It is generally fashionable for international stars, when they give interviews to local media, to praise the welcome and enthusiasm of Quebecers. Is it always sincere? Hard to say, but in the case of the punk group The Offspring, in action in Saguenay, Wednesday evening, there is no doubt.
• Read also: The Offspring on tour in Quebec: fans more than smiling
• Read also: The Offspring in Quebec
“In Quebec, the fans are crazy,” Kevin Wasserman, alias Noodles, told us before a concert at the Summer Festival in 2019.
We have to believe that the members of The Offspring are addicted to this madness since since the album Smash propelled the Californian group to the top of the charts, during the effervescent 1990s for rock, stops in Quebec are included in all its tours.
Please note that the training conducted by Dexter Holland and Noodles is no longer limited to the major markets of Montreal and Quebec, as it did in the past.
After its first foray into the region at Woodstock in Beauce, in 2009, The Offspring played three times at Rockfest in Montebello, twice at the Grandes Fêtes Telus in Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Lévis, Trois-Rivières, Alma, in Laval, Sherbrooke and Saguenay.
According to a search carried out on the site setlist.fm, The Offspring would have appeared on stage 29 times in 12 cities in Quebec since its first performance here, at Foufounes Electriques, in 1993.
Even Metallica can’t say the same.
Simple Plan in opening
Speaking of regional visits, it was at the Center Georges-Vézina, in Saguenay, that the Quebec portion of the group’s Canadian tour got under way, which will also give concerts at the Bell Center in Montreal on Friday and at the Videotron Center of Quebec, Saturday.
Another proof of the strong ties that have been forged between The Offspring and Quebec, the first part of the 18 concerts on Canadian soil, from Halifax to Victoria, has been entrusted to Simple Plan.
If one day Holland and Noodles decide to write the biography of the group, they will even have a smoking anecdote to tell about their stays in Quebec. Last summer, a vehicle carrying their equipment caught fire on Highway 20, while The Offspring was heading to Rimouski to give a concert.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
Successes first
What to expect for this post-pandemic reunion? If we trust the songs played in Halifax on Monday evening, the main hits will be there.
Almost half of the concert is devoted to the titles of the albums Smash and Americana. Fans of the punk formation will therefore be able to hear the Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), Self Esteem, Come Out and Play and Why Don’t You Get a Job?
The novelties collect the crumbs. Only two excerpts from the latest of 2021, Let The Bad Times Rollare used.