It feels like the world needs punk rock more than ever before. I’ve been feeling this a lot more recently and it’s not surprising why. Punk has always been a genre of the people and uprising against the horrors of the world. In other words, people standing together against issues they are passionate about. With this in mind, I decided to make my way down to Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena to catch two legendary Californian acts, The Offspring and Bad Religion. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a stadium show, but I was stoked to find out we were going to be covering this show. For me, this is the first review of 2026 and it’s a strong show to cover.
I’ve been through the stadium show process quite a few times. That process is simple: opener goes on for like 5 or 6 songs, quick break, headliner goes on for roughly 1 ½ – 2 hours, fans go back to their cars and struggle to get out of the busy parking lot. To my surprise, this process wasn’t happening tonight. Bad Religion essentially played a headliner amount of music for their opening slot. Now, the band has been around since 1979, but you could tell because these guys had more energy than some younger bands I’ve seen. 19 songs were performed during this set, some fast rippers and other slower heaters, but what really stood out for me was their final song. Bad Religion played their 1993 single, American Jesus. A song covering the topic of “God favouring America” based on Former President Bush’s remarks during the gulf war. A song which feels very relatable in today’s climate. It really feels like we are reliving the past but if anything helps calm my nerves, its that this music lived through those scary times and hopefully we will make it through these times. Ultimately, I felt that Bad Religion brought a fantastic set to the arena and I could definitely see myself catching them again in the future. Which on that note, they mentioned that the last time they were in Victoria was back in 2003 at The Curling Club, which is oddly enough beside the stadium. Hopefully they will return much sooner than in another 23 years.
When intermission arrived, I expected a pretty quick turn around with some in-house music above, but if I learned anything from this night, it’s that The Offspring goes all out. From a blimp flying around dropping guitar picks, to the many different fan cams throughout the break, these guys know how to keep a party going. To tie the intermission with a bow, two lucky fans got ticket upgrades to the floor. This led into a very electric performance by the band with there being something visually fascinating about each song. Their 18-song set featured an Ozzy Osbourne tribute featuring songs like Paranoid and Crazy Train, a cover of Hey Jude, which featured a beautiful performance on a grand piano, and of course a ton of Offspring classics. The stage featured some inflatable skeletons with smoke coming from their mouth, and the visuals for each song were on point. The Offspring really knows how to give an experience to their fans, and I already know that this experience will be talked about for a long time.
Am I pretty fly for a white/latino guy? Maybe, but after that night, I did feel like it for a bit. Seeing all these fans cheer for some punk rock helped with that. If there were any takeaways from this show, it’s that the music of the past can still hold up today and the artists behind those songs are also holding up quite well. A truly exciting treat for Victoria and I hope for more to come this year.
