The Offspring Originally Thought When We Were Young Festival Was 'A Terrible Idea’

The current punk rock and pop punk revival isn’t something The Offspring expected.

In fact, when the Las Vegas festival When We Were Young was first announced, frontman Dexter Holland admits thinking that it seemed like “a terrible idea”.

The festival has ended up being so successful that The Offspring will perform at the event for a second time in 2025, following their first appearance in 2023.

“It wasn't that long ago there were no guitars on the radio whatsoever, right?” Holland said during an interview with The Music.

“And that's when When We Were Young was announced, and it was all Warped Tour bands from 2005… ‘This seems like a terrible idea; this is going to go nowhere…’ And then all of a sudden, it clicked and it was off to the races again. Punk rock was back, at least pop punk.”

In recent years, the event has boasted the likes of Green Day, blink-182, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and more, and guitarist Noodles said that many bands who appeared on the line-up from the late ‘90s and early 2000s feel “fresh and new today”.

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“It doesn't seem like a nostalgia thing,” he said. “These bands are still making new music as well. They're still all at it. I think the youthful energy and spirit of punk rock and punk music really kind of keeps it fresh, keeps it sounding fresh.”

Set to join The Offspring on their 2025 Australian tour, Simple Plan have also played the festival multiple times.

Noodles described the Canadian pop-punkers as “some of the coolest guys you could ever want to hang out with”.

Holland added: “We kind of just crossed paths over the last 15 years or whatever, but it was really just in the last couple of years, we started actually doing some tours and getting to know them better. They're really cool.”

The Offspring will bring their new album, Supercharged, to Australia next May with Simple Plan in tow. Tickets are on sale now via the Destroy All Lines website, and you can find more details below.