The Offspring celebrated an anniversary and smashed the crowd at The Honda Center
On Saturday June 1st legendary Southern California punk rock band, The Offspring played a special one-off concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim California to honor the 30th Anniversary of their 3rd album 1994’s Smash. This landmark independent album featured a unique mix of punk, rock, pop, and hardcore music that propelled the band to international superstardom. Smash reached #4 on the US Billboard Charts and has sold over eleven million copies worldwide. The record’s singles include anthems like “Come Out and Play,” “Self Esteem,” and “Gotta Get Away.” All of which received endless rotation on MTV and radio stations and are still massive sing-alongs to this day. Smash was famously released on April 8, 1994, just three days after the tragic suicide of Nirvana front man Kirk Cobain, and the diverse sounds and influences represented on the album along with the musical landscape change brought about by grunge catapulted The Offspring into the pop mainstream.
This 30th Anniversary concert at The Honda Center was a true celebration of the Smash album and the band performed the record in its entirety along with a selection of their most loved hits. In addition, The Offspring presented a special museum section in the concourse of the arena highlighting relics from throughout their career. The display included memorabilia, instruments, concert posters, and even the original handwritten lyrics to the Smash album. The absolutely packed 18,000+ Honda Center was on fire for this show with mosh pits popping up in the GA and tons of excited fans banging their heads in the aisles. The Offspring seem to have become a very multi-generational band, with tons of aging punk rockers bringing their whole families along to enjoy the music.
The Offspring’s current lineup features original members Dexter Holland on vocals and the legendary Noodles on lead guitar along with newer members including bassist Todd Morse, keyboardist Jonah Nimoy and the band’s newest member drummer Brandon Pertzborn who joined the group in 2023. The Offspring have honestly never sounded better as a band with this new unit firing on all cylinders and nailing some of the fastest songs in the band’s catalogue. Drummer Brandon Pertzborn especially seems to have given the rest of the band a new sense of excitement for these old tunes and all the members of the band seemed to be loving this show. The band played a setlist split into two distinct sections. The 1st half was a full run through of the Smash album reserving the song “Self Esteem” for the end. The 2nd half was another 12 selections of greatest hits and covers that saw the band play some of their most beloved anthems like “Why Don’t You Get a Job,” “Gone Away” “Pretty Fly for a White Guy,” “You’re Gonna Go Far Kid,” and “The Kids Aren’t Alright.” It’s staggering how many hit singles this band has had, and this show was an absolute blast from top to bottom.
Supposedly this full play though and celebration of Smash was a one-off not to be repeated at any other show. If so, it’s a bit of a shame that more Offspring fans don’t get to hear some of these classic tracks live. Acknowledging the massive support from their Southern California fans in particular, singer Dexter Holland and guitarist Noodles seemed to revel in the success and longevity of this album, something that took them from Orange County all across the globe. Offspring fans everywhere can look forward to new music from this fantastic lineup as the band recently announced its 11th studio album Supercharged, set to release in October of this year.
