It’s been quite some time since the Memorial Gardens rocked as hard as it did Tuesday night. The evening’s moshing, crowd surfing and fierce energy was all due to Sum 41 and The Offspring’s tour stop in Sault Ste. Marie on their way across Canada. Additional band support was provided by the UK’s Dinosaur Pile-Up.
And while Sum 41 brilliantly worked the local crowd into a downright messy lather, the highlight of the evening may have been when The Offspring frontman Dexter Holland took it down a notch to sit at a grand piano. What followed was a beautifully haunting version of the band’s 1997 hit Gone Away.
Sault Ste. Marie was one of only two northern Ontario stops on the current tour after performing in Sudbury on Nov. 16. It was also the very first Sault appearance for The Offspring.