EYE ON THE PRIZE
Blink-182, O2 Arena, London
It's a welcome trip down pop-punk memory lane as California natives Blink-182 played the first of two sellout nights in the capital as part of the California European Summer Tour.
A new line-up sans founder and former guitarist/co-lead vocalist Tom Delonge (who left the band for the second time to focus on... aliens?) and with the addition of Matt Skiba of fellow pop-punk royalty Alkaline Trio, delivered a high-octane, fun, stupidly loud performance that showed just why Blink-182 sit in the upper echelons of the pop punk world.
The new-look line-up jumped straight into proceedings: a huge Union Jack flag adorned with the band’s
logo dropped from on high to the opening riff of “Feeling This”, before Skiba took to the mic to greet the London crowd to rapturous applause. The tone of the night was well and truly set by this point as crowd surfers floated above the masses and empty cups were flung through the air, while Mark Hoppus and Skiba did a fine job of recreating the chemistry that served Hoppus and Delonge so well over the years.
Hoppus, playing the crowd like a true pop punk veteran, introducing emo classic “I Miss You” with the words “Hey ladies, this one’s for you”, before dipping back into the file marked ‘loud and brash’ with “Down”, “Dysentery Gary” and “Reckless Abandon”. To finish, the band encored with the anthemic ”All The Small Things” and “Dammit”, which got everyone in the arena on their feet. Despite Blink-182 now being well into their forties, slightly softer around the belly and with a few more grey hairs, they didn’t miss a trick, and the energy on stage was as electric as ever.