Review
Review
blink-182 at Reading Festival, 23/08/2024
The pop-punk trio delivered an emotionally charged, outrageous and nostalgic set that celebrated their 30-year career
blink-182 took the Reading crowd on a journey through their 30-year career. Splicing in an eclectic collection of their biggest hits from over the years and delivering a night that was nostalgic, outrageous and emotionally charged.
“It’s f***ing awesome to be back here at Reading, we’ve been coming here since the early 2000s. Through all the highs and the lows… We’re back here.” frontman Mark Hoppus shares with the sweeping Reading crowd. Between their pop-punk anthems and their signature “your mum” jokes, this sentimentality and reflection was a predominant theme of the night.
Whether you found them in the 90s or 00s, or you’re part of the resurgence that’s discovering them now, blink-182 make everyone feel something real. That sentiment is evident from the show’s opening chords. The trio arrived on stage to a deafening cheer and launched into ‘Feeling This’, the first single from their self-titled 2003 album.
Following ‘Feeling This’, the band gave fans exactly what they came for, going straight into anthems such as ‘The Rock Show’, ‘Man Overboard’ and ‘Aliens Exist’. Catchy hooks and sing-along lyrics are blink-182’s bread and butter. The band’s ability to write a pop-punk earworm is second to none, and hearing them live makes blink-182’s legacy and longevity undeniable.
They bait the crowd with their blatant ridiculousness, repeatedly calling themselves the best band in the world and bringing up Britain’s colonising history with the States. They know their wind ups, silly and facetious. As always, they aim to tease fans and completely outrage the proper.
The band’s synchrony and tightness was something to behold. Travis Barker’s drumming prowess goes without saying, but both Mark and Tom’s vocals were impressive – even with Tom revealing he’d been sick this week. Although, in all fairness, a little extra nasality probably isn’t going to harm Tom DeLonge’s schtick.
Of course, blink-182’s foray into the emo genre, ‘I Miss You’, was an absolute crowd favourite. The drama and delivery of ‘Not Now’ matched the space-rock direction that Tom would take his side project Angels and Airwaves.
Throughout their tumultuous career – and their dysfunctional band politics – blink-182 had many side projects. Paying homage to this history with short snippets of +44’s ‘When Your Heart Stops Beating’ and Boxcar Racer’s ‘There Is’ was a moving touch for the long-time fans of each and every blink iteration.
The trio saved their biggest bangers for last. Sending the crowd into a frenzy with ‘What’s My Age Again’, ‘First Date’, ‘All The Small Things’ and ‘Dammit’ closing out the show – the final of which, Mark added a playful Spice Girl’s interpolation.
But the band have always loved to make their fans laugh, and then make us cry. That bittersweetness was in full force with their encore track, ‘ONE MORE TIME’.
Released in 2023, ‘ONE MORE TIME’ is the band’s letter of love, reflection and forgiveness to each other. Mark and Tom’s emotions were palpable. The encore performance was accompanied by a stirring montage of music videos and clips of the trio goofing around over the years. The show celebrated blink-182’s legacy and acknowledged the turbulent journey it took for the band to be here, reunited and performing on the main stage at Reading in 2024. ‘ONE MORE TIME’ was a beautiful way to sum that up while also serving a poignant reminder to all of us; tell your friends you love them.
The world has changed a lot since blink-182 were topping charts. Surprisingly, in 2024 blink-182’s boyish humour didn’t feel offbeat. It was silly, self-deprecating and self-aware. And with all of their nostalgic sonic angst, blink-182 transported me back to a simpler, freer time. A time without every moment of our lives captured on cell phones. Or the sensation you’re always being watched, need to appear cool and the resulting anxiety. I haven’t screamed lyrics or danced without inhibitions at a show like I did to blink-182 last night, in years.
blink-182 continue their UK tour with stops in Glasgow and Belfast. Find blink-182 tickets here.
