Seeing the Offspring and 311 after a long, crappy day at work is the musical equivalent of being given permission to throw rocks at every car that cuts you off on the way home, shotgun about ten beers and then top it off by blowing up a big, empty building. Sure, it’s all a bit juvenile and irresponsible, but ultimately, freakin’ A, man.
Tuesday night’s sold-out Unity Tour show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which featured Pepper as the opener and the Offspring and 311 as “co-headliners” (although, who sold this bill of goods?; at the end of their 24 songs, it was clear 311 was considered to be the main event) transcended the miserable weather and wound up being an alt-rock mash-up that kept the crowd manic and moving.
No one was happy that the rain rolled in, but it finally cleared about halfway through the Offspring, and they even decided to make up for it by throwing in a bonus: “Spare Me the Details,” which they haven’t done live in ages. “I hope we don’t fuck it up,” guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman said, but they needn’t have worried. True, it was the only offering that came out a little rough around the edges –- but no one throwing the lyrics back at the grinning band seemed to mind a bit.
They didn’t have to do it, though -– up to that point, they had already laid out a crisp, solid set that interspersed the rest of their old favorites with a few of the lesser-known tunes. My only complaint: An hour just wasn’t long enough, and as a longtime fan who knew more than just the “You’re under 18, you won’t be doing any time” lyrics from a tightly executed “Come Out and Play (Keep ’Em Separated”), I wanted more.
The Offspring may have become popular in the early ’90s as a punk-metal band with trashy, F-word-laden anthems that seemed to speak to everyone’s inner 15-year-old boy, but since then they’ve evolved into a more well-rounded, if slightly more pop-oriented, group. As with most bands, the problem is getting audiences to appreciate anything that isn’t from the radio rotation, and so the second the piano rolled out for unique vocalist Dexter Holland’s beautiful solo tune, “Gone Away,” which proves his voice has actually gotten better (less yelling, more singing) over time, people pulled out their cells and started texting or turned around and started chatting.
Granted, for this amped-up crowd, a ballad may not have been the best choice. They wanted “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” and “Why Don’t You Get a Job” (both off 1998’s “Americana”), and the Offspring delivered with aplomb, but also sent out “Genocide,” with its continual drum cascade from Pete Parada, and a recent tune, the aptly named “Hammerhead” from “Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace,” which featured the strongest guitar playing of the entire night, with its constant, edgy riffing that was soft-pedaled metal overlaid with the thoughtful, sing-songy lyrics.
They finished up with crowd-pleasers “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” from “American,” and “Self-Esteem” from their 1994 second album, “Smash” — “I’m just a sucker with no self-esteem,” they sang. An ironic choice? Perhaps, as they made it clear they fully supported walking off as 311 brought it home.
I admit it — I was there much less to see 311 than the Offspring. I think “three-eleven” — which started in the early ’90s with so much promise as a great mish-mash of punk and reggae and hip-hop and ska and metal — got stuck on the same thin harmonies, limp beats and hookless lyrics somewhere between their 1995 offering “311” and 2001’s “From Chaos,” and never really progressed from there. Fortunately their overall sound is infectious enough that you can dance to it like crazy for a very long time. Which is how long they seemed to go on that night.
Where they did it right: the pumping, addictive “Mix It Up” from “Uplifter,” one of their few later efforts that truly sports a hook, pushing it into two earlier tunes — “All Mixed Up” from “311” and then Tim Mahoney’s unrelenting, edgy guitar riffs of “Offbeat Bare Ass,” from “Grassroots.” From there, it was just folks hanging on for dear life, pumping until they could no more, resting, trying to catch a wave of something from the monotony to reinvigorate, and then getting more beer for revival. Post-bass solo — always a welcome change-up from the drums — “Wake Your Mind Up” was a rough choice out of the box; it was just too numbing, but “Who’s Got the Herb,” from their “Live” album, was sure to be a rousing crowd pleaser this night, especially followed by two faves, “Plain” and then “Amber,” the hit off “From Chaos.”
Throughout most of their show, S.A. Martinez raced back and forth across the stage like Energizer bunny singer, and singer/guitarist Nick Hexum, in kind of an apropos zip-up jogging jacket, jumped up and down in a rock aerobics routine. It was alternately exhausting to watch and egged the crowd on to dance more.
Most apropos, though: their encore of “Feels So Good.”
Was it that we made it through the day, the rain or a marathon concert? Hard to say.
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