Twenty years ago The Offspring released Smash: the highest selling independent record of all time. It sold over ten million copies. It brought spawned two humungous hit singles in “Come Out and Play” and “Self-Esteem.” It (along with Green Day’s similarly successful “Dookie”) brought punk rock to the mainstream. Last Thursday at Echo Beach, The Offspring celebrated the 20th anniversary of the album that broke them through to worldwide popularity and they brought fellow old-school punkers Bad Religion, Pennywise and The Vandals with them.
The set began with the familiar “Time to Relax” monologue from the album, but it quickly deviated into something more fitting for a field of drunken thirty-somethings, encouraging attendees to “fuck shit up” and “throw up in the bathroom.” The Offspring then hit the stage and proceeded to play Smash in its entirety. The songs were played with the same energy and ferocity as twenty years ago. The band may look older, but they haven’t lost a step at all. After an intermission they returned to play a handful of other songs – mostly from their 1998 album “Americana” which was almost as successful as “Smash”.
Setlist
- Time To Relax
- Nitro (Youth Energy)
- Bad Habit
- Gotta Get Away
- Genocide
- Something To Believe In
- Come Out and Play
- It’ll Be a Long Time
- Killboy Powerhead
- What Happened To You?
- So Alone
- Not The One
- Smash
- Self-Esteem
- Intermission
- Americana
- All I Want
- Can’t Get My Head Around You
- Why Don’t You Get a Job?
- You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid
- Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
- The Kids Aren’t Alright