Blink-182 live in London: the boys are back in town

What year is it again? The nostalgia sweeping through the zeitgeist right now might have you questioning as much. Paramore are arguably more beloved than ever nearly 20 years in to their career. Fall Out Boy are making music with actual guitars again. Now, the Mark, Tom and Travis show is back on the road, with everyone’s favourite UFO enthusiast back in the Blink-182 fold after seven years away.

A large percentage of the 20,000-strong contingent in The O2 are thirty-somethings wishing to step back in time for a night to a simpler time, and jubilant yet slick airings of hits including ‘The Rock Show’ and ‘Feeling This’ do plenty to evoke the warm fuzziness of the good old days. At times, it seems like this original iteration of the band was cryogenically frozen and defrosted – their trademark silliness remains firmly in tact, what with the inclusion of ‘Family Reunion’ (all together – “Shit, piss, fuck, c**t”, et cetera…) and not one, but two breakneck run-throughs of Christmas song ‘Happy Holidays, You Bastard’, despite it being October. Oh yeah, and ‘Dumpweed’ features a giant ‘Enema Of The State’-branded truck hanging from the rafters for shits and giggles.

Between songs, Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge are an inimitable comic duo, trading jibes over their on-stage mistakes and building collective punchlines with well-oiled timing. Their ribaldry is relentless: there’s talk of a Jesus who “turns wine into urine and parts your butt cheeks like the red sea” while Hoppus, claiming he’s a “local” having lived in the UK for three years, proudly calls it “the UCK!” It does veer into the puerile at points (yes, there are ‘your mum’ jokes), but some things never change, even if your band’s line-up does.

But in contrast, their serious moments are profound. ‘Stay Together For The Kids’ serves as a magnificent reminder of Blink’s ability to cut deeper than standard she-broke-my-heart emo fare; ‘Adam’s Song’ becomes especially raw as Hoppus relates it to the decline in his mental health during his cancer treatment: “I felt like I was dying and there were days I felt I wanted to die,” he admits. However, sentimental new cut ‘One More Time’, though fantastic in its own right, doesn’t quite work as a closing number, ending the night on an unexpected down note that doesn’t match its mostly joyous spirit. A better conclusion may have been the golden run of anthems – ‘What’s My Age Again?’, ‘First Date’, ‘All The Small Things’ and ‘Dammit’ – before the encore, which together create a surge of euphoric energy that would otherwise have put a bow on things beautifully. Generally, however, this is a tight, endlessly fun comeback offering a well-needed moment of respite in a rather gloomy climate.

Blink 182 played:

‘Anthem Part Two’
‘The Rock Show’
‘Family Reunion’
‘Man Overboard’
‘Feeling This’
‘Violence’
‘Up All Night’
‘Dumpweed’
‘Dysentery Gary’
‘More Than You Know’
‘Edging’
‘Dance With Me’
‘Aliens Exist’
‘Happy Holidays, You Bastard’
‘Stay Together for the Kids’
‘Always’
‘Down’
‘Bored to Death’
‘I Miss You’
‘Adam’s Song’
‘Ghost on the Dance Floor’
‘What’s My Age Again?’
‘First Date’
‘All the Small Things’
‘Dammit’
‘One More Time’

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