The punk rock group, The Offspring, played the Seaside Stage at the Del Mar Summer Concert Series on Friday, August 10. The fearsome foursome from up the freeway in Orange County stayed true to their punk rock roots and blasted the crowd on a warm, languid summer night with a perfect blend of new songs and old.

The nice thing about the Offspring is that they have transcended so well from their 1990's glory days into a new maturity as a talented, well-regarded and still lavishly popular tour act.

That was more than apparent when the group took to the Seaside Stage at the Del Mar Racetrack Summer Concert Series. A large and boisterous crowd greeted them and once the music started, it was obvious that things were slightly getting out of hand.

Rowdy fans had managed to knocked down some crowd barricades and some crowd surfing had begun. The Offspring opened with old hits, "All I Want" and "Come Out and Play." They then segued right into their latest sing along now appearing on the airwaves, "Days Go By." Right then, Noodles the guitarist, stopped the music and asked people to calm down.

Lucky for me, I managed to get to the VIP area with my press pass and was right underneath the stage taking the first 3 photos for a concert review when the mayhem began. I do not care to be so close to the front any more because it can get knarly and I watched the crowd pushing and shoving from afar with a sense of relief and disbelief.

Because the night was so warm and sultry and the beer, most likely-- flowing freely, there was a sense of a lack of self-discipline at the show but then that might have also been because The Offspring possess such strong punk roots. Fans were expressing their freedom to thrash and get crazy, which is completely understandable. I make no judgements; I was there to observe and report.

I hightailed it to the Medical Assist area, where safe from the throbbing mob, I could sit down, listen and watch as a series of unfortunates came to seek help from the Medical personnel on duty. A poor girl just out of the hospital came to lay down on the emergency cart where I was sitting. Every time she sat up, she became dizzy and had to lay back down. I gave her some on my Honest Tea to drink and that only made her more nauseous.

I struck up a conversation with a very nice lady who just happened to live right down the street from me. She was in the thick of all the concert action and had lost her sandals and suffered from a split toe. Someone had stepped on her feet pretty hard and she thought she might even need stitches.An unconscious man was being dragged into the privacy tent by his buddy and another agitated fellow refused to be restrained by the Sheriff's who were not amused.

Still, the music flowed on and the Offspring songs I dearly love were so much more enjoyable from the safety of the emergency area. "Kristy, Are You Okay" was beautifully done. I love "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" and "Pretty Fly for a White Guy." The set list seemed to fly by with one great song after another.

Finally, as many times I have seen The Offspring--at venues all over San Diego and up in L.A. and Orange County, it never gets old with them. I remember this past May, when the band was sandwiched between surprise guest Soundgarden and Incubus at the KROQ Weenie Roast. They came out blasting and any body who doubted this band would fade away between those two other power house rockers were in for a rude awakening.As much as I love the hard rock songs, I also think Offspring does well with the more acoustic ballads. I was hoping to hear Dexter take to the piano for  "Gone Away," like he did at the San Diego Open Air Amphitheater but maybe at the next show?

Maybe I am reliving the 90's with attendance at so concerts that feature bands from the 90's but what an era it was. I remember reading in a Rolling Stone interview that Noodles considers the Offspring so fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time.

I would agree that the band has been fortunate to have had such long-lasting popularity and so many catchy hit songs. But let us not forget the likeability of Offspring and the amusingly literacy of quite a few of their radio staples.

Now I pace myself with all the shows that come to town and save my energy and money to attend only the best ones and hopefully in a safe manner.  No doubt that would most definitely be-- the Offspring but NOT in the pit!