August 23, 2023

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Pop Punk prevailed on Tuesday night at Blossom Music Center.  Sum 41, Simple Plan and The Offspring brought the sounds of the late '90s and early 2000's to life for a well attended audience.

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Sum 41 kicked things off with "Motivation" that really seemed to pump up the crowd.  Lead singer Deryck Whibley has a lot of energy and does a nice job of getting the audience involved with the show.

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The band plowed through their hits like "The Hell Song," "We're All To Blame" and "In Too Deep."  They even covered Queen's "We Will Rock You."

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Their brief, but powerful nine song set closed with "Still Waiting."

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Simple Plan were next to take the stage.  The outfit from Montreal started things off with "I'd Do Anything."  

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Lead singer Pierre Bouvier did several jumps off the risers in the front of the stage and maintained a high energy level throughout the show.  He mentioned that he wanted to take everyone back to the 2004 Warped Tour.

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The other band members also took to the spotlight on the guitar solos like "Jump" and "Welcome To My Life."  

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The only strange thing for me during this set is that there was not a bassist on stage.

 

In the middle of the set, the band played a medley of pop-punk tunes that included "All Star," "Sk8er Boi" and "Mr. Brightside."

 

Afterwards, many of the young fans in attendance were thrilled to hear "What's New Scooby Doo" and "I'm Just a Kid."

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Their set ended with "Perfect."

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The Offspring, which now only features two original members, vocalist Dexter Holland and guitarist Noodles came out swinging with their hit song "Come Out and Play."

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After playing "Want You Bad," Holland mentioned that he loved playing at Blossom and that two of his favorite bands, The Pretenders and Devo "are from right down the street in Akron." 

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A few more songs were played but then the show came to a screeching halt.  For what seemed to be about ten minutes, Holland and Noodles engaged in what seemed to be a nonsensical conversation.  They were talking about all sorts of things including how large the crowd was and how the audience liked to swear.  

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This banter went on for a loooong time.

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Finally, the music continued.

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Noodles said that he was just getting into heavy metal and played some guitar riffs from popular metal songs like "Iron Man," "The Trooper" and "Sweet Child O Mine."

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They did pay homage to the original punk rock band, The Ramones by playing a decent version of "Blitzkrieg Bop."

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A piano was brought out to center stage for Holland to play a slower acoustic version of "Gone Away."   However, from my perspective, I couldn't tell if Holland was actually playing the piano or not.  The video screens never showed his hands on the keys from either angle that was projected.

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The last part of the show was heavy on the hits.  "Why Don't You Get A Job?" became a huge sing-a-long and of course "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" was a highlight for sure.

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After "The Kids Aren't Alright,"  the band returned to encore with "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" and "Self Esteem," leaving all the pop punk kids and adults with a smile on their face.

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Photos and review by Greg Drugan

The Offspring management did not approve any photos.

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