blink-182 Review

After months of endless gloom, blink-182 brought the sun back to Southern California for two hot sold-out nights at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, CA. The pop-punk legends have been making noise since the rumors of the trio reuniting broke online last October. Since then, we’ve received the catchy earworm “EDGING” and loads of TikTok clips from the tour that would make any pop-punk veteran’s heart swell. 

Fans swarmed the 22k-capped outdoor venue with anticipation Saturday night. Onlookers driving by the stadium gazed in curiosity as to what or who could draw such a large crowd. The beauty of this band is its reach across multiple generations of live music enthusiasts. You could walk down the queue and see folks from all walks of life there to enjoy nearly 30 years of pop-punk excellence. Though the wait for doors was long, it was the perfect occasion to play a blink-themed game of Where’s Waldo, where you try to spot the occasional Enema of the State’s nurse cosplay or Tom’s Boomer outfit from the “First Date” music video in a sea of black shirts with blink’s trademarked smiley face.

It didn’t take long before the clock struck 6:00 pm, and fans hurried through the gates to get their spots for the show. You could feel the excitement in the air, the chatter reverberating off the walls. Soon enough, San Diego’s very own Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker would take the stage. But not before another Barker could make his mark on the City of Angels. Travis’s son Landon Barker opened the show to thousands of screaming fans. His set was moody and dynamic, playing songs like “Friends With Your Ex,” “Runnin’ Back,” and a cover of +44’s “When Your Heart Stops Beating.” With +44 being Hoppus and Barker’s side project after the first Blink split in 2005, his rendition felt extra special.

After Landon Barker departed the stage, leaving fans anxiously wanting more, the second opening support act would swiftly follow and not disappoint. Turnstile flipped a switch and turned everyone inside BMO on their heads. Almost instantaneously, the ground shook, and the pit started moving in ways only the oceans could. Their set was an electric mix of songs off GLOW ON and Time & Space, playing songs like “DON’T PLAY,” “Real Thing” and “HOLIDAY.” Fifty minutes of passion and rage felt like seconds of slamming your feet into the pavement and screaming your lungs out. If you walked into that venue brand new to Turnstile, guaranteed you walked out a fan.

Left breathless and ready for more, the crowd inched closer to one another as the time grew closer to the main event. The lights went down, and the stadium erupted with screams as the trio emerged from the shadows only to be illuminated by their trademark smiley face behind them. It went zero to one hundred as blink-182 kicked off their set with “Anthem Pt. 2,” igniting circle pits to form all over the floor. The energy in the room shifted as the band played through hits like “The Rock Show,” “Feeling This,” and deeper cuts like “Reckless Abandon” and “Dysentery Gary.”

There were loads of surprises throughout the set. During “Aliens Exist,” a gang of people dressed as aliens holding their small inflatable counterparts and a rogue Stormtrooper invaded the pit to prove that DeLonge was right about extraterrestrial life all along.

What wasn’t surprising was the pure joy emanating from the stage. It was clear to fans that when these lifelong friends come together onstage, they make magic. Like a choreographed dance, Hoppus and DeLonge never missed a beat as they conquered the stage during the 25-song set list run. And what else is there left to say about Travis Barker that hasn’t already been said? He’s one of the greatest drummers ever to grace a stage. In its purest form, a blink-182 show celebrates adolescence in an honest and silly way. After all these years, the band doesn’t take themselves too seriously. They manage to toe the line between themes of gutwrenching despair, juvenile urges and anxieties, and all-consuming love, loss, and hope.

Despite the impressive stage production – smoke, lasers, sperm-shaped confetti, an inflatable Enema of the State ambulance, fireworks and three massive pyro pillars – the best sights to see were the members themselves. Seeing Mark and Tom banter like the old days and a single soft-spoken “Hi” from Travis was well worth the 8-year wait. The set was nothing short of tales of sexually disappointing your partners, mom jokes, and the sickest “Isn’t it time you quit the band again?” burn on Delonge delivered by Hoppus that had the whole stadium cackling. 

While the night was filled with head-banging and belly laughs, fans were treated to a moment of earnest gratitude from Hoppus. The lights dimmed away while a single spotlight shined on him. He spoke about writing a song at a point in his life when he didn’t believe he would make it through and returning to those same feelings when battling a rare form of cancer in 2021. “I was in chemotherapy. I couldn’t walk up the steps at my house, and all my hair fucking fell out. I didn’t know if I would be onstage again, and now here I am tonight with all of you. With Tom, and with Travis, and the doctors who healed me and cured me are here tonight,” Hoppus said. The crowd boomed with chants of “I love you, Mark!” and encouragement rang around the stadium. “This song is about getting through the hard times and finding the light. I love you all,” Hoppus said before “Adam’s Song” kicked in. Without a doubt, there wasn’t a single dry eye in the house.

The rest of the set was a grab bag of hits like “What’s My Age Again?,” “First Date,” and the established closer, “Dammit.” This performance was a reminder that it’s okay to never grow up and that “tomorrow holds such better days.” With the beginning of a new season, blink-182 has ensured our smiles won’t fade in the summer.