New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World, and The Offspring Bring the Heat to Sweltering Florida Kickoff

By Erin Lee

Come Out And Play: The Offspring rocked iTHINK Financial Amphitheater. Photo By Larry Marano

It was a sweaty, action packed, rock n' roll adventure at iTHINK Financial Amphitheater in West Palm Beach last night!

New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World, and The Offspring kicked off their North American tour in Florida "because we wanted to start where the hottest people are, and everyone knows that's Florida."

Singer Dexter Holland told the crowd.

NFG played a tight 8 song set, filling the time with everything from classics like "All Downhill From Here" to their newest track "100%" They threw in an excellent cover of Goo Goo Dolls' Iris before closing the set with "My Friends Over You," resulting in joyful audience participation.

Next up was Jimmy Eat World.

Feel The Sweetness: Jimmy Eat World's bassist Rick Burch captured in The Middle of an intense riff.

One can always rely on these guys to come through with heart-pumping energy, blasting through hit after hit and spanning their catalog from beloved fan favorite album Futures to 2019's Surviving, their most recent effort.

Personally, I show up full force for Jimmy Eat World. They're on the list of bands I never miss when they come to town, and I'm always the one in my section jumping up and down and dancing like a fool, shouting every lyric. It seemed a lot of people around me were more interested in casually recording videos. While there's nothing wrong with that (I do it, too!) I wanted to bring everyone around me up to my level as South Florida's self-proclaimed biggest Jimmy Eat World fan.

As per usual, the band played masterfully. Tom Linton held it down with supporting vocals and rhythm guitar. Jim Adkins' dynamic stage presence always lends itself to an engaging performance.

Before The Offspring took the stage, a blimp equipped with a camera sailed through the pavilion, emblazoned with the band's flaming skull logo and an anarchy symbol.

Punk rock meets sporting event with this fun concept: "Kiss Cam," "Headbanging Cam," and the 'too hot for tv' "Booty Shaking Cam" had audience members sharing cute moments and hamming it up.

The band started the set strong, charging through "Come Out and Play" from 1994's breakthrough album Smash, followed by "Original Prankster" and "Want You Bad."

A third of the way into the set, two floor-to-ceiling inflatable skeletons adorned either side of the stage, providing a badass visual backdrop to some newer songs from last year's Supercharged album.

The back half of the set included Noodles and the rhythm section jamming to bits of old tunes like Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated."

A highlight of every Offspring show is the witty banter between Dexter and Noodles. Playing off of one another with clever one-liners, proclaiming it's the "BEST NIGHT EVER!"

Adding to the playful energy of the show, we were treated to confetti cannons, pyro,  colorful beach balls bouncing through the venue, and wacky waving inflatable tube guys.

The Offspring made sure their first night of tour was a visual and audio delight for fans, filled with songs we love and "cuss words" aplenty!

All images by Larry Marano:

New Found Glory:

Jimmy Eat World:

The Offspring: