Offspring/Pennywise/Good Riddance

Live in Italy (2016)

1v4n0

I don't really like big

festivals. The huge stages and the crowds don't fit with punk rock in

my opinion, and I much prefer smaller club shows. There are some

bands though, and Offspring is of course one of those, that I will

never see live in such a setting.

So here I am again, almost

eleven years after the last time I saw them, not really knowing what

to expect but still healthily skeptical (“be optimist, but prepared

for the worst”. I swear I read this in some survival guide). The

area is big but almost full (7.000 people, the newspaper tells me):

there's the late 90's-early 00's fans I used to see at the time,

there's a few (very few) older ones, and many younger guys, which

surprises me a little. Alas, they were most likely the ones enjoying

the most terrible Offspring songs.

The event is sponsored by

big brands, which is hardly news but still takes some of the fun away

and contributes to the feeling of being no more than and involuntary

actor in a big commercial. But whatever.

Good Riddance opened the

night with their rough melodic hardcore. Part of crowd was going wild

already and singing most of the songs, but the sounds were muffled,

as is bound to happen in these situations, and I doubt someone who

didn't know them could have understood enough to fall in love. From

what I could make out their set was tight, except perhaps for Russ's

voice which wasn't as clear and powerful as it is on record.

Next up was Pennywise, and

all the fans know what their shows are like: same songs, same old

story, great energy and a real punk rock party. I was pretty excited

and they didn't disappoint. Fast and relentless, nothing new of

course but what they do they do damn well, and the pit was exploding

from the beginning to the end. “Straight ahead” drove me crazy,

and the cover of the night was Nirvana's “Territorial Pissing” -

not the most original of choices, but perfect for making the audience

go even wilder. They played “Something to change”, off “From

the ashes”, which I didn't expect, and ended with… but you know

it already. Great show, except for a few songs when Jim seemed to

have lost his voice (and be pretty pissed off about it). They stick

to their formula and the fans enjoy it. Everyone wins.

The fact with the

Offspring is that they have lots of very good punk rock songs, that I

love, but also some very, very bad

ones, which are the ones they are most famous for. This threatens to

spoil their concerts, whose quality, from my point of view, depends

largely on the setlist. They opened with “You're gonna go far,

kid”, a mediocre song at best and a terrible opener. What the fuck

did they have in mind? The show was good, they can play (well, except

for Greg maybe, who has to be one of the most boring bass payers in

punk rock), Dexter's voice was there, Pete Parada is a fun drummer,

all fine, but nineteen songs is definitely not too much, and they

could have chosen better. “Why don't you get a job” is

unfortunately very famous and I was half expecting it, but “Kristie,

are you doing OK”? “Hit that”? Please.

And to think their latest album “Days

go by” is actually pretty good, and they didn't play anything

off it (nor, obviously, from the first two), choosing instead more or

less the usual hits. That is not to say I didn't enjoy the show at

all – some songs on “Americana” still get me, as does the live

staple “All I want”, and the pit was ferocious and fun – but it

seems, as I was saying above, that the crowd they attract has

different tastes than mine. The band plays for them, and I have to

take it or leave it.

(In

their defense I have to say I that setlist.fm

tells me I was probably unlucky too, song-choice-wise. I guess this

happens when you only see a band once a decade, better luck next

time?)