Unfortunately I missed the first support due to some wonderfully unhelpful security on the door. Arriving in the venue 2nd support Hive where already on stage. Hives are a rock band from Sweden dressed in black and white and playing mostly good set. There is such a thing and too much forced audience participation and hives really went for it, when they where playing tracks like “Hate to say I told you so” and “Tick tick boom” they were really good but some of the audience participation really outstayed its usefulness. I mean how many times do we need a “ladies… gentlemen.. ladies and gentlemen” shout out… its wasted a chunk of their allotted time when we could have another track or two..

Tonight The Offspring play manchester in support of this years “Let the Bad Times Roll”, their first new album in 9 years but you would not have guessed it from a great set mainly compromising of a greatest hits setlist, not that thats a bad thing, and only 2 or 3 if you count the new version of “Gone away” from the new album, personally I would have preferred some more new tracks especially “we never have sex anymore” oh well… Offspring have a large portal like screen behind them and a mixture of pure live footage and animations displayed on it, sometimes the screen is just as mesmerizing as the band themselves.

Opening track “Staring at the sun” starts the show perfectly, while not a ‘hit’ track it serves its purpose well and gets the audience going almost immediately.
This is my first time seeing Offpring in an arena setting and they certainly seem at home on a bigger stage.
“Gone away” is done in an amazing piano version (even though it really does sound like “mad world” in places) and serves are bridge to the excellent 5 track run of “Why Don’t You Get a Job?”,
“Original Prankster”, “(Can’t Get My) Head Around You” ,”Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” and “The Kids Aren’t Alright”
A Final double encore closes the set perfectly with “Self esteem”
Setlist
Staring at the Sun
Come Out and Play
Want You Bad
The Opioid Diaries
Let the Bad Times Roll
Hit That
Hammerhead
Bad Habit
(Guitar riff medley) Blitzkrieg Bop / Paranoid / The Trooper
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Gotta Get Away
Gone Away (Acoustic)
Why Don’t You Get a Job?
Original Prankster
(Can’t Get My) Head Around You
Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
The Kids Aren’t Alright
Encore:
You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid
Self Esteem
Review by Ian Cassidy
Photos by Frederica Burelli