BPD member BamBam just sent in this flash report:
After four years of acrimony, the odds of seeing punk rockers Blink-182 together again seemed at best a long shot.Thanks BamBam.
But it appears that a serious reality check - a plane crash last September that killed four and left drummer Travis Barker with severe burns (and 16 operations) - made all the spats or tiffs seem like small things.
DeLonge and Hoppus told me backstage that they got caught up in all the "small, inconsequential shit" and it wasn't until disaster struck, that they woke up to how precious life is.
Before a near capacity horde of late teens and twentysomethings, Blink-182's 90-minute set was basically three guys obviously having fun from start to finish, even if guitarist/singer Tom DeLonge's precision was still something of a work in progress compared to Barker and bassist/singer Mark Hoppus.
He does have the between lyrics belch down pat, as was the case during Always halfway through the show.
Regardless, Blink-182 based their success on catchy punk rock nuggets such as The Rock Show, one of the early highlights which they sounded tight on. "Guess what, the show's not over!" DeLonge quipped before stating Obvious was "so good you guys are probably f------ pregnant" because of it.
The band also seemed quite content to steamroll through their material such as What's My Age Again? and Obvious, briefly allowing DeLonge to make some sexual jokes about Hoppus before Hoppus retorted in a Southern preacher-like style. When that didn't work, a "Shut Up Tom" sign was displayed on the six small circular video screens behind them.
Highlights were many, but the biggest was simply watching the fills and rolls the gleeful, smiling Barker executed throughout the night on the anthem-like Stay Together For The Kids, the more melodic I Miss You and especially on Stockholm Syndrome. A drum solo in the encore also had Barker showing no ill effects of the last 12 hellish months as the drum kit elevated, rotated and swung from one side of the stage to the other, at times with Barker parallel to the stage.
As for effects or eye candy, the band used lights, lights and more lights but little else. Thankfully flames or fireballs - a part of their previous tours - were nowhere to be found given the recent events.
With the crowd standing, dancing and singing throughout, Blink-182 went into a higher gear beginning with the chipper, crisp First Date and the foot-stomping Man Overboard as the mosh pit looked like an exercise in chaos.
Pretending to fall asleep prior to Going Away To College, DeLonge succeeded in not "f------ up" the song as Hoppus said he did at a recent show in Boston. A high-five between the two concluded Not Now.
From that point on it was smooth sailing as Adam's Song and All The Small Things were performed, resulting in the same frenzy and singing they both evoked when Blink-182 went on hiatus in 2005.
I never thought I'd get to see Blink-182 again, let alone hang with them backstage. Way to go, BPD!!
Full year memberships are still only $49 from the BPD website.
