After four years of Blink-182 hiatus, fans everywhere were ecstatic to watch the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8 and learn that the band was back together.
Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker came on stage to announce the “best rock album” for 2009. While doing so, Barker said, “We used to play music together, and we decided we’re going to play music together again.” Following cheers from the crowd, DeLonge yelled, “Blink-182 is back!”
Travis Barker appeared on the Grammy stage still sporting an arm sling from a September 2008 plane crash that left him in critical condition. At the time of the crash, Barker was rushed to a burn center in Augusta, Ga. Many onlookers wondered how Barker could play drums in a sling, but the performance and drum solo proved he is back and better than ever.
Following this public appearance, the members confirmed the news by posting on their Web site: “Hi. We’re Blink-182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, we’re back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy. Summer 2009. Thanks and get ready.”
Since the kickoff of their tour in Las Vegas, Nev. on July 23, the band has been traveling the country playing hits mostly from their three most recent albums Enema of the State, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, and Blink-182. The set list of songs included “Feeling This,” “What’s My Age Again?” “I Miss You,” “All the Small Things” and “Dammit (Growing Up).”
The final scheduled show of the 2009 summer tour took place at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, N.J.
After parking in the parking garage, we entered through the casino, which was filled with upper class, nicely dressed people drinking alcohol and playing slots beside lots of Blink fans wearing band tees, Chuck Taylors and Vans. We walked until we finally came to the escalators that led to the event center, which is where the concert was being held.
The opening band, Asher Roth, played multiple songs. The crowd wildly chanted “we want Blink! we want Blink!” between each song, making it very obvious that they were there to see Blink 182 and nobody else.
After Asher Roth finished their set, the crowd began to get rowdy. Everyone was impatient and extremely excited. The time seemed to crawl by for the next few minutes as we waited for the band to begin playing.
Fans began to push and shove themselves closer and closer to the stage. Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the lights dropped, and rose again shining on the three famous band members, and the crowd went wild.
As Blink 182 introduced themselves and started to play their set we were being roughly pushed and pulled all over the place with the movement of the crowd. Everyone was packed so tightly that if we would have lifted our legs off of the ground, we probably would have stayed exactly where we were, instead of falling.
The room was packed with crazy fans singing the lyrics to every song and dancing wildly. Everyone was being shoved around throughout the concert. After a while of standing extremely close to the stage, we decided to back away so we could enjoy the music and be able to breathe easier.
Watching Blink 182 reunited and performing was a completely awesome experience, and we loved every second of it. Blink fans that missed this summer’s tour can look forward to their new upcoming studio album and European tour scheduled for 2010.
The background information comes from the following Web-sites: www.blink182.com and www.mtv.com.