15,000 people gathered together for the much anticipated blink-182 reunion concert. The lineup was a power house mix of Indie, Hip Hop, and Punk. Opening for blink-182 was Valencia, a Philadelphia up and coming band. They were followed by Asher Roth, and ultimately by blink-182. This was a major lineup change from the original set, which was postponed before it was rearranged. For the original show Fall Out Boy and All American Rejects were supposed to open. After sickness hit, the lineup had to be rearranged. Valencia has, up to this point, been a small band... but, they are finally starting to gain momentum. Now, they are receiving substantial radio time in the Philly region. While trying to get a seat upgrade, essentially trying to rush the gate, for the blink-182 portion of the show we bumped into some members of the band Valencia. They agreed to give us a private interview. What is it like to tour with blink? Are the punk gods we worship ... actually jerks off stage? Valencia responded, “No, they’re actually pretty cool. I’ve only gotten the chance to talk with them a few times, but they’ve been nice.”
So how many albums do you have out? “Right now we just have the two [This Could Be a Possibility and We All Need a Reason to Believe] but we just got back from recording another one in California. It should be coming out this spring.”
Is the song Tenth Street about anywhere in particular, or just about the street as a whole? “Our lead singer actually went to Temple. And that’s sort of what the song is about.”
Is it just a coincidence that you’re touring with Asher Roth, another Philadelphia band? “Yeah, actually our agent happens to know the manager for blink so when the other bands couldn’t make it we stepped up.”
Have you ever played at the Fire in Philly? “That shit hole? Yeah, but I don’t think we want to do it again.”
Asher Roth took the stage next. While some more people had begun to file into their seats, it was still a dismal turnout. At the end of his performance about half the crowd cheered and the other half booed. One image that stuck out was someone texting the big screen, “Scream if you hate hip hop.” Most people were hostile towards the odd genra out. Personally, I am not a fan of Hip Hop... but, Asher Roth put on a good show regardless. It was just not the right place for his performance.
Finally, blink-182 took the stage. It was a great show, and they played all of their greatest hits. Tom Delonge modified a few of the songs to his own “live” adaptation. Replacing words like “love” with phrases like, “give me a blowjob.” It was quite comical and entertaining. It fit the image of blink and made fans fall in love with them all over again. The initial set was amazing, but the encore was icing on the cake. The curtains reopened and Travis Barker started his epic drum solo wearing some weird shirt/top. Most of the audience couldn’t figure out what it was until Barker started floating. Right there in front of our eyes... Travis and his drum set started flying off the stage and into the air. Like something out of a guitar hero game, Barker flew from side to side of the stage, the entire time performing a drum solo of magnificent propositions. Barker re-centered and suddenly went horizontal, so that the audience was looking “down” on him. The drum set was fixed onto a lazy-Susan so that Barker started spinning in circles while flying. Even with enough distractions to throw off most people’s equilibrium, Travis continued to play his drum solo. The crowd was silent until Travis touched back down at which point they erupted into applause. Everyone was stunned that Barker had the endurance to perform such a stunt after just recently recovering from a near death experience.
Anyone who missed this concert should regret it for the rest of their lives. There is only one word to describe how awesome the concert was: Epic.