Sabroso Craft Taco, Beer, & Music Festival
April 28th, 2018
Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
Greenwood Village, Colorado
Words by Tyler Hypnarowski
“It’s Saturday night, so we’re all legally obligated to have a good time.”
With that declaration, Pennywise vocalist Jim Lindberg about summed up the mood Saturday night at Fiddler’s Green Ampitheatre in Greenwood Village, Colorado at the Sabroso Craft Taco, Beer & Music Festival. On a day that began with a craft beer fest and a line of taco trucks, the Denver crowd was treated to a heaping portion of music from The Offspring and their traveling ring of punk rock pranksters. Muy bien indeed.
Short sets from both Los Kung Fu Monkeys and Unwritten Law were followed up by a set from Lit, best known for their 1999 album A Place In The Sun. Though before anyone even had a chance to singalong to their hits “My Own Worst Enemy”, “Miserable”, or “Zip-Lock”, the Orange County outfit gave a nice tribute to the recently passed Tom Petty by covering his classic, “American Girl”. With a new album coming out in July, Lit also performed a few new songs including “Good Problem To Have”, a tune with a country twang that’s currently getting video play on “CMT of all places” as frontman Jay Popoff explained. Certainly a different vibe than singing about coming in through the window or sleeping with their clothes on, but the newer material shows an artistic growth and provided a refreshing stamp of uniqueness to their set. It’s easy to see why the evening’s headliner The Offspring brought Lit along as openers for some shows back in 1999 when they were just getting started.
The production crew was on point all night, keeping the music flowing and on schedule with no more than thirty minute breaks between sets, just enough time to grab a beer or another taco, should you be lucky enough to find the latter by the time the Rocky Mountain sunset appeared behind the stage. Street Dogs, led by vocalist Mike McColgan of Dropkick Murphys fame were up next and transformed the 18,000 seat amphitheater into a Boston pool hall with Irish punk classics and pub singalongs. Much accustomed to smaller stages, the moment was not lost on the group as bassist Johnny Rioux graciously thanked the crowd and commented how the Street Dogs “aren’t supposed to be at such a nice place.”
Celebrating their 30th year anniversary and the birthday week of guitarist Fletcher Dragge, Pennywise was next on deck and threw down 60 minutes of high octane punk rock much to the delight of the increasingly boisterous crowd. Paying tribute to some of their own heroes, the band ran through a montage of abbreviated songs from groups including The Clash, Misfits, and AC/DC before rocking a rowdy cover of the Beastie Boys “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)”. By the time they were done, all eyes and ears were ready for the evening’s main event, The Offspring.
Walking out to a recording of the mariachi-infused hidden track from their 1998 release Americana, The Offspring immediately launched into the title track from that same album to kick off their part of the evening. In good spirits and bantering with themselves and the crowd all night, frontman Dexter Holland and the gang ran through some of their quintessential tunes including “All I Want”, “Come Out and Play”, “Why Don’t You Get a Job?”, and “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” among others. About halfway in, the band offered a change of pace as Holland performed a hauntingly poignant piano rendition of “Gone Away”, the normally hard rocking track from 1997’s Inxay on the Hombre. After a few songs later, Holland thanked the crowd and acknowledged the abundance of quality beer in the Denver area, before leading the band into “Self Esteem” to close the show. Raw, powerful, yet catchy, the self-depreciating anthem of the 90s was a strong ending to a short set but hearty day of music. In true rock and roll fashion, The Offspring lack some of the polish that many of their peers perform with and instead put down authentic, albeit at times rugged shows. They’ve remained genuine to themselves and their music through the years, and their set here proved that as thousands of hot sauce and hop fueled fans screamed along to thirty years of material.
For fans of The Offspring, Pennywise, Lit, or any of the other bands on this traveling fiesta’s lineup, Sabroso Taco Festival is a must. To have a jam-packed day of live music complimented by good eats and good brews just like a Gringo Bandito hot sauce compliments a carne asada, Sabroso satisfies an appetite you didn’t know you had. Come out and play! See remaining dates and ticketing information here.
