Blink-182 is back on the road with its classic lineup and potty-mouthed humor intact. Its Monday San Diego-homecoming concert included one unexpectedly tender moment
What’s their age again?
Moments of sensitive musical introspection are as rare at a blink-182 rock show as moshing and jokes about flatulence are at a concert by James Taylor, Ed Sheeran or Weyes Blood.
So, to the surprise of absolutely no one, blink’s high-octane Monday night performance at Pechanga Arena San Diego did not include anything remotely resembling Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” Sheeran’s “Borderline” or Blood’s “God Turn Me Into a Flower.”
Instead, the Poway-bred pop-punk band ripped through more than two-dozen songs, many featuring the breakneck tempos that are blink’s bread and butter.
The pop-punk band, which was formed in Poway in 1992, will top Sunday’s bill on the main stage, followed by a non-headlining set by Calvin Harris
The selections included such favorites as “The Rock Show,” “Stay Together for the Kids” and the concert-concluding “All the Small Things” and “Damnit.” The audience of approximately 9,000 was on its feet from start to finish, roaring its approval and singing along throughout blink’s highly anticipated homecoming show.
True, some of the vocals sounded ragged at times and the set lagged for a bit about three-quarters through. But the band’s energy, like that of its highly enthusiastic fans, mirrored the celebratory nature of the night as blink’s classic lineup tours together for the first time since 2014.
What was surprising is that the most memorable part of the performance was also a poignant one, especially coming from the band that almost nightly sets new records for the most penis references in a single concert.
“I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma (in 2021) and didn’t know if I’d ever be able to be on stage again,” said blink bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, 51. “And here I am, tonight, in front of you.”
With that, the band began its 21st number of the night, “Adam’s Song,” which appears on blink’s 1999 album “Enema of The State.” The lyrics to “Adam’s Song” address such issues as depression and suicide with a degree of sensitivity and tenderness unique in blink’s songbook.
It was a rare moment of reflection at a show during which juvenile humor and potty-mouth jokes — blink trademarks since the band’s inception here in 1992 — abounded.
The lyrics to “Family Reunion,” the concert’s third selection, are comprised of just 15 words. most of them expletives. Half of them were borrowed from the late comedian George Carlin’s seminal 1972 routine, “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” (Carlin’s routine, which targeted censorship, led to a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s power to determine language guidelines and limitations for broadcast media).
Just in case the memories of any attendees at Monday’s concert had dimmed, during “Family Reunion” some of the words the Supreme Court ruled on were colorfully projected on a large video screen at the rear of the stage.
What words specifically?
Blink guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge complained from the stage that newspapers won’t publish those words in their reviews of the band’s concerts. His venting may have been a bit tongue in cheek, but with blink many things are tongue in cheek.
This year’s tour is the first by blink’s best-known lineup since DeLonge left in 2015 and was replaced by Matt Skiba. Hoppus and drum dynamo Travis Barker — who joined blink in 1998 — toured and recorded with Skiba until last year. That was when DeLonge’s return, as the replacement of his replacement, was announced for a 2023 album and a tour that stretches to next year.
Monday’s concert included “Bored to Death,” the 2016 song recorded by the Skiba-era edition of blink. If DeLonge minded playing it, he gave no visible indication.
“Tom being back in the band is why I’m here,” said Brittany Ott, 29, an Arizona resident. She and her husband spent $1,300 on their pair of lower loge seats near the rear of the arena. They drove three hours from Yuma to attend Monday’s show.
“I’ve been waiting to see blink since I was a little girl, and — as an adult — I feel like I relate to them even more,” Ott continued. “Their music is phenomenal. It’s not mainstream, but its punk-rock most people can like.
“I like (the blink offshoot bands) Box Car Racer and Angels & Airwaves, but Tom being back absolutely makes it mean more for me. Who knows how long before he’s out searching for aliens again?”
Poway-bred pop-punk trio returns for show at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Not coincidentally, the 11th selection blink performed Monday was DeLonge’s “Aliens Exist.” The 1999 song was an early indication of his interest in UFOs, which in 2017 prompted him to launch his To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences during his 7-year hiatus from the band.
Tom DeLonge traveled the world multiple times as the co-founder of the Poway-bred blink-182, the hugely popular pop-punk band that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Meanwhile, back on earth, the new blink album has yet to be released. The band’s tour was slated to start March 11 at the outdoor GNP Festival in Tijuana, followed by a South American tour. But both were postponed until next year after Barker underwent surgery in February for a dislocated finger.
The Poway-bred pop-punk band had planned to kick off its tour March 11 in Tijuana. Instead, it now is set to begin May 4 at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The West Coast leg includes June 19 and 20 San Diego concerts at Pechanga Arena.
His drumming here Monday — a marvel of both unbridled power and beat-perfect finesse — was a consistent highlight that elevated even the least memorable blink songs. And on the best songs, including “What’s My Age Again?” and “Feeling This,” Barker was simply sensational with his flawless sense of time and explosive drum fills.
How well blink’s as-yet-unheard new album fares remains to be determined. But the band’s unchanged formula for success was clearly articulated by DeLonge in a 2011 Union-Tribune interview.
“It’s not a fantastic art project,” he said at the time of blink’s music. “It’s teen-aged life, summed up in a batch of catchy guitar and bass riffs, played as fast and loud as you can. That’s the punk-rock way, and it took me years to realize that...”
And if anyone doubts the enduring appeal of three wealthy, middle-aged men energetically playing highly charged pop-punk songs — interspersed with jokes about genitalia and bodily functions — blink has a pithy answer to the question posed in “What’s My Age Again?” Who cares?
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