Punk-rock in Prague: The Offspring and Simple Plan returned to the Exhibition Grounds

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, the collaboration between the greats  The Offspring and the equally famous Canadians  Simple Plan returned to Prague. However, there was not even a foot in front of the  Sportovní halou Fortuna around noon. Fortunately, the first impatient people in band sweatshirts soon began to gradually disperse.

Thankfully, the time outside passed quickly, the organizers were smart and set up a merch stand outside for fans while they waited – but their wallets probably weren't so thrilled. Canadian band Simple Plan even had a special limited edition T-shirt made just for this concert.

Before six o'clock, the organizers opened the doors to the hall and fans rushed in at lightning speed. Then there was another wait, but this time the visitors already had their places in the cauldron. Simple Plan, who accepted a special guest invitation from The Offspring, began their performance around seven thirty in the evening with the song I'd Do Anything. Their concerts are already known not only in our country for transmitting an incredibly positive wave of energy. Since they were the "supporting band," they unfortunately played a shorter set than we are used to, but they still bet on the classics and completely thrilled the fans. Their most famous songs such as Jump, Jet Lag, Summer Paradise full of beach balls, Welcome To My Life or What's New Scooby Doo? were not missing, during which more than one Scooby appeared on stage. This year, they also included the new song Nothing Changes in the playlist. Towards the end, there was I'm Just A Kid, when singer Pierre and drummer Chuck switched roles - the singer sat down at the drums, the drummer put on a Czech hockey jersey and went to jump and swim into the whirlpool of fans. It is clear that they are definitely not strangers to communicating with the crowd and it was again touching how singer Pierre communicated - he tried to speak Czech, which is definitely not easy, but it will touch your heart all the more.

Before nine o'clock, the stage was set up for the second act. During the set-up, when they removed the lights and instruments from the stage, Simple Plan entertained people by projecting onto the screen behind them - they were engaging people in the audience, and there was also a "Kiss Cam," which reminded us of the recent kissing incident from the Coldplay performance. In addition, the band's monkey "mascot" arrived, running into the crowd and taking pictures with them, not only on stage, but also performing various dance moves and shooting band t-shirts among the fans. I think that there was simply no time for boredom during the set-up.

Then came The Offspring. It is undeniable that after forty years on stage they still have something to offer and although they are not the youngest, it is not noticeable in their performance. Unfortunately, the band's sound engineer was not very lucky - most of the time the guitars were blown and the lyrics were not very understandable, unlike the decent sound of the previous band. If someone who did not know the band had shown up at the concert, they would not have understood the lyrics (however, this probably did not happen, given that the entire event quickly sold out).

hey had large inflatable skulls on stage most of the time, which changed color and emitted smoke. On the screen behind them, excerpts from clips alternated with the camera shooting the band directly. They played over twenty songs, including of course the well-known ones that most rock fans came to see. Among their classics, such as All I Want, Want You Bad, Why Don´t You Get A Job? or The Kids Aren´t Alright they also included several new songs from the new album Supercharged, such as the song Make It Alright.The middle of the whole set was also made special by a few covers - for example Electric Funeral / Paranoid from Black Sabbath, Crazy Train 18 / 5 000as a tribute to Ozzy or I Wanna Be Seated od Ramones. In addition, the rather energetic drum solo was also eliminated. During the songGone Away singer Dexter Holland sat down at the piano.
Finally, the fans applauded the encore in the form of You´re Gonna Go Far, Kid and Self Esteem. 

Thank you very much for the opportunity to be a part of this evening. I hope to see you soon...

Šári