Matt at the Music: Blink-182: Crappy Punk Rock Since 1993
Matt at the Music: Blink-182: Crappy Punk Rock Since 1993
Apparently, we're letting Matt cover the music beat now ... and if you're surprised Matt went to Blink this weekend instead of Luke Combs, you don't know Matt. Bonus: Spotify playlist of Friday's show
In the summer of 1997, I heard the chords that would change my life.
Growing up in the rural countryside of New York State, I listened to classic rock, alternative “it” bands, and whatever volume of Jock Jams I could get my hands on at thirteen years old. Dial-up internet was king and Napster was two years away, so my experience with anything remotely punk was limited to the radio or MTV.
Green Day, The Offspring, or an occasional Goldfinger song was all I’d ever been exposed to.
In September of ‘97, the San Diego-based pop/punk trio Blink-182 had their first breakthrough radio hit with “Dammit”, off their sophomore album Dude Ranch, and I was forever hooked. Fast skate punk mixed with catchy dueling vocals, sappy love songs, and potty humor was all a middle school teen could ask for.
They played that fall at a small local venue (Bogie’s) in Albany, NY that doesn’t exist anymore. I desperately wanted to get tickets, but I was too young for a club show.
I knew I’d get my chance to see them in a small intimate venue in a couple years, when I was a little older, like all my other later pop/punk favorites (New Found Glory, The Starting Line, or Yellowcard).
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
1999’s Enema of the State blew up on the radio and MTV, and CD sales topped over 15 million copies. They brought in famed punk producer and engineer Jerry Finn to give the band a more polished sound and added in Travis Barker from The Aquabats to replace original drummer Scott Raynor. When I finally saw them in the summer of 1999, it was in front of 20,000 people with Bad Religion (one of their biggest influences) opening. The rest is history.
The band is performing their first tour together since Tom DeLonge took an indefinite hiatus in 2015. He was replaced by Alkaline Trio’s lead singer Matt Skiba, who helped their 2016 album California reach #1 on the Billboard 200 charts. I attended on Friday night despite dynamic pricing from a ticketing monopoly bleeding fans dry.
The three main members have been through a lot over the past several years. Drummer Travis Barker came very close to death from a plane crash in 2008. He now is as famous for his love life as he is for his drumming. Bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus revealed in 2021 that he was receiving cancer treatments that thankfully put him in remission a year later. Guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge has worked on many different projects from his band Angels & Airwaves, to writing science fiction novels, and spending an exuberant amount of time carrying out Pentagon-approved research on UFOs (seriously).
However, after Mark’s brush with death the three decided to hash things out, put out a new #1 single, and embark on a major world tour.
The Spectrum Center was packed to the gills as I experienced the panorama from our spot on the floor. There were fairweather fans who knew the hits, younger Gen Z fans making their first blink show, and old heads who’ve been on the train for over twenty-five years, all creating a completely positive buzz of energy before the headliners took stage. Plenty of tattoos, gray beards, Janine Lindemulder outfits, and yes even people wearing the shirt of the band representing tonight. All parties came to a standing roar as they opened with “Anthem Part Two” and its epic intro (my wife and I’s wedding entrance song) that bellows a rebellious chorus.
Original members Tom and Mark have not slowed an iota on stage with their energy or on the mic vamping. The one knock I always had for them was that their onstage presence could sometimes be somewhat subdued compared to other live punk shows that feature intense pit environments. While this was never a mosh or circle pit type band, they were on the move up on stage throughout their ninety minute runtime. They kept a smile on everyone’s face as they were dancing, jumping, interacting with the crowd, playing twenty feet above ground (thanks Travis!), and of course being trash-mouthed with each other on stage.
Tom even commented that every review of their show has talked about their “cringe” dialogue, but it’s who they’ve been for the past thirty years. AC/DC never changed their style of rock and roll and Blink-182 will forever tell dick jokes in between songs on stage. It’s not a Luke Combs show.
The band used an awesome array of visuals, lasers, fire, smoke, and very clever background videos to accompany each song while not overshadowing its members on stage. Mark sounded crisp on his vocals, Tom was as nasally singing while ethereal on his guitar as usual, and Travis awed the crowd with his transitional solos that kept the set chugging along.
All the while they poked fun at each other, the crowd, and brought a much needed sense of silliness that we need from time to time in this chaotic society we live in. They gave the crowd an avenue to bring their high school and college nostalgia back to life, if only for a couple hours.
You can knock on them for being a simplistic three chord band whose catchy and sappy lyrics are garbage, and they’d be the first to nod in agreement with you. These are skater punk kids who grew up in southern California under the umbrella of punk staples like the Descendants, NOFX, Pennywise, and Drive Like Jehu among others as the soundtrack of their youth. They know what they are and are unapologetic about it.
Taste is subjective, but you can’t argue with their success: over 50 million albums sold, and at least four number one rock songs spanning four separate decades. Only two other bands have ever accomplished that feat: fellow Californian pop/punk artists Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The biggest crowd pleasers of the night had the Spectrum Center singing in unison from the first note: “Anthem Part Two,” “Feeling This,” “Stay Together For The Kids,” “Bored To Death,” “I Miss You,” “What’s My Age Again?,” and a raucous rendition of “All The Small Things” during their encore.
Mark took some time to talk about depression and his brush with death before playing their hit “Adam’s Song” in a monologue met with lengthy applause. “Aliens Exist” featured an amazing laser and visual UFO backdrop to the pure enjoyment of Tom, the avid extraterrestrial enthusiast. They finished with my all-time favorite and first hit (that may be tattooed on my person), “Dammit”.
The energy emanating from the crowd through the final encore was seen on every smiling face when the house lights came up.
While this was my seventh or eighth time seeing Blink over the past twenty-five years, it may have been my favorite so far. Chalk it up to seeing them for the first time with my wife, who is also a massive fan.
Maybe it was the memories of driving to the mall on Tuesday CD release days in high school, then cranking the volume as loud as possible on the drive back as each new album would become our anthem for the summer. Or maybe I just wanted to relive some long forgotten time with no responsibilities with the world at our fingertips.
As they sang on their final lyrics of the night the sentiment could not have rang more true, “Well I guess this is growing up”.
Set List
(scroll down for Spotify playlist)
Anthem Part Two
The Rock Show
Family Reunion
Man Overboard
Feeling This
Reckless Abandon
Violence
Up All Night
Dysentery Gary
Dumpweed
EDGING
Aliens Exist
Cynical
Happy Holidays, You Bastard (x2)
Stay Together For The Kids
Always
Down
Bored to Death
I Miss You
Adam’s Song
Ghosts On The Dance Floor
What’s My Age Again?
Encore
First Date
All The Small Things
Dammit