February 19, 2026
A high voltage Punk night as The Offspring and Bad Religion ignite Ottawa
The Offspring and Bad Religion have teamed up as tour partners and hit the mean streets as tour partners, running across American and Canada currently, and tonight stopped off in Ottawa – Canada’s capital city.
The Supercharged Worldwide tour has been receiving praise at every stop it has made so far, and with two of the greatest punk rock stalwarts together, it’s easy to see why The Off spring and Bad Religion are pulling in such high praise.
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Tonight was Ottawa’s turn to witness these two giants – and prove to Canada what all the hoopla has been about.
Bad Religion
February 19 at the Canadian Tire Centre kicked off with a masterclass in melodic hardcore. Bad Religion wasted no time reminding Ottawa why they remain one of punk’s most enduring forces more than four decades into their career. Frontman Greg Graffin delivered razor-sharp vocals with academic precision (as expected from the UCLA lecturer-turned-punk-icon), while the band’s harmonized “oohs” rang clean and powerful across the arena.
Recent years have kept Bad Religion busy. The band continues touring globally in 2026, mixing festival appearances with headlining dates, and they’ve had selected some of the obvious staples across their vast catalogue on their setlist. Tight, fast, and unapologetically political without becoming preachy, their performance set a high bar early in the night. Even in an arena setting, they maintained that club-show urgency that’s defined them since the early ’80s.
The crowd, a mix of battle-vest Gen Xers and younger fans discovering the band in real time, responded with constant motion in the lower bowl. It was the perfect ignition for what would become a chaotic, celebratory evening of punk nostalgia and present-day energy.
The Offspring
Before The Offspring even struck a chord, the pre-show theatrics had the arena buzzing. A hype gorilla teamed up with Ottawa Senators mascot Spartacat, stirring up the concourses and popping up on the jumbotron. We were treated to a kiss cam, a headbang cam, and even a booty cam zooming in on the most spirited fans. Overhead, The Offspring’s signature drone blip circled the arena like a mechanical omen. When the countdown began, the hype gorilla bounced across the stage, whipping the crowd into a deafening roar.
As noted, we weren’t provided a reviewer ticket for this show, so this recap is a bit shorter than our usual deep dive, but the energy in the building was impossible to ignore.
Opening with authority, The Offspring delivered a career-spanning set that balanced breakneck anthems with sing-along staples. Dexter Holland, Noodles and the rest of the band proved they’ve lost none of their stamina. The atmosphere was rowdy and chaotic in the best way: crowd surfers sailed, beer cups flew, and entire sections shouted every word back at the stage. From teens to longtime fans who grew up on Smash and Americana, the jam-packed arena felt unified.
A handful of playful covers added surprise, while deeper cuts pleased longtime devotees. Most importantly, The Offspring still sound hungry, not like a nostalgia act, but like a band that genuinely enjoys detonating an arena two decades past their commercial peak.
A handful of playful covers reportedly added an extra layer of surprise to the night. Friends in attendance later told us about the band tearing through snippets of Black Sabbath’s Electric Funeral/Paranoid mashup, and Ozzy Osbourne classic Crazy Train. They also tipped their hats to Ramones with a punchy rendition of ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ that had the arena shouting along and also weaved in a massive sing-along to The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’.
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While we weren’t able to witness those cover moments firsthand, the post-show stories alone suggest they were standout highlights, the kind of spontaneous-feeling detours that keep an arena tour from feeling formulaic. Meanwhile, deeper cuts in the setlist rewarded longtime devotees who’ve followed the band since the ‘90s breakout years.
By the encore, the Canadian Tire Centre was shaking. Punk may age, but on nights like this, it refuses to mellow.
