The Offspring, Simple Plan, and Sum41 Played in Tampa On Wedneday, Too

It was quite the night for live music last night in Tampa.

Beyonce brought her Renaissance World Tour to Raymond James Stadium. You can read a stellar review of it courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times.

While I’m certain Queen Bey put on a spectacular performance to a likely capacity crowd of 70,000, it created quite the traffic situation as we made our way to The Offspring’s Let the Bad Times Roll Tour with Simple Plan and Sum41 a few miles west at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater.

Most people had a similar thought. Get there early and try to avoid the disaster that is Tampa rush hour traffic on the best of days.

And it seemed to work.

Canadian invasion of sorts

By the time Sum41 hit the stage around 7:20 pm, the crowd was nearly at capacity. Warped Tour mainstays, the Canadian alt-rockers ripped through a 9-song setlist of their top hits and included their take on a cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You.

It is somewhat unusual for any crowd to know every lyric of every song an “opening” band plays, but this was the exact case on this night. Frontman Deryck Whibley brought the crowd to its feet from the first note of Motivation. He kept the mosh pit going with The Hell Song, Over My Head, and We’re All to Blame, making a point to make sure everyone was having a great time, stayed safe, and helped each other out, a metaphor for life as much as for in the pit.

Halfway through the set, Deryck ‘announced’ that Sum41 would release its final album in the next couple of months, and this night would be the last we would see them live.

Twenty-plus years on the road is a long time. The band has been plagued with health issues and other ‘creative differences’ over this time, but none of this was apparent on Wednesday.

After In Too Deep, Whibley asked for a moment of silence before lead guitarist Dave Brownsound would play the Canadian National Anthem, which of course, was 2001’s massive hit Fat Lip. They wrapped up a great—but short-- set with Still Waiting.

Next up on this steamy August night was Montreal pop-punk rockers Simple Plan, another band that started touring in the early 2000s. All four original members are still with the band, but this night would not include a bass player. First time I recall seeing this, but it didn’t impact their stellar performance.

Simple Plan was fun, opening with hits I’ll Do Anything and Shut Up before getting the entire crowd to Jump. No setlist is complete these days without a cover, which for Simple Plan included the intros to Smash Mouth’s All-Star, Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi (More Canadians!) and The Killer’s Mr. Brightside. After that, they rolled into their What’s New, Scooby-Doo theme song, complete with a costumed Scooby frolicking on stage.

Before ending with Perfect, there was another concert first for my 13-year-old. Midway through I’m Just a Kid, drummer Chuck Comeau walked out from behind the kit. After a brief exchange, lead singer Pierre Bouvier took over on Drums, affording Chuck the opportunity for an extended stage diving session. Thankfully no one dropped him! “What’s he doing, Dad?!”

Let the Bad Times Roll

Come Out and Play, The Offspring’s opening song, continued the theme of the night. Tonight, The Offspring brought a level of energy and enthusiasm as they delivered a musical tour of a California puck catalog that started in the late 1980s.

Frontman Dexter Holland, with his signature blond spiked hair, and lead guitarist Noodles, took every possible opportunity across an 18-song set list to engage the crowd.

“Tonight will go down as the best night in the history of Rock and Roll” was a common comment from Noodles. He wasn’t referring to the band's musical prowess, but the energy of the crowd, many of whom have probably attended dozens of The Offspring’s shows.

The Offspring staples, including All I Want and Want You Bad were followed the one new song, Let the Bad Times Roll, from their 10th studio album of the same name, which was released in April of 2021.

Two albums dominated tonight’s setlist. In addition to Come Out and Play, other songs from 1994’s Smash, including Bad Habit, Gotta Get Away, and Self Esteem, which is arguably their top his and would eventually serve as the final song of the evening.

The other was 1998’s Americana which included Pretty Fly for a White Guy, Staring at the Sun, The Kids Aren’t Alright, and Why Don’t You Get a Job.

The themes of The Offspring music span youth, politics, relationships, humor, nostalgia, and personal struggles. Dexter focused on the latter with a piano version of Gone Away, which he introduced with the struggle of losing loved ones.

The Noodles noodling portion of the night included him telling Metal stories as he shredded through the intros to Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, Iron Maiden’s The Trooper, Gun’s & Roses Sweet Child o’ Mine (which he referred to as glam metal), and Hall of the Mountain King by Savatage.

This noodling was immediately followed by the somewhat unoriginal cover of the night, The Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop.

The evening concluded with a two-song encore of You’re Gonna Go Far Kid and Self Esteem, which brought smiles to everyone, including the growing but loosely formed mosh pit.

Top to bottom, this was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. Starting with Sum41, there wasn’t a single lull through the final song of The Offspring.

Full set lists are below.

Sidenotes

Every band went over the top in thanking the audience. After a couple of years of not touring, concerts seem equally important to the bands as the fans. Deryck graciously thanked everyone, knowing how hard to get to and expensive shows can get, including getting babysitters! He knew his audience. Pierre wanted to take us all back to the memories of the Warped Tour, even if it was for just a few minutes. While Noodles was thanking the beautiful crowd, he said someone in his earpiece told him it was a record crowd of 1,300,500. Dexter and Noodles bantered on stage more than anyone else I’ve seen.

Entertainment between sets is finally growing in importance, and the crowd loved it. As soon as Simple Plan finished, a 20-minute timer appeared on stage alongside videos and audience cams often used at sporting events. Oh My God, my son particularly enjoyed all the audience twerking to Sir Mix A Lot’s Baby Got Back. The last song before taking the stage was A-ha’s Take on Me, which nearly everyone in the 20,000-person crowd was singing loudly.

In addition to leading one of the most influential California punk bands, Dexter Holland is one smart guy. In 2017 he received a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Southern Californian. His dissertation was titled Discovery of Mature MicroRNA Sequences within the Protein-Coding Regions of Global HIV-1 Genomes: Predictions of Novel Mechanisms for Viral Infection and Pathogenicity. It’s available to read here.

Sum41 Setlist

Intro: T.N.T. (AC/DC song)

Motivation

The Hell Song

Over My Head (Better Off Dead)

We're All to Blame

Walking Disaster

We Will Rock You (Queen cover)

In Too Deep

Fat Lip

Still Waiting

Simple Plan Setlist

I'd Do Anything

Shut Up!

Jump

Addicted

Welcome to My Life

Iconic

All Star / Sk8er Boi / Mr. Brightside

What's New Scooby Doo

Where I Belong

I'm Just a Kid

Perfect

The Offspring Setlist

Come Out and Play

All I Want

Want You Bad

Let the Bad Times Roll

Staring at the Sun

Hit That

Hammerhead

Bad Habit

Iron Man / The Trooper / Sweet Child o' Mine / In the Hall of the Mountain King

Blitzkrieg Bop

Gotta Get Away

Gone Away

Why Don't You Get a Job?

(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