a massive refurbishment and actually looks very modern. It has been remodelled outside with multicoloured glass panes and inside, it looks like the very epitome of postmodern chic. However, once you get inside the venue, and past the shiny new bar and lobby, the actual room where the concerts take place is the same old authentic, down-and-dirty venue that it always has been: the perfect style for tonight’s performance.
The crowd is restless. Tonight’s gig is sold out; it’s been almost 4 years since the band were last here and we’ve missed them! Drummer Pete Parada inconspicuously sneaks onto the stage and starts hammering out the drum beat for latest single, ‘Stuff Is Messed Up’. The rest of the band soon follows and vocalist Dexter Holland launches into the song: The Offspring have arrived.
The Offspring have a reputation to uphold; they’ve been around since 1984 and have a reputation for delivering their material live in a mind-blowing and, most of all, fun way. Tonight is no exception, with the band barely pausing for breath to launch into old classic, ‘Bad Habit’. Their level of audience participation is legendary, with the whole band ceasing play in the middle of the song so that Holland can ask us “Are you ready?” before prompting the crowd into the crescendo of the song, merely giving us our cue with “Drivers are rude…” before letting us enthusiastically sing the rest of the line back to him. Other highlights include old favourites ‘Come Out and Play’, ‘Why Don’t You Get A Job?’ and the standard ‘Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)’.
However, as well as retaining the ability to rock the socks off of everyone in the room, they also have the ability to surprise. After ‘Staring At The Sun’, there is a brief 5 minute period of inactivity and we begin to wonder where they have gone; this question is soon answered as the spotlight focuses on the lone figure of Holland sitting at a piano. Without warning, he proceeds to commence playing an acoustic version of the classic, ‘Gone Away’, a touching song about loss. There’s not a dry eye in the house, as this is so unlike the usual style of The Offspring, it knocks everyone off-balance. The crowd sings along in the original key of the song, complimenting Holland’s stripped-bare, and somehow more melancholy, version of the song. From here, he goes into new anthem, ‘Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?’ playing the acoustic guitar solo, and joined by bassist, Greg K, and guitarist Noodles in time for the chorus.
The Offspring have the ability to take their fans to the highest peaks of ecstasy with upbeat-sounding anthems like ‘Hit That’ and ‘You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid’, and take them to touching new depths of emotion with poignant performances of songs like ‘Gone away’, but they always know how to talk to their audience and stir up the appropriate mood; they know their audience. The band shrewdly chose to include only five songs from new album, ‘Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace’, in their 21-song setlist because they know that their older songs are the most popular. What we got was a varied setlist including some of the best songs of the last six studio albums, including (bizarrely) the ‘Intermission’ track form Ixnay on the Hombre, complete with a man in a jester’s hat waving his arms in time and encouraging the crowd to do the same whilst throwing giant balloons into the crowd.
There’s no hint of falseness with this band; what you see is what you get and watching them perform, you can tell that they love what they are doing. They feed off the audience, giving back as much love as they receive from them. For example, there was a fan standing near the front and, noticing that he had an Offspring tattoo, Noodles engaged the fan in a short exchange, then dedicated ‘Million Miles Away’ to him and the fans sing every word to every song back to the band; It’s this kind of interaction with fans that has guaranteed The Offspring continued popularity with the fans, combined with their irreverent music and, after more than 20 years in the business, they deserve it.
Written by Lisa Ho
There are literally no words to describe the experience I had Friday night. I was covered in that horrible goo from a pink glow stick, which has exploded in my pocket, was so sweaty that not even I could bring myself to be in the vicinity of myself and my ears were ringing everything became a slight electronic sounding muffle…
You would think that playing for a maximum of 100 people would generate some kind of intimate atmosphere, but sadly Cornershop never really bonded with the audience. This was not all the band’s fault although the bands communication with the audience was at a minimum and lead singer Tjinder Singh never seemed to enjoy the hour long gig, the audience was quite literally boring for a Saturday night crowd.
