There was no doubt about what band people at the Pearl Theater were there to see. The hair might have been grayer and the guts slightly larger (myself definitely included), but you would be forgiven for mistaking the line that wrapped around the flashing slot machines as the one for Warped Tour ‘99. Cargo shorts, loose-fitting band tees and Hurley everything made up the outfit of choice for those in line to catch pop punk powerhouse Blink-182 on the penultimate week of their Vegas residency. To quote the band: I guess this is growing up.
Blink-182 is currently made up of longtime Blinksters Mark Hoppus on bass/vocals and Travis Barker on drums with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba on guitar/vocals and Matt Skiba’s hat for moral support. They came out on stage shortly after 9 p.m. and launched right into the massive hit “Feeling This.” The band has 3 years under their belt with Skiba now, and it shows, as they sounded much tighter than when I caught them at the Joint back in 2016, shortly after Skiba joined the band. While Skiba’s voice is closer in register to Hoppus’ than original co-vocalist Tom DeLonge’s, the pair sounded particular sublime harmonizing on the song’s outro. The three musicians transitioned next into two of their biggest Hoppus-lead tracks: “What’s My Age Again?” and “The Rock Show,” the latter being an ode to the recently ended Warped Tour, which helped to break the band in their early, more naked years.
The Pearl’s wide stage was fairly stripped down, with large, still images pulled from the band’s 2016 release California and a “Vegas Sign” -inspired Blink logo being the only things on the stage besides the three musicians. The minimal appearance turned out to be somewhat of a ruse, however, as jets of fire ripped from your favorite 80s hair metal video (I’m looking at you, Jackyl with a “Y”) began blasting out from behind Travis Barker’s drum kit. “Down” featured streams of water, “Los Angeles” came with streamers everywhere (likely to the dismay of the custodial staff), and “Dumpweed” saw the band distribute a plastic army of pool floaties and blow up dolls (I saw a lot of people sneak off with floaties and to you all I say: Don’t forget why Mark Hoppus built that pool).
While the crowd certainly looked the pop punk part, the passage of time since Enema’s TRL dominance was especially noticeable thanks to the lack of motion on the floor. The “pit” consisted of roughly three dudes happily bumping into each other, a far cry from punk rock summer days. Strangely, the biggest the pit got was during “Adam’s Song,” arguably the slowest song of the night and the last one I’d expect to elicit such a response (that response being 8 people bumping into each other just hard enough to spill some apple juice in the hall). The song’s relatively rare setlist status compared to the band’s other hits likely contributed to this (the song has been largely absent from the group’s post-reunion live shows). The other biggest audience reaction of the night was the cheer sent out to drummer Travis Barker, who only recently got the passing bill of health to resume the residency and seemingly channeled all that time off into one glorious drum solo introducing “Violence.”
When the residency was announced earlier this year, Hoppus made some pretty lofty claims about the inclusion of deep cuts and older songs working their way into an extended setlist. Let’s get this straight: I love Blink-182 but their setlists since reuniting in 2009 have been uninspired- 13 of their biggest hits, no surprises. The residency has seen them play “The Party Song” for the first time ever, bring back pre-fame gem “Wasting Time,” and dig deep into California for slow jam “Home is Such a Lonely Place.” For our set, we were treated to the aforementioned “Adam’s Song” along with rarely played Untitled tune “Obvious” and Enema rarity “Mutt,” a song that acted as many people’s introduction to the band thanks to its placement in the film American Pie (a movie that the band themselves appeared in).
Possibly the best part of the night was seeing Hoppus interacting with the crowd. It’s been a long time since Blink played clubs as small as the Pearl and the singer/bassist seemed to relish in the opportunity to lean forward to sing directly to fans and even chat with them a bit between songs, somewhat replacing the classic Mark, Tom and Travis Show-style comedy routine the band became known for (Hoppus was also the only band member to speak between songs). Mark even relinquished vocal duties to an audience member for the first verse of set-ender and oldest track of the night “Dammit,” a song that also saw the stage and floor absolutely drenched in confetti (I’m sure by now the venue’s cleaning crew have a hit out on the band).
The night ended with Hoppus playing solo, fitting as he’s now the last original member of the band and the heart that keeps the whole thing going. The singer lead the audience in a Billy Bragg version of 30 second song “Family Reunion” and when I heard 2,000 ‘grownups’ gleefully sing “Shit piss fuck cunt cocksucker motherfucker tit fart turd and twat,” I realized… I guess this isn’t growing up after all.
There’s still time to catch Blink-182 at the Pearl! Their residency continues on November 10, 16 and 17. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.blink182vegas.com
-Emily Matview
Photos by Aaron Mattern | https://www.flickr.com/photos/akmofoto/
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