Nostalgia II

The Offspring, Simple Plan

Supercharged Worldwide in ’25 presented by Barracuda Music at TipsArena Linz, Austria 20251024

This Friday, our way leads us to ‚steel city‘ Linz. The place, likes of Flut sang about and where STWST, Tabakfabrik, Posthof and Kapu are situated, where Nirvana once played. Few minutes from the train station, Josef offers drinks at the smoker’s lounge and the Bosner Eck at Schillerpark invites for a quick snack. 

A little bit west at the Froschberg, the sport hall TipsArena serves as tonight’s venue. Providing space for several thousand guests, the admission runs smoothly. Unfortunately, there are not enough bars. Queuing outdoor for some drinks, it takes so long, that we completely miss the support band Simple Plan, who toured e.g. with Sum 41. 

Nevertheless, the anticipation is still high for the main act The Offspring. With their first album out in 1989, they put out their eleventh one named „Supercharged“ after „Let The Bad Times Roll“, since they last appeared in Austria at Nova Rock, Arena Nova and Frequency. 

Before they start, the ‚look-alike-‘, ‚fuck-you-‘, and ‚booty-cam‘ and a gorilla are looking for fans participating the game. The Offspring-zeppelin is watching from above, as the studied biologist Dexter Holland, Noodles and band enter the stage. 

Several screens help to follow the show including huge skeletons and balloons. Early highlights are „All I Want“ and „Want You Bad“ from „American Pie 2“. „Original Prankster“ and „Hammerhead“ must no be missing, followed by „Hit That“, „Make It All Right“ and „Bad Habit“. 

Then they pay tribute to Ozzy including „Crazy Train“ and add some solos, like by Brandon Pertzborn, who got nominated as Best Punk / Alternative Drummer by Modern Drummer. Getting to the emotional „Gone Away“, partly in the piano version, a great show slowly comes towards its end. 

Some more melodies like „Pretty Fly“, „TKAA“ and the finals „You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid“ and „Self Esteem“ still gonna be ringing in one’s head the day after. For the after-show, the already mentioned Kapu is a superb opportunity with its mural by Michael Hacker, or the old town of Linz with places like the röders or Vinyl-bar..