Fans Get Supercharged at Budweiser Stage with The Offspring

jaybroderick
Jul 25
7 min read

The Offspring perform live at Budweiser Stage in Toronto. Photo By: Jay Broderick

Words and photos by Jay Broderick

Toronto, Canada - The 1990s... the last "simple" decade. Yes, the World Wide Web was born, but things would never be the same once the new millennium took hold. While my heart lies in the 1980s, the 1990s were pretty rad. As has been the case for myself recently, I have taken in a few "alternative rock" shows. So as I continue the journey revisiting some of the great bands who took a firm foothold in that decade, I headed down to Budweiser Stage (yet again), to catch The Offspring's 2025 "Supercharged" Tour.

As usual, my horrendous drive downtown sees me throw on my collection of music from the band I'm about to see. I let it shuffle through their albums, randomly selecting one track after another. I love this approach, as you simply don't know what track is going to come on next. As my hour long drive plays out, I'm greeted with one banger after the other. Holy shit, the catalogue for the Orange County punks is unreal. It builds the excitement, for what I expect to be a killer concert.

New Found Glory

In what we call "Front of House", our position for photography coverage is situated behind the soundboard, as opposed to inside the "photo pit". It's nobody's favourite, and doesn't make sense to most, but we make the best of it. The sun is getting noticeably lower in the sky as July winds down, and a haze is cast across the stage as 2 Unlimited's "Y'all Ready for This" blasts through the Bud Stage speakers. Florida's New Found Glory burst onto the stage to get things kicked off, and the fans explode. There is a lot of people here already. A bit of an anomaly for an opening act at a large venue, but these guys are no slouches, having made their mark on the scene since 1997. And a lot of the crowd are here to see them.

With little time to spare, the band kicks their set off with "Understatement", and we're off. Using every second to the most, vocalist Jordan Pundik interacts with the crowd while the band continues to plow through. Pundik even jumps into the crowd during "Hit or Miss". Having not played in Toronto since 2019, the band slingshots swag into the crowd, and eventually call out their guitarist Chad Gilbert who is not on tour with them while he kicks cancer's ass at home. A killer, energy filled 30 minutes to get this one started on a high note.

Jimmy Eat World

Ahhhhhhhh... the dry desert heat of Arizona! That's where Jimmy Eat World is from. And like everybody else from the desert state, they'll hate you telling them "But it's a dry heat!" It's still fucking hot as hell! Things cooled down a bit in Toronto as the band arrived in between 2 heat waves, but for us Canadians, it's likewise... still fucking hot as hell! With the sun a little further down on the horizon, Jimmy took the stage and got their set kicked off with 2004's "Pain" from the album Futures.

As the band progressed through their set, they sounded great. Vocalist Jim Adkins' voice was spot on, but the band offered little else other than the music they were banging out. There was not a ton of action on the stage, but they played some of their best songs like "Lucky Denver Mint", and killed it with their final 3 being "A Praise Chorus", "Sweetness" and "The Middle". I guess at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters?

The Offspring

"Ah, it's time to relax. You know what that means. A glass of wine, your favourite easy chair" and of course, The Offspring smashing your ear drums with their brand of high energy, balls out, fast paced punk/rock! NOPE! No relaxing here! I have never seen The Offspring before, so I don't know if their intermission video show is standard for the band, but I can definitely say it was super cool. An ape-masked mascot was shooting t-shirts into the crowd, a white blimp floated around the outdoor venue, they played Offspring trivia with the crowd, had a headbanging and "fuck-you" cam, and gave away tickets to 2 lucky fans who got to move up into the general admission floor section. Certainly stuff you would see at a sporting event (well, maybe not the booty cam), but I have never seen this type of time consumer in between sets. It was super cool. The fans were pumped, and before you could say "smash", recorded versions of "The Kids Aren't Alright" followed by AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" blasted through the speakers. Then, the 5-piece from California exploded onto the stage for their opening track "Come Out and Play". Pyro, fireworks and sparks spray from the back of the stage. Wait... the opening track? Isn't this track worthy of an encore? It goes back to my message to start this write-up. These guys have a ton of killer tracks!

