Born out of the Southern Californian punk rock scene of the mid-1980s, The Offspring continue a relentless touring schedule to raise the volume on a Sunday night in London’s Crystal Palace Park. Here they were supported by friends old and new, the contemporary Destroy Boys (started in 2015), Canadian punkers PUP, SoCal Scene stalwarts and label-mates Pennywise and Boston Celtic punks Dropkick Murphys.
The Offspring
Crystal Palace Park, London – 28 June 2026
Words: James De Guerre
Photography: Federica Burelli
The crowd had built steadily throughout the day, but so did the energy. By the time of The Offspring’s early evening set, even the edges of the throng were composed of fists in the air and people dancing. This was despite many having spent hours in the dusty arena area, though admittedly on a mercifully cooler and more overcast day than London had been enduring in the preceding week.
As the sun began to set, the band commenced proceedings with their typical live invitation to Come Out And Play, a track from their third album Smash released in 1994, in a rendition that featured an appearance from fan and friend of the group Jason ‘Blackball’ McLean, who provided the original voiceover for the studio release.
The band’s desire to put their supporters front and centre was evinced through the rest of the night. While they have released three albums since 2009, the majority of the night’s high-energy setlist hailed from 1994-2008, roughly matching the teenage years of the majority of the day’s demographic.
Being a day-time festival, some of that demographic were able to introduce (or continue the indoctrination of) their own ‘offspring’ to live punk rock. The cameramen during the Dropkick Murphys’ stirring Celtic-punk set made a feature of youngsters on their parents’ shoulders.
The gathered masses were most impressed by the girl who, when she realised she was on the big screens, raised both middle fingers to the camera without batting an eyelid.
During The Offspring’s set, we saw a boy with a large ’31’ drawn on his back, a nod to the lyrics of Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), their global hit lampooning the ‘cool’ MTV-driven pop culture of the time (the ‘wannabe’ protagonist asked for a 13 tattoo but “they drew a 31”).
The same numbers also hold significance for Swifties, and if any were there on Sunday, they received a punked-up cover of Taylor Swift’s Love Story during The Offspring’s set. This new setlist addition since May has served dual functions.
By it, lead singer and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland plays the algorithms, suggesting it generated the largest ever mosh pit for a Swift song. More importantly, he successfully baits the band’s more devoted, in inimitable punk style.
Pretty Fly was one of several fan favourites played from the five-timefive-time Platinum 1998 record Americana. The fast-paced Staring At The Sun, hard-hitting The Kids Aren’t Alright, and ska-punk anthem Why Don’t You Get A Job? all met with appreciation and full-hearted singing along.
But it was the very rare live appearance of Walla Walla from the same album that compelled the reviewer and pals to force their way through the friendly crowd to find the large but densely packed mosh pit.
Loyal followers generated energetic push-pits for each of the bands throughout the day, even if, in the case of the first two lesser-known groups, it may have taken a few songs.
Pennywise’s set provoked a large churning circling with a couple of walls of death commanded for good measure and a public-spirited cohort who ensured whoever fell was up on their feet before they realised it. The mournful closing anthem Bro Hymn, received the usual arm-in-arm, chant-along congregational response, this time made even more special by The Offspring’s lead guitarist Noodles joining Pennywise onstage for the rendition.
The Offspring’s sweaty pit left no space for circling or falling down, but it was perfect for crowd-surfing, and many availed of the opportunity.
Fireworks behind the stage helped re-energise the audience a few times during the varied The Offspring set, which included the pacey (and sub-2 minutes) All I Want from Ixnay On The Hombre (1997) as well as the playful Want You Bad and the pop-sensibilities of Original Prankster both from Conspiracy Of One (2000).
The sound was well balanced and Dexter’s singing voice strong, with bassist Todd Morse demonstrating his technique throughout, including on Bad Habit, another fan favourite from the Smash album.
Older-era punters were less responsive to more recent tracks, such as Hammerhead and You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid from the band’s Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace (2008), but there were always plenty of die-hards around to carry support back through to the more well-known tunes.
As has become typical over the past couple of years, The Offspring paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with a cover of Crazy Train, and a medley of Electric Funeral / Paranoid and its youngest member, 31-year-old drummer Brandon Pertzborn, treated the throng to an invigorating drum solo.
In the previous month, Dexter gave a commencement speech at his alma mater from which he achieved a PhD in molecular biology (HIV microRNA research) in 2017, more than two decades after he interrupted it in the mid-1990s to pursue success with The Offspring.
In it, he explained that the catchphrase in the song that launched Sunday’s set was conceived while he washed and sterilised flasks in a USC lab. “You gotta keep ’em separated”.
Sunday’s gig did the opposite, catalysing fans young and old across bands young and old, and helping perpetuate a love of North American punk rock at this auspicious South London venue.
