Sum 41 and Offspring ROCK Penticton
By Monique Tamminga.
That wasn’t an earthquake you felt Friday night in Penticton. That was the crowd thumping sounds coming from the Sum 41 and The Offspring concert at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The SOEC in Penticton was rocking hard with mosh pits and crowd surfing to the strobe lights matching the pounding drums and cranked guitar riffs heard all night long Friday.
Sum 41 and The Offspring brought the best of punk rock to the Okanagan with high energy, loud sound and hit song after hit song. And the full house of fans showed their adoration and appreciation, making it a huge party of jumping and fist pumping and singing along.
Sum 41 came to play Friday night – bringing the same kind of energy and punk rock prowess they brought to stages across the world in the early 2000s. The band plays with so much passion, you can’t help but rock out with them.
When Sum 41 played their massive hit In Too Deep – the crowds in the stands and the floor took to their feet, fist pumping, mosh pits swirling and everyone singing every word.
Lead singer Deryck Whibley hasn’t aged in looks or sound. His voice was perfect for every song, crisp and tight. They still can pull off their angsty teenager lyrics.
That couldn’t be more evident when they ripped out the Beastie Boys-type teenage rebel song Fat Lip with lyrics like: “I don’t want to fall in line and be a victim of conformity. I don’t want to become another casualty of society.”
At one point Deryck even ran to the back of the floor and rocked out two songs from that end saying “this is the front now.”
When they played their hit song Pieces, the Zippo lighters and cellphones lit up the dark arena.
After that song Deryck thanked the fans over and over, saying ‘we appreciate you’ for waiting in line ups to get in when it’s freezing outside to getting beer spilled on you in the mosh pit to having a tall person stand in front of you when you’re short.
“I know how you feel, goddammit,” Deryck quipped about his own short stature.
The Offspring opened their portion of the co-concert with a pounding drum beat met by the guitarists sounding along to what quickly turned into lead singer Dexter Holland sprinting on stage and breaking into their 1998 hit song Americana – as the crowd went wild.
The whole floor erupted when Offspring quickly changed into their biggest song Come Out and Play, with its signature surfer guitar sound that had everyone singing along. That song came out 25 years ago (yikes!)
The Offspring are looking older – long gone are singer Holland’ blonde dreadlocks – but that’s pretty understandable considering they’ve been at this since the mid ‘90s.
On Friday night, they rocked it out and it was obvious they were loving it too.
Lead guitarist Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman threw Penticton a lot of love Friday night.
“It’s like getting together with friends being back here in Penticton,” said Noodles.
Dexter told the crowd that they’ve been touring across Canada all last week.
“But we knew when we got to B.C. it would be loud and awesome. You guys know all our songs,” he said.
The veteran rockers tried out a new song on the crowd called It won’t Get Better. With its fast riffs, heavy drum and classic Offspring sound, the crowd loved it, jumping, dancing and moshing.
The Offspring haven’t put out an album for a long time but one is in the works.
Dexter stripped down their song Gone Away, playing the more serious song on the piano.
While Offspring is known for radio hits like Pretty Fly for a White Guy and The Kids Aren’t Alright, Friday’s concert is a sure sign the band’s roots are deep in punk rock. And they are having way too much fun to stop now.
Featured photo: Sum 41, Deryck Whibley. Photo credit: Jordan Shade.