Budweiser Stage is completely packed with fans. I don't have details as to whether the show was a sellout, but I've been to a handful of shows here so far this summer, and this is by far the fullest I have seen it. The band's frontman Dexter Holland (whom I really get James Hetfield vibes from) loses the guitar for "All I Want", and after "Want You Bad", exclaims that the Toronto crowd is crazy! We're not the most raucous fanbase in the world. Ever go to a Leaf game? But I'll agree with Dexter here... the crowd was on fire, just as the band. And we were only 15 minutes in.

As I head to my seat after the photography work is finished, I see 2 large blow-up skeletons flanking the stage. As mentioned, the place is rammed, so I squeeze my way to my seat as the band plays through "Original Prankster" and "Hammerhead". I'm amazed at the band on stage. The energy they have brought is unmatched, but I am just as in awe at the fanbase. Everybody is on their feet. They're singing, and dancing, arms high in the air. And there are a ton of young kids here. Undoubtedly with their parents, these young fans are just as jacked, with devil horns held high, heads shaved into a mohawk, donning their black concert t-shirts. There is hope after all!!!

Noodles performs live at Budweiser Stage. Photo By: Jay Broderick

After blasting confetti out into the crowd during "Make it All Right", Dexter drops the guitar again for "Bad Habit". Everybody is in a frenzy, and jumping in their seats as the band plays through. Again, I do not know if it is standard practice, but the guys on stage stop the track short. The fans roar, and the players walk around, pointing out to the crowd, clapping their hands. "This is what I'm talking about! I mean, can you hear how loud these guys are? There must be 750 people here" the singer jokingly plays. But Noodles interjects saying that it's actually a record breaking crowd with 1,915,337 people. He quickly corrects himself saying that 2 people had babies so it's now 1,915,339, and how Rod Stewart didn't even have a million people the night before. The 2 banter back and forth and then start talking about cussing, and ask the crowd if they're ready to cuss... Dexter cries out "DRIVER'S ARE RUDE", and the crowd happily finishes it off in good old rock and roll fashion!

The day before this one, on July 22, 2025 The Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne heartbreakingly passed away. I guarantee you that every live act around the world were playing their own tributes to Ozzy and The Offspring were no different. They played snippets of "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" and then Dexter called out "God bless Ozzy Osbourne!" Immediately after, he asks the crowd to welcome Dave Brownsound from Sum 41. WHAT? The local star was literally just on stage with Tom Morello less than 1 week ago, and now here he is with The Offspring. The crowd is hyped as the musicians on stage go into "Crazy Train".

Man, there was just a ton going on at this show all night. We were bombarded with sensory overload. 3 huge video monitors as the backdrop flashed animated sequences, there was pyro, there were giant beach balls dropping from the ceiling, there was light hearted comedy, and there was good old fashioned, high tempo rock and roll! But we got a break from all the madness when a white piano was rolled out. Smoke covered the stage and Dexter made his place behind the ivory keys. "What a night. This is really special!" says the singer. He tells the crowd that he wants to do something different on the piano. It's a song he wrote a long time ago about loss. Not losing a lover, but the true loss of a loved one. Every cell phone flashlight in the house lit up in a display that really looked cool as Dexter went into a solo, piano version of "Gone Away". He really nailed this tough assignment. The band rejoined their leader for the final stanza, and more pyro! They leave Dexter alone again to finish the track off himself. As any great pianist does, Dexter stood up and bowed to the cheering crowd.

Set List

Come Out and Play

All I Want

Want You Bad

Looking Out for #1

Staring at the Sun

Original Prankster

Hammerhead

Let the Bad Times Roll

Hit That

Make It All Right

Bad Habit

Paranoid / Iron Man (snippets) (Black Sabbath cover)

Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne cover w/ Dave Baksh)

In the Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg cover)

I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover)

Gotta Get Away

Gone Away

Why Don't You Get a Job?

Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

The Kids Aren't Alright

Encore:

You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

Self Esteem

This was nothing short of amazing fun, with one great track after another, from a band that clearly knows how to put on a show. Just one question remains... when are they coming back?

Concert Photo Gallery