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Out came the first confetti cannons for a soaring and wistful Make It All Right, then oak-fingered bass player Todd Morse introed turbo-charged Smash hit Bad Habit, Holland and the crowd perfectly hitting the “yeah-ah”s.
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Noodles and sexy Dexy got into a comedy duo after an ocean of applause, Wasserman saying, “Northern Alberta crazy is the best kind of crazy.” Correct, except in the way that even most of us here claim to be of the North when we’re really just the middle — but his point is respectfully taken.
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He then went on about the venue’s door clicker Stanislaus who pegged the “world record” attendance at 1,315,932 until two people left as he went on about it too long. “But while those two people left, three people gave birth tonight, so that’s two world records!”
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Ridiculous and awesome, then they finished Bad Habit, the whole crowd singing that “stupid, dumb-s— mf” bit your grandmother shouldn’t hear.
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Next came the Sabbath/Ozzy/Randy Rhodes R.I.P. tribute with a medley with Holland’s very Osborne-sounding voice for Electric Funeral, Paranoid and Crazy Train, where Nimoy beamed out from behind his kit with some logically delicious shredding, leading into Edvard Grieg’s 1875, uh hit, In the Hall of the Mountain King.
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The history lesson cover set wrapped with I Wanna Be Sedated, the band’s jean jacket gorilla air-guitaring along with Noodles as Holland Smurfed up the pop-punk leather granddaddies’ vocals.
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Crowd-swirling, metal-spined Gotta Get Away with cinematic D&D flaming skulls led to a Goldilocks, just-right-sized drum solo by Pertzborn, dipping briefly into industrial.
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Then came the slowest yet most emotionally poignant part of the evening, Holland alone at the keys doing a pared down Gone Away.
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He invited us to hold up the phone lights and think of those we lost, and so it was I was crying for Kitty and Walnut and many more, and tens of thousands of dead filled our heads inside the shimmering constellation. Damn you, Dex. But thanks. Every ghost story is a love story.
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That singalong Hey Jude really underlined this was a night about music and community as much as The Offspring and Bad Religion, Holland noting, “I believe that music has the power to heal,” in this night that mentioned the current horrors outside not once.
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Running out of room here, but as for Bad Religion, they were more overtly if generically political, throwing out Recipe for Hate, Them and Us and the presage pounder Los Angeles Is Burning as the sound crew found its footing, 21st Century (Digital Boy) and the Neil-Young-vibed Streets of America super solid songs.
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Sorrow had me thinking of losing onetime Edmonton dweller Catherine O’Hara, and when Greg Graffin switched American Jesus to Canadian Jesus, he didn’t mean to but summoned Connor McDavid, because you just can’t ever escape the Oilers of it all, especially under 25 of their banners – including all three from the 21st century!
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Giant beach balls and animated shellfish accompanied The Offspring for the reggae punk Why Don’t You Get a Job?, Noodles at the end yelling a “When I say Edmon, you say ton,” I’ve never heard before, haha.
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Inflatable car-wash noodle wigglers accompanied the crowd-sourced cosplayers on Pretty Fly for a White Guy, the brutal, sad, band-peak The Kids Aren’t Alright the musical height of the night, as some but not many started making their way out before the encore.
