In concert, The Offspring is still pretty fly for a punk rock band

At Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta Tuesday night, the yin-yang essence of The Offspring was in full display over a fast-paced 95 minutes of audible and visual eye candy.

Lead singer Dexter Holland doesn’t possess the charisma of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong or the vocal prowess of the late Chris Cornell, but he provided an amiable anchor that kept the show moving. Lead guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman was his jokey, sometimes corny partner in crime.

The duo kept their lightweight patter to a minimum in favor of the music, plucking an array of hits from eight of their 11 studio albums. They propelled through pure punk songs like “Hammerhead” and “Bad Habit” as well as a joyful cover of the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” while a crew member in an ape mask carried around a sign saying “I Wanna...”

For a good portion of the concert, two massive inflated skull heads lorded over the band, breathing “fire” in the form of water vapor. Their indefatigable drummer Brandon Pertzborn, who was born just months after their breakthrough album “Smash” hit the scene in 1994, blasted through a drum solo while Noodles spent a few minutes riffing through guitar licks from songs like Kiss’ “Detroit Rock City” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”

Near the end of the concert, those skulls were deflated and replaced by four inflatable tube men typically seen at car dealerships. They flopped in the air to The Offspring’s memorably jokey novelty song “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy).”

And during their hilariously snarky 1998 hit “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” the band sent oversize beach balls into the crowd because those interactive props are now concert staples. (The Offspring’s far more serious rock cousins Metallica brought out comparable balls out for their concert a few weeks earlier at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.)

Credit: Rodney Ho/ajc

Credit: Rodney Ho/ajc

The final 30 minutes were largely a parade of the band’s biggest sing-along hits like “Gotta Get Away” and “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” with a single heartfelt break in the action when the crew wheeled out a white grand piano.

Holland plopped down on the bench and provided the only backstory of the night to any of their songs: 1997’s “Gone Away,” an ode to a friend of his who had died.

He asked the audience to turn on their smartphone flashlight as a symbol for anyone they had lost in their lives.

“I was struggling,” Holland said. “I hope this can help you through your struggles as well.”

The crowd obliged, creating a sea of blinking lights while Holland wailed, “And it feels, and it feels like heaven’s so far away!”

Credit: Rodney

Credit: Rodney

The Offspring isn’t known for being political, and nothing the band said Tuesday night indicated otherwise. But the group‘s drummer Pete Parada said he was fired in 2021 after he refused to take a COVID vaccine. And Noodles wore a profane anti-Trump patch on his jacket that could be seen briefly on the video screens when the camera closed in on him.

The band also played a song midway through the set from their newest album, “Supercharged,” dubbed “Truth in Fiction” that pointedly addresses how people now absorb information.

“Reality is bending while the truth becomes the past,” Holland sang. “The future is surrendering. You’ll find your truth in fiction of the facts.”

But Noodles, at one point, decided to make up his own facts about the attendance, which was close to the venue’s full capacity of 12,000.

“It’s a world record here!” he proclaimed with mock sincerity. “1,316,007 people are here tonight!”

“Sounds exaggerated,” Holland mused.

Noodles repeated the very specific made-up number with so much conviction, Holland relented: “Must be real! Must be true!”

Credit: Rodney Ho/ajc

Credit: Rodney Ho/ajc