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<\/p>\nBy Christopher David<\/p>\n
Just a few short months ago, Blink-182 held a headlining spot at the Chicago festival as well as a residency at the Palms in Las Vegas, a weekend series of shows that was to span several months. Then, drummer Travis Barker\u2019s health issues derailed the punk-pop trio\u2019s plans for summer lovin\u2019, calling their Riot set, the Vegas residency, and even the band\u2019s future into question. The band\u2019s headlining slot at Riot Fest was cancelled\u2026but the Vegas residency returned (after being indefinitely postponed) in light of Barker\u2019s \u2018all-clear\u2019 diagnosis.<\/p>\n
As Chicagoans who had looked forward to covering the band\u2019s Riot set, we asked ourselves: what, as huge Blink fans, were we to do?<\/p>\n
The answer was as clear as a pair of airline tickets.<\/p>\n
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So, In the Loop Magazine’s \u201cOn the Road Series\u201d correspondents Colette Custin and Christopher David hit the skies to catch one of the final weekends in Blink-182\u2019s \u201cKings of the Weekend\u201d residency shows, and the verdict? Bassist\/vocalist Mark Hoppus is a tornado of youthful energy who still revels in dirty jokes, guitarist\/vocalist Matt Skiba solidified his place as a commanding presence in the trio, and Barker proved that you nothing can keep him from being the most entertaining drummer on earth. The band remains one of the most fun live acts out there, and their catalog is formidable by any genre\u2019s standards.<\/p>\n
Vegas residencies tend toward the huge, the flashy, the bombastic; there\u2019s a reason that they\u2019re generally the provenance of KISS, Cher, and other pop powerhouses with decades of history and pomp behind them\u2014it\u2019s an opportunity to cash in, in many ways, on a style of show that differs greatly from the rigors of the road. Admittedly, the idea of a punk band embarking on a Vegas residency is a bit strange\u2014and make no mistake, Blink have always been a punk band at heart, despite their massive global success. But given that Blink\u2019s songs focus primarily on the joys and perils of partying, sex, and relationships, with a hefty dose of explosive, relatable teen angst, their presence on a Vegas stage may be a generational turning point, an indication that a Vegas residency is no longer just the domain of crooners and preening popsters.<\/p>\n
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That moment was clarified during a thrashing version of \u201cDumpweed\u201d as a dozen or so giant pool inflatables were thrown into the crowd. The sight of several hundred ecstatic fans singing along while tossing around giant pieces of pizza, sex dolls, and unicorns suddenly brought clarity to the whole thing\u2014Blink have ascended to a level of generational popularity at a level that arguably has only been seen by the likes of Green Day: a punk band that, by writ of its crafty songwriting, subtle maturation, and endearingly goofy antics, has moved past punk into part of the rock n\u2019 roll pantheon. It was impossible not to smile, and it was impossible not to sing along as a constant barrage of flames, confetti, and streamers turned the Pearl Theater into a 2,500-person party.<\/p>\n
The elephant in the room\u2014or perhaps octopus, in this case\u2014was Barker. Would he be okay? Was he still the same powerhouse everyone wanted to see? The answer came within seconds of the band hitting the stage. Unless you already knew that he\u2019d had health issues earlier in the year, you\u2019d have never guessed it in his performance. Extended versions of \u201cDown,\u201d \u201cI Miss You,\u201d and \u201cStay Together for the Kids\u201d showcased codas that seemed expressly designed to let Barker show off the stunning precision of his chops.<\/p>\n
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Opening the show with an energetic version of \u201cFeeling This\u201d from 2003\u2019s self-titled album (an underrated record in the grand scheme of things, perhaps due to the fact that it\u2019s when Blink got \u2018serious,\u2019 in many ways) and following it with a string of hits that most any band would envy, \u201cAnthem Part Two\u201d featured Matt Skiba on vocals, and while founding-guitarist Tom DeLonge\u2019s particular nasal vocal quality was noticeably missing, Skiba is the best fit one can imagine to fill that role, given his deep history in Chicago\u2019s punk scene as the driving force of Alkaline Trio. He was also a driving force in new tunes \u201cParking Lot\u201d and \u201cBored to Death,\u201d which are perfect distillations of Blink\u2019s signature sound since classics like 2001\u2019s \u201cFirst Date\u201d and \u201cReckless Abandon,\u201d both of which were set-list standouts. When Hoppus took the lead to introduce the hysterically absurd \u201cHappy Holidays, You Bastard\u201d by having the crowd shine their cellphone flashlights, he barely had the chance to finish the song before dissolving into laughter, and he spent the majority of the show mugging with fans and jumping around like a twenty-year old. Inviting fans (and even a newly-married couple still in their wedding garb) onstage to sing set closer \u201cDammit\u201d showed that Hoppus and Co. still don\u2019t take themselves too<\/em> seriously.<\/p>\n Which is a good thing. Noting the age of the crowd as the band closed the show with \u201cAll the Small Things,\u201d it was hard not to be reminded of what a cultural touchstone Blink-182 was during the last days of MTV\u2019s role as a tastemaker. With a Vegas residency behind them and the number of fans who came from all over the world to see these shows, there can be no doubting the relevance of the band\u2019s history.\u00a0\u00a0 With a new album in the works and a tour including a headlining spot at Riot Fest, 2019 is shaping up to be another banner year for a band that, happily, hasn\u2019t let their youthful fire burn out. What\u2019s their age, again?<\/p>\n Setlist: Blink 182 – Pearl Theater at the Palms Casino, Las Vegas, NV, November 9th and 10th, 2018 <\/strong><\/p>\n Feeling This<\/p>\n What\u2019s My Age Again?<\/p>\n The Rock Show<\/p>\n Anthem Part Two<\/p>\n Bored to Death<\/p>\n Built This Pool<\/p>\n Kings of the Weekend<\/p>\n Down<\/p>\n I Miss You<\/p>\n Mutt<\/p>\n Obvious<\/p>\n Dysentery Gary<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s Song (Friday)<\/p>\n Stay Together for the Kids (Saturday)<\/p>\n Dumpweed<\/p>\n Happy Holidays, You Bastard (Friday)<\/p>\n Cynical (Saturday)<\/p>\n First Date<\/p>\n Parking Lot<\/p>\n Violence<\/p>\n Reckless Abandon (Friday)<\/p>\n Los Angeles<\/p>\n All the Small Things<\/p>\n Brohemian Rhapsody<\/p>\n Dammit<\/p>\n Family Reunion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Christopher David Just a few short months ago, Blink-182 held a headlining spot at the Chicago festival as well as a residency at the Palms in Las Vegas, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,246,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-features","category-itlm-otrs","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}