The Offspring review Adelaide: Punk rock legends prove age doesn’t matter on first stop of Australian tour

They say music brings people together – and it certainly did in Adelaide on Sunday night as punk rock legends The Offspring roared back into town. Read our review.

One thing is clear when punk rock legends The Offspring roar back on stage in front of a sold out Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Everyone’s still having a bloody good time.

With a new album, a new generation of fans and a seemingly renewed energy, there’s no slowing down frontman Dexter Holland and guitarist Noodles as they push into their 60s.

“It’s so good to be back, look at you, you guys f***ing rule,” Noodles exclaims after the band opens with fan favourites All I Want, Come Out and Play, Spare Me The Details and Want You Bad.

“This is the place to start… f*** yeah.”

The Offspring roared back into Adelaide on Sunday night. Picture: Tijs van Leur

And brought a new statge show with them. Picture: Tijs van Leur

At the first stop on the Australian leg of the Supercharged Worldwide tour, those new fans are sprinkled throughout the crowd – father and sons with matching Offspring T-shirts, and daughters whose music journey has followed a similar path to mum’s.

“She had no choice,” one said mum tells The Advertiser of her 18-year-old’s music taste before the band’s hit-laden, hour-and-a-half set begins.

But behind the jokes, there is a special bond over a band that formed 40 years ago.

While the night out with mum prompted questions from school friends about who – or what – are The Offspring exactly, there are a lot who do know.

Last year, You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid – from 2008’s Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace – and 1999’s smash hit The Kids Aren’t Alright passed one billion streams on Spotify.

With only 944 songs in the Spotify Billions Club, it’s a rare achievement for legacy rockers.

“When we came out with Smash, our fans were all young kids whose parents hated us,” Noodles said last year.

“Now those kids have grown up and their parents and their kids love us.

“So we have kind of become a generational band and that’s cool, that’s what you want.”

And, with those hits, despite the show following a familiar run sheet to the band’s last visit in 2022, the crowd got what they wanted on Sunday night, too.

Dexter Holland on the piano for Gone Away. Picture: Tijs van Leur

There might have been a lull mid-set, but adults and kids alike were out of the seats as the band came storming home amid a backdrop of lights, lasers and fireworks.

It started with a spine-tingling, phone-lit version of Gone Away that saw Dexter at his raw, emotional best on the piano.

Americana tracks Why Don’t You Get A Job and the radio smash Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) followed – and everyone was in full voice.

“It’s turning into an Aussie Rules game, it’s wild,” an appreciative Noodles exclaimed to the delight of the crowd.

“That’s the shit right there, it’s made my whole night…it gives me chills, this place is going off.”

The night start with an energetic Simple Plan. Picture: X/Skyler Barberio

And ended with The Offspring classic Self Esteem. Picture: Tijs van Leur

There’s another thing fuelling this renaissance of sorts, too – at least on stage.

His name is Brandon Pertzborn, the impeccable 30-year-old drummer, whose first official recording with the band was new album Supercharged.

The man who’s played with Marilyn Manson, Suicidal Tendencies and Black Flag may not have been born when Smash was released in early 1994, but he was exactly that on this night.

It was one that started with an energetic, hit-filled set from emo-pop punk stalwarts Simple Plan and concluded with a deafening rendition of Self Esteem.

And it was a night that proved age doesn’t matter when it comes to having a bloody good time.

The Supercharged Worldwide in ‘25 tour heads to Melbourne on Wednesday for two shows before concluding in Sydney and Brisbane next week.

Originally published as The Offspring review Adelaide: Punk rock legends prove age doesn’t matter on first stop of Australian tour