The world’s greatest pop-punk band paid tribute to the most important heavy metal men of all time on Saturday night.
It occurred when The Offspring — the fabulous Orange County act known for such alt-rock-radio smashes as “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy),” “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” and “Self Esteem” — tipped its hat to the late-great Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath midway through its winning set at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View.
The tribute began with a short bit by lead guitarist Noodles (aka, Kevin Wasserman), who — living up to his name — nicely noodled his way through a short take on “Electric Funeral” from Sabbath’s landmark second studio album, 1970’s “Paranoid.”
The rest of the quintet — vocalist Dexter Holland, bassist Todd Morse, multi-instrumentalist Jonah Nimoy and drummer Brandon Pertzborn — then joined in for a rocking (yet, sadly, abbreviated) take on that same album’s legendary title track.
“Everybody here over 12 is stoked right now,” remarked Holland, adding that the rest of the crowd was “bored” by that early ‘70s rock tune from Osbourne and his Sabbath bandmates.
So, Holland decided to zoom forward a full decade, to 1980, and lead the band through the Ozzy solo hit “Crazy Train.”
The version was pretty spot-on, with Holland doing a great take on those well-known vocal parts from Osbourne, who died at the age of 76 in July.
“I think Ozzy would be proud on how (Holland) handled that,” commented Noodles, who then rightfully added that Nimoy also did a fantastic job blazing through the incredible Randy Rhoads guitar passages from “Crazy Train.”
“We have one more classic rock song for you and then it’s back to the punk rock,” Holland told the crowd at the conclusion of “Crazy Train.”
And it was definitely a “classic,” one first composed nearly a full century before Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” It turned out to be the 1875 Edvard Grieg orchestral work “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” which many rock/pop acts — from the Electric Light Orchestra to Erasure — have recorded over the decades. The Offspring put its own version to wax on the 2021 album “Let the Bad Times Roll.”
Noodles took center stage for this epic instrumental (performed while Holland was offstage), equally showcasing power and precision in his fret work — and, in general, underscoring all the reasons why he’s long been one of the greatest guitarists in all of punk rock.
Holland then returned to the Shoreline stage and — as promised — it was back to the punk rock, as The Offspring raced through a muscular take on the Ramones’ classic “I Wanna Be Sedated.”
Holland, a rock ‘n’ roll Renaissance man whose many accomplishments include piloting a 10-day solo flight around the world and earning a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Southern California, would also lead the band through pretty much all of its biggest hits during the course of the 90-minute set – from the “Come and Play” opener to the “Self Esteem” encore closer.
The group also took time to touch upon its latest album, offering up “Looking Out for #1” and “Make It All Right” from last year’s “Supercharged” (which is the tour’s namesake).
The Offspring capped off what was an all-around winning night of rock, which kicked off with Florida pop-punk act New Found Glory and continued through the modern-rock tunes of Arizona’s Jimmy Eat World.
The Offspring setlist
1. “Come Out and Play”
2. “All I Want”
3. “Want You Bad”
4. “Looking Out for #1”
5. “Staring at the Sun”
6. “Original Prankster”
7. “Hammerhead”
8. “Make It All Right”
9. “Bad Habit”
10. “Electric Funeral”/”Paranoid”/”Crazy Train”
11. “In the Hall of the Mountain King”
12. “I Wanna Be Sedated”
13. “Gotta Get Away”
14. Drum Solo
15. “Gone Away”
16. “Why Don’t You Get a Job?”
17. “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)”
18. “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
Encore:
19. “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”
20. “Self Esteem”
Originally Published:
Jim Harrington
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