Photo Gallery: The Offspring, Sum 41, Simple Plan at Credit 1 Amphitheatre

Words and photos by Curt Baran

Perhaps it was the perfect convergence of a lingering, post-COVID thirst for live music and an absolutely beautiful summer evening. Of course, a triple bill of pop-punk featuring The Offspring, Sum 41, and Simple Plan might have had something to do with it as well. Let’s file it under all of the above. An absolutely massive crowd packed itself into Tinley Park’s Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre for an evening that flowed with over-caffeinated rhythms, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and a user-friendly, PG-13 mosh pit. Headliners The Offspring gave the people what they paid for, delivering a stream of alt-radio classics like “Come Out And Play,” “Self Esteem,” and “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy),” all sufficiently goosed by monstrous back beats that seemed to bleed their way into Northwest Indiana. The celebratory mood was a perfect mixture of summer in the Midwest, with just a hint of melancholy that colder days lie ahead. But for one glorious suburban evening, even the posers were given a hall pass to be as punk as they wanted to be.