The Offspring at Stone Pony Summer Stage

May 12, 2022

OK, so we have a lot to go over here.

First off, we have the four Farin brothers — Jeff, Cliff, Larry, and Rob — getting together for a concert for the first time since…..ever??? And, fittingly, it’s for The Offspring, a band that’s been around for about a hundred years. Rob and I have bought versions of their albums over the past 30 years on all formats, including mp3 digital downloads, CDs, vinyl, cassettes, and 8-track tapes. Well just kidding about the 8-track tapes. Sort of.

Second, we’re at the Stone Pony Summer Stage, my favorite venue anywhere. We’re outdoors in Asbury Park with a couple thousand other fans. The sound system is awesome. So is the electricity of the crowd. As usual, it’s a beautiful evening in Asbury Park, with a bright full moon in a clear, star-filled sky overlooking the tranquil Atlantic Ocean. Well, no. It’s a crappy, foggy, drizzly, cold night and nobody cares. We’re here to see The Offspring on Opening Night at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in 2022, even if summer isn’t slated to begin for another month and a half.

It’s an interesting crowd mix. On one end, you’ve got Geezers like my brothers and me, but there’s an equal or even greater number of 20- and 30-somethings who had to put up with their parents blasting “Americana” and “Conspiracy of One” in their minivans on the way to soccer practice, softball, and dance lessons like my kids had to. It’s pretty funny playing “what’s your favorite song” with some of these kids who were embryos when some of this stuff first came out.

Rob and I had the Mosh Pit Over/Under at One Song, but we both lost that bet. There were a handful of crowd-surfers, but overall a pretty respectful, if bouncy, crowd. No mosh pit to speak of, just a bunch of knuckleheads jumping around in the light rain along with the timeless hits of The Offspring.

And it was a thirty-year retrospective of hit after hit after hit. Some seventeen songs or so, including one or two new ones from “Let the Bad Times Roll”, along with some of their most memorable, crowd-pleasing stuff. They led off with “Staring at the Sun” and “Come Out And Play” just to get things going, and they proceeded to bang out one after another. Gotta Get Away. Bad Habit. Gone Away. Original Prankster. Pretty Fly (For a White Guy). The Kids Aren’t Alright. And an encore featuring “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” and “Self Esteem”. They left another 100 or so songs on the cutting room floor, but it was a pretty damn good set list. Everybody had a blast.

And hey, a strong shout out to Radkey, who did a great job warming up the crowd for The Offspring. The three brothers from St. Joseph, Missouri played a strong, 40-minute set of straight-ahead rock-and-roll, and sounded like much like next gen Offspring. Their bass player collapsed a couple of times during the set, but that didn’t seem to slow them down any. Overall great job of pumping the crowd up before The Offspring took over. Well done!

Radkey got everybody going during the warm-up set.