THE OFFSPRING + SIMPLE PLAN @ LONDON O2 ARENA – 14TH NOVEMBER 2025
When I first saw The Offspring at Reading Festival in 1999, I viewed them as a young, snotty punk band. Oddly, twenty-six years late,r I still subconsciously view them the same way, despite them now being in their fifties and sixties. Have they matured gracefully? I somehow doubt it — and sincerely hope they haven’t.
Before we can judge The Offspring’s maturity — or the lack thereof — Simple Plan attempt to knock our socks off. Before they appear, the crowd sings along to Basket Case by Green Day, so expectations are high. The band run onstage to the Star Wars theme and crash straight into I’d Do Anything from their debut No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls. That title still sums up their attitude. They may sound like identikit California punks, but they’re actually from Montreal, and their energy makes them a perfect support for tonight’s headliners.
Simple Plan are unusual — no bassist onstage, just two guitars and drums — but the sound holds up. Nothing feels thin, and there’s no bass track filling the gap. Jump does exactly what it implies: the band jumps, the crowd jumps, and at the very least, those around me stand. Vocalist Pierre Bouvier introduces “some old school shit” before Addicted — from an album now close to twenty-five years old, yet sounding box-fresh. The band even have a documentary on Amazon Prime — The Kids in the Crowd — and they play Nothing Changes from it, with drummer Chuck Comeau tearing into a superb performance.
During Summer Paradise, Pierre and the crew catapult giant inflatable balls into the audience, who promptly volley them back. A slow-motion ping-pong battle breaks out between crowd and crew. For What’s New Scooby Doo the stage fills with people in full Scooby Doo outfits. It’s a party from start to finish — one that proves Simple Plan know exactly how to have fun. They reminisce about first playing London at the much-missed Astoria. For Just A Kid, drummer Chuck Comeau comes out front to sing while Pierre takes over the kit. Chuck, wearing an England shirt, ventures into the crowd as one of the guitarists steps up to the mic. A band with built-in flexibility indeed. They close with Perfect from the evergreen No Pads. If this really is a co-headline tour, Simple Plan are absolutely worthy of it.
Before The Offspring take the stage, a tiny airship circles the arena filming the audience. Rock fans may claim shyness, but the O2 tonight is full of exhibitionists ready for their close-up. A gorilla wanders onstage — perfectly normal behaviour at the O2 — and as Thunderstruck by AC/DC booms out, a countdown begins. BAM! The Offspring explode into Come Out and Play from Smash. It’s hard to believe this song is over thirty years old. Equally hard to believe is the band’s age. A guest appears to rap badly — mercifully, briefly.
The set underlines the distinction between Californian punk and the rest. The pace is fast and frantic, but the lyrics are pure pop. The Offspring were never likely to write Career Opportunities, but merging punk energy with pop sensibility never harmed The Ramones. Frontman Dexter Holland announces that tonight’s crowd is better than when The Osmonds played here seventeen years ago — which begs questions about what Dexter attends in his spare time.
By Want You Bad, it’s clear The Offspring are a brilliant live band. Resistance is futile. If my critical faculties remain, they’re hanging by a thread. The crowd is borderline riotous. Noodles rips through a rapturous guitar solo on Looking Out for #1, and both Dexter and guitarist/keyboardist Jonah Nimoy are on guitar for Let the Bad Times Roll. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Offspring Guitar Army.
Hit That / Original Prankster has a ska streak with a sweet synth hook. Inflatable skeletal figures join the stage for Hammerhead, which sounds like a melodic Motörhead tune. It prompts the first crowd surfer and a circular mosh pit. Make It All Right from Supercharged brings confetti cannons, while Bad Habit arrives with a squall of feedback and more falling confetti. It may not be punk in the strictest sense, but it’s riotously good-time music. The band’s banter is hilarious — tonight they claim two million people are in attendance, which would presumably violate a few venue licence terms.
Like many bands this year, The Offspring pay tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne. They blast the intros of Electric Funeral and Paranoid, before teasing Crazy Train. Nothing more is said — nothing more needs to be. Noodles then shreds a lightning-fast In the Hall of the Mountain King before the band roars into I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones, accompanied by the gorilla holding up a placard, Joey-style.
A grand piano appears for Gone Away, a stark moment about bereavement. Thousands of phone torches shimmer in response. It’s genuinely moving. Then comes Hey Jude by The Beatles — a baffling choice, perhaps, but the crowd adore it.
More inflatable balls return for Why Don’t You Get a Job? while Noodles unleashes his “inner exuberance” with a succinct “fuck yeah!” The main set closes with The Kids Aren’t Alright. There isn’t much clamour for an encore — London crowds can be oddly reserved. A Glasgow audience would be baying for more. Regardless, the band return for two final songs, ending with Self Esteem — during which Scooby Doo goes crowd surfing. That’s not something you see every day.
Put simply, this has been a great gig. The clearest message tonight? Even in your fifties or sixties, you absolutely don’t have to grow up.
Words by Mark Kelly
