Blink 182 came to visit us in Nottingham, and as a fan for the past sixteen years, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to drown myself in the nostalgia that would, undoubtedly, be accompanied by their show.
Supported by The Front Bottoms (who I, unfortunately, missed) as the opening act, with Mark Hoppus joining them on stage for a song, and then Frank Turner. Frank seems to be ever growing in popularity, I hadn’t heard of him until a few days before the gig, but I’ll definitely be giving him a listen. He had a nice little bit to say about women’s rights, which was well received by everybody.
With the arena filled up, we were ready for Blink. The curtain dropped, literally, the stage was lit up with a big flaming F**K, and Stranger Things kicked things off. It was ablaze with pyrotechnics from the beginning to end, which may have added to how warm it was in the arena. Maybe the air-con wasn’t working? It didn’t matter, if you’re not hot and sweaty, did you even have a good time? A giant video screen behind the band showing live footage of the fans at the front, pop art style music videos, and, of course, the band themselves so those of us a bit further back could still see what was going on, added to the aesthetics of the evening.
The gig was a showcase of their “best ofs”, with a few songs from there latest album, California, which was fine by me. I got that nostalgia fix I was looking for with songs like What’s My Age Again, The Rock Show, I Miss You – “Don’t waste your toyme orn me you’re orlready a voice insoide moyead” – and Anthem Part Two. With Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba now on lead guitar, the show was just as good as I expected it to be, and if I didn’t already know about the bands new dynamics, I wouldn’t have noticed.
My one criticism was the lack of apparent encore. They finished up on Dammit, but then that was it. It all seemed to end so quickly. With chants of “One more song!”, the lights came up, and that was the end of the Rock Show. I didn’t fall in love with the girl there because She’s Out Of Her Mind, and I was relatively Sober…
Words Johnny Banks
Photos Martin Dunning
Massive fan of their latest album (California) and they played every new and old song with such passion and commitment. I can’t fault their performance! ????
The audience on the other hand, were terrible. No emotion, no energy, they couldn’t even jump off their feet when Mark or Matt asked for it.
Like I said, Blink were amazing, but the stagnant audience let them down. It’s a shame to say it, but I won’t be going to another big gig in Nottingham again.